|
|
Entries for 'Gray Loon'
Transplanted Bowhunter Discovers Kansas Hype is True
By Mike Handley
When Chad Carney's job took him from North Carolina to Kansas, he immediately started searching for places to hunt. Knowing only that the Sunflower State grows big whitetails, he turned to leasing agencies and land auctions and found a farm with potential - which means trees - within little more than an hour's drive of his new home in Olathe. He an... READ MORE
Searching for the Right Pronoun
By Mike Handley
Shawn Trull of Kennedy, Alabama, isn't quite sure whether to refer to the deer he shot in late January 2014 as a he or a she. Biologically, the antlered deer is both. "Even before I shot it, we just called it The Freak," he told Lisa Price, who's writing the story for Rack magazine. And that was before he even knew the whitetail - carrying both tes... READ MORE
Ohio Buck a Gershwin Song
By Mike Handley
While just as impressive, do not confuse the monstrous deer Spook Spann arrowed this past season with the one that made headlines nine years ago. The celebrity hunter from Tennessee is going to keep this one. When Spook skewered a 230-plus-inch Kansas whitetail on film in 2007, his soon became a household name among deer hunters. And it still is, e... READ MORE
Memories are Short During the Rut
By Mike Handley
Some bucks just can't say no to a hot date. When he missed Ol' Two Drop on Nov. 16, 2015, Tim Hatton was convinced he'd blown what would likely be his only chance at the buck. Actually, that was the second time he'd left the farm without spilling blood. The hunter from Clay City, Kentucky, might've shot at the 20-pointer with his rifle that day, bu... READ MORE
Golden Oldie from Minnesota
By Mike Handley
Alfred Matter had to have wondered why his father was waving at him. The boy was driving a tractor, cultivating sunflowers, when he spotted the signal that usually meant it was time for lunch. Jim Matter, father of seven, had a habit of taking off and waving his shirt whenever it was lunchtime. When this happened in 1973, however, his third-eldest ... READ MORE
One of 2015's New World Records
By Mike Handley
Lois Jenkins's boyfriend, Tim Crabtree, knew a world-class whitetail roamed his hunting area. He believes he shot the deer's brother in January 2012, when both - then 2 1/2-year-olds - wore 160-inch racks. The survivor packed on another 20 inches before the 2012 season, and it was bigger still in 2013 and 2014. Tim wasn't able to spend much time af... READ MORE
Good Things Sometimes Come to Those Who Wait
By Mike Handley
Kentucky bowhunter Dave Morgan played cat and mouse with an Ohio buck for more than three years before hearing his bowstring hum while looking at it. Dave hunts 2,000 acres of family land in Pike County, and the property is teeming with whitetails. He pulled the first trail camera photograph of his 2014 buck back in 2010. He almost got a shot at it... READ MORE
From the Land of Ticks
By Mike Handley
Ask almost any bowhunter in Kentucky to name the country's best deer hunter, and you're going to get a slew of votes for David Howard. The proof, they say, is hanging inside the man's home. David's most recent accomplishments - arrowing both the runner-up and the new state record in consecutive seasons - might've made national headlines. But his ea... READ MORE
Portion Control Does the Trick
By Mike Handley
Ellen Turner has learned that a little bit of corn will go a long way, and there's no need to fatten raccoons between sittings. Whenever the kitchen and bathroom designer from Bethel, Ohio, goes to her 16-foot-tall ladder stand in woods flanking a soybean field, she carries one cup of corn and several apples. She puts the offerings in the field, an... READ MORE
Velvet Giant from LBL
By Mike Handley
Jack Seppala was ready to trade his last hour of daylight - prime time in the deer woods - for a truck heater. Thirty-five degrees isn't so bad. Pushed by a 15-mph wind, however, it was chewing through every layer of clothing the hunter from Herndon, Kentucky, was wearing. Besides, he chided himself, what were the odds of his actually seeing the 30... READ MORE
But When the School Bell Rings
By Mike Handley
Danny Scott struck a deal with his grandson, Ben Turner, when they retrieved trail camera photographs of an enormous buck with an unusual buck. First, they agreed not to pressure it until Kentucky's 2013 rifle season opened. Second: Whenever Ben was home from college on the weekends, he'd have dibs. While he was away, Danny would go after it. Danny... READ MORE
Think Proximity
By Mike Handley
After weeks of playing musical stands in 2014, his decisions based on trail camera photographs, Bo Holcombe finally spurned his unkillable buck’s three favorite dining rooms. When the deer hunter from Brierfield, Alabama, widened his perimeter by visiting a fourth food plot on Dec. 13, he saw and shot the whitetail that had given him the slip... READ MORE
Hiding and Hunting in Plain Sight
By Mike Handley
When hunting deer in eastern Colorado, you might have to cross your fingers and channel your inner reptile. Bill Lambert of West Monroe, Louisiana, never imagined he'd find himself belly-crawling with a weapon after leaving the military. But the old training came in handy while he was deer hunting in Kiowa County, Colorado, in December 2014. He and... READ MORE
The Buck That Wasn’t
By Mike Handley
When Doug Laird of Russellville, Missouri, talks about the deer he shot in 2014, pronouns appear to jump the tracks. "A big buck came through at 9 a.m., about an hour before I normally leave the woods," he says. "It had a small doe with it, and an 8-pointer was chasing her. The 8-pointer stopped broadside, right in a clearing. I put the crosshairs ... READ MORE
Have Time, Will Look
By Mike Handley
Cows on the lam lead Nicholas Johnson of Coleman, Oklahoma, to the bull of the woods back in 2012. Nick hadn't planned to hunt the opening day of rifle season, a Saturday, because he'd scheduled the next nine days off from the casino where he works. But the 34-year-old rose early that morning anyway. "That Friday night, Nov. 16, a neighbor called ... READ MORE