Buckmasters Magazine


BuckMag Features

NO Image:

Shooting Long Distance

Shooting Long Distance

By Bob Robb

Whitetail hunting isn’t always a short-range game. Growing up a mule deer hunter out West, I was weaned on the importance of being able to make the first shot count at a deer three or four football fields away. We always tried to get closer, but sometimes it just wasn’t in the cards. Most shots at whitetails are less than 200 yards, bu... READ MORE

High Mercury Whitetails

High Mercury Whitetails

By Darron McDougal

Sweat, bugs and extra effort aside, you can take big bucks when the weather is hot. Sweat poured from my face. The thermometer read 85 degrees Fahrenheit, and the mosquitoes just wouldn’t relent. Of all the places I could be in such conditions, I found myself trudging along the border of a standing cornfield. My destination was a hang-on stan... READ MORE

Calling All Bucks

Calling All Bucks

By Tracy Breen

What you say and when you say it are crucial to successful calling. Most of you have tried deer calls, and I’m sure if we conducted a poll, your opinions would be mixed. Some deer hunters swear by grunt tubes, cans and snort-wheeze calls and use them every year. It’s not uncommon to see a hunter pull into the local coffee shop with a bi... READ MORE

Shoot the Gap

Shoot the Gap

By P.J. Reilly

How often does a buck show up at exactly 20, 30 or 40 yards? In a perfect world, all bucks would carry BTR racks. They’d never see, hear or smell us, and they’d all show up in daylight and stop broadside in clear shooting lanes at exactly 20, 30 or 40 yards. Unfortunately, this isn’t a perfect world, and bucks, especially mature o... READ MORE

Food Plots and Antlers

Food Plots and Antlers

By David Hart

There are plenty of reasons to plant food plots, but keep your expectations realistic. A decade ago, food plots were little more than a place to hang a treestand and bring deer into the open. These days, food plots have become not only a hunting tool, but management tool. Hunters use them to provide high-quality forage that, in theory, helps bucks ... READ MORE

Eliminate Hand Torque

Eliminate Hand Torque

By P.J. Reilly

A good bow shot starts with a proper foundation at the grip. When building a house, the most important part of the project is making sure the foundation is level and straight. If the foundation is off, everything you put on top also is going to be askew, and that can lead to a lifetime of problems. The way you grip your bow is the foundation of a g... READ MORE

The Smell of Success

The Smell of Success

By Bob Humphrey

Use a whitetail buck’s No. 1 sense against him. Light was fading quickly and I was ready to close the book on another afternoon when I caught sight of movement in the stream bottom. Hefting my trusty Nikon 10x42s, I saw a big doe following a trail that paralleled the stream. Her trail would take her past me, well out of bow range. She paused ... READ MORE

ATVs: Gas or Electric?

ATVs: Gas or Electric?

By Bob Humphrey

Which is right for you depends on how you use it. As more people try to reduce their consumption of fossil fuels, electric and hybrid automobiles are becoming available and more popular. The same is somewhat true off the road, although electric ATVs, or EVs, have actually been available to the masses for quite awhile. While earlier versions of elec... READ MORE

Field of Greens

Field of Greens

By Joe Blake

When it comes to brassicas, if you plant them, deer will come. There it was again, the deep, amorous grunt of a whitetail. The morning had not lightened enough to show me the buck I knew was close, but the eastern sky was becoming alive with color, so I tightened the grip on my 60-pound longbow and waited impatiently. I knew where the buck was head... READ MORE

Can you Beat a Deer’s Nose?

Can you Beat a Deer’s Nose?

By David Hart

We spend millions on scent-blocking products. Do they work? I felt like the odd man out. After eight of us pulled on camouflage and slipped into our boots each morning, I stepped outside to enjoy the brisk Illinois air before being shuttled to my morning bow stand. Six others stayed in the outfitter’s scent-free room and spritzed themselves w... READ MORE

Ghost Deer

Ghost Deer

By Bob Humphrey

Albinos and piebalds are rare, but should they be protected? I entered the woods and was slipping along at a somewhat casual pace, scouting more than hunting, when a deer broke from cover in front of me. Cursing myself for being too casual, I stopped to survey the area. My intent was to find a likely ambush spot, then go back for the climber I&rsqu... READ MORE

Talk Yourself Down

Talk Yourself Down

By Russell Thornberry

A few soothing words can keep you from losing your cool on a big buck. While bowhunting in Ohio a few years ago, I met a fellow hunter who was an avid hunting TV fan. He was remembering a show he had seen where I shot a nice whitetail, and his comment took me by surprise. “After you dropped that buck, you turned calmly to the camera and said,... READ MORE

Tar Heel Haunting

Tar Heel Haunting

By Tyson Williamson

Trophy dream comes true in a ghostly way for this North Carolina deer hunter. My amazing story started when I got to hunt a friend’s land in central North Carolina. It’s a large block of woods surrounded by housing developments just outside the city limits. Surprisingly, there is very little hunting pressure. In early August of 2010, I ... READ MORE

Why Food Plots Fail

Why Food Plots Fail

By David Hart

Food plots take time, effort and money to do them right. You spent hundreds of dollars on chemicals, fertilizer and seed, not to mention countless hours turning dirt on your ATV. But there you are, staring at a mess that was supposed to be your deer hunting honey hole. It might be a few skimpy clumps of clover swallowed by a sea of weeds, or it cou... READ MORE

Thank You, Dad

Thank You, Dad

By Anthony R. Knight

Timely invite salvages dream hunt for new father. My love of hunting began when I was 10 years old when I went rabbit hunting with my dad near our home in Tennessee. I got my first rabbit that year with a 20-gauge single-shot H&R shotgun my parents got me for Christmas. Although I didn’t get a deer that year, I was hooked on hunting. I wa... READ MORE

Be Realistic

Be Realistic

By P.J. Reilly

Passing up small bucks is great, if there are bigger bucks in the area. My outfitter buddy loves to tell the same story at camp every year. It’s about a group of guys who signed up to hunt with him during Illinois’ late muzzleloader season. My buddy had e-mailed the guys to tell them what to expect, what gear they should bring, etc. He ... READ MORE

Game Changers

Game Changers

By Collected By Tim H. Martin

Buckmasters’ staffers share tips that have helped fill their tags. THE TARSAL HOARDER (Jackie Bushman) We can thank the good folks at Scent-Lok and Tink’s for developing scent-absorbing clothing, scent attractants and odor eliminators that fool a deer’s nose pretty doggone well. Today’s technology and improvements in hunting... READ MORE

Who Needs Shuteye?

Who Needs Shuteye?

By Russell Davis

Good things come to those who skip naps. I arose at 5 a.m. on Nov. 19, 2010 and was in my treestand by 6. Shortly after sunrise, a 30 mph south wind kicked up, making it impossible to hear. I was halfway up a 200-yard hill that faced a cornfield. I hunt that stand the first day of shotgun season every year and have pretty good luck. By 10 a.m. that... READ MORE

Feed Your Herd

Feed Your Herd

By Bob Humphrey

Reducing deer numbers is not the only way to balance deer with their habitat. Biologists use the letter K to denote carrying capacity — the number of animals, in this case deer, that existing habitat can support. Think of the food resources available on the land as a pie. Biologists love to use the pie analogy. No matter how you slice it, the... READ MORE

When Opportunity Knocks

When Opportunity Knocks

By P.J. Reilly

It’s good to have a game plan, but better to hunt a hot stand. There it was again, the deep, amorous grunt of a whitetail. The morning had not lightened enough to show me the buck I knew was close, but the eastern sky was becoming alive with color, so I tightened the grip on my 60-pound longbow and waited impatiently. I knew where the buck wa... READ MORE

Copyright 2024 by Buckmasters, Ltd.

Copyright 2020 by Buckmasters, Ltd