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Cold Slap in the Face
By Ken Piper
A facemask can keep you in your stand, but don’t let it ruin your hunt. Deer hunting the late seasons requires you to endure one difficult obstacle: Staying in your stand through cold temperatures. Even if your cold-weather vigils are shorter than your hunts from earlier in the season, it doesn’t take long for your nose and ears to get ... READ MORE
Silence is Golden
By Ken Piper
There’s a good reason the TV pros whisper after taking a shot. One of the more frequent questions we get at Buckmasters is, “Why do hunting celebrities whisper after taking a shot? The deer is already hit, so what’s the point?” There are several very important reasons to be quiet immediately after shooting a whitetail, and a... READ MORE
A Little Dirt Never Hurt
By Ken Piper
Extend the life of your expensive hunting clothing by neglecting it (a little). While deer hunting is just heating up in parts of the deep South, the season is a memory to the rest of the nation’s whitetail hunters. As you prepare to store your gear for the off-season, don’t stress too much about your clothing. Smart whitetail hunters a... READ MORE
Comfort Starts at Your Feet
By Ken Piper
Install a footrest on your favorite stand to make it even more lovable. The more time you put in a treestand, the more you become aware of the aches, pains and stiffness that comes with sitting immobile for hours on end (those of you in your 20s and 30s will know what we’re talking about in a few more years). There is one small add-on that do... READ MORE
Say No to Sweat
By Ken Piper
Go slowly and carry your insulated clothes in a dry bag. The key to being comfortable in a deer stand in cold weather is wearing good-quality, well-insulated clothing. The right clothes will help you stay in the stand longer and make your hunt much more enjoyable. Unfortunately, those same clothes will make you sweat during the walk in to your stan... READ MORE
The Calm Before the Storm
By Ken Piper
The last 30 minutes before shooting light can be the key to a morning hunt.
Most deer hunters know it’s beneficial to get settled into a morning stand early. Even so, most of us try to get every minute of sleep possible, which means we often cut it close.
On those occasions when you find yourself running a little late, we recommend making a... READ MORE
Better Late Than Never
By Ken Piper
You can still tag a buck after the rut if you know where to look. We all want to hunt bucks during the rut. It’s just plain fun! The bucks are on the move; they respond to scents, calls and rattles; and you’re likely to see deer you never even knew existed. As exciting as the rut is, late seasons have some big advantages over the rut, a... READ MORE
Stop, Look and Listen
By Ken Piper
Don’t let the excitement of the moment take your focus off the deer. We all put a lot of preparation into having our equipment sighted in and ready. We have done a great job of educating one another about the importance of making a good, clean shot. What happens immediately afterward can be vitally important, too. While your heart might be pu... READ MORE
Open Wide
By Ken Piper
You can tell quite a bit about a deer’s age by examining its teeth. Whether you’re starting a management program or just want to know more about deer, determining a buck’s age is a great starting point. The good news is it’s easy and extremely accurate to tell if a buck is a fawn or a 1.5-year-old. It’s also easy and a... READ MORE
Food for Thought
By Ken Piper
The quickest way to a buck is through his stomach. Deer hunting might not be easy, but we hunters tend to complicate it more than we should. Whitetails are pretty simple creatures. They want food and water, shelter and, occasionally, love. While we often focus on the love aspect, it’s actually food that drives all other considerations. If you... READ MORE
Sweet Somethings
By Ken Piper
There are subtleties that make stopping a deer work perfectly or fail miserably. It’s always better to shoot at a stationary target. Unfortunately, whitetails don’t often remain still for very long. Mouth-grunting is the standard tactic we use to stop a walking deer, but there are nuances to it that can make or break your shot opportuni... READ MORE
Go Low
By Ken Piper
It feels good to aim at center mass, but lower is better. Bow or gun, a big majority of deer misses go high. Gun hunters often jerk on the trigger, pulling the barrel up, while bowhunters fall victim to deer reacting to the sound of the bow. While this reaction is called jumping the string or ducking the string, it’s really just the deer bend... READ MORE
Keep It Cool
By Ken Piper
Great-tasting venison starts with cooling and protecting the meat. One of the keys to ensuring your venison tastes as fantastic as it should is cooling the meat as quickly as possible. Even if outside temperatures aren’t in the 70s or 80s, it’s important to get the meat chilled quickly. Cooling the meat starts with field-dressing. Get i... READ MORE
The Livelong Day
By Ken Piper
Sitting all day is not a requirement, even during the rut. We’re quickly approaching the time of year when you might consider sitting all day. The reason we usually hunt only mornings and evenings is simple: Deer move most at dawn and dusk. The exception is the rut, when anything can happen. Even during the rut, however, the odds of seeing a ... READ MORE
10 Treestand Safety Tips
By Bryan Zabitski | TenPoint Crossbow Technologies
The most important part of any hunt is returning to the ground safely. It is estimated that one out of every three deer hunters who hunt from elevated stands will likely experience a fall at some point. Following are some tips to help keep you safe while hunting from your elevated stand. 1) Always read and understand the manufacturer’s instru... READ MORE
Less Is More
By Ken Piper
Why spending less time in your best stand is a good thing. Most of us try to have multiple stand locations ready for deer season, but we all have our favorite – that one stand that looks the most promising and the one we’re sure will produce a monster buck. We take special care with that stand and have everything just right for opening ... READ MORE
Rattling Basics
By Ken Piper
Try to imitate buck behavior for that particular time of the season. If you read hunting magazines and watch hunting shows on TV, chances are you’ve seen conflicting advice about the right way to rattle for bucks. Some writers will tell you to make a major commotion, while others advise a light tickling of tines. So which is right? Answer: Wh... READ MORE
Give Me a Break!
By Ken Piper
The experts don’t always agree on breaking in a new rifle barrel. With so many great choices available for new deer rifles, many of you will be heading afield with virgin guns this fall. Not all the experts agree, but it seems intuitive that a brand new rifle would require some kind of break-in period. The logic says there can be rough edges ... READ MORE
Have Scrape, Will Travel
By Ken Piper
Mock scrapes are even better with a touch of the real thing. More hunters are experimenting with mock scrapes to fool bucks and get them riled up. Mock-scrape kits contain everything you need to create a scrape, but it never hurts to add another level of realism. The next time you make a mock scrape, use dirt from a real scrape to take it to anothe... READ MORE
Over a Barrel
By Ken Piper
A free-floating gun barrel is accurate, but also susceptible to contact. Most of today’s hunting rifles are manufactured with free-floating barrels. This means nothing touches the barrel much beyond its connection to the gun action. While it might look like the forearm of the stock touches the barrel, it doesn’t. There are many benefits... READ MORE