Rack Magazine

Entries for 'Gray Loon'

Misnomer in Missouri

Misnomer in Missouri

By Jeff Lampe

Being wrong isn’t always a bad thing. Maybe it’s a good thing that Michael Schumann and his sons, Dillon and Matthew, thought they were hunting a 180-inch buck on their ground in Randolph County, Mo., in 2013. Had they known the whitetail would actually gross more than 200, life away from a deer stand would’ve been even more unbea... READ MORE

One Good Turn …

One Good Turn …

By Ed Waite

Dibs for Ohio dropper might be the best tip ever given for services rendered. When Mark Owen decided to help a fellow deer hunter get back in the game, he expected nothing in return for his kindnesses. He certainly didn’t expect to be handed the Holy Grail. Mark sells bull semen for the artificial insemination of dairy cows, and he has custom... READ MORE

The Coffee-stained Buck

The Coffee-stained Buck

By Darren Warner

Sometimes you feel like a nut. Sometimes you don’t. The moment Tony Losey looked out of his popup blind’s window and saw something other than raindrops, he forgot he was holding a bag of pistachios. Or maybe he just lost his grip. One moment, the Belleville, Mich.,  hunter was sitting in his dry dome, enjoying his snack. The next, ... READ MORE

How to Beat the No-stand Blues

How to Beat the No-stand Blues

By Ed Waite

To the person who stole Mike Flanigan’s treestand: Thank you. A not-so-funny thing happened to Mike Flanigan of Conneaut, Ohio, on the way to his deer stand last Oct. 27. When he arrived at his tree, the stand wasn’t there. Understandably upset, he could’ve walked back to his truck to stew in his own juices for a few hours while h... READ MORE

A Series of Fortunate Events

A Series of Fortunate Events

By Mark Sharp

Sometimes the calendar tells you it's time to be in a tree. Sometimes it's brothers-in-law, or maybe the neighbor's combining. After a long day at the job site on Nov. 8, 2013, I wasn’t sure I wanted to go bowhunting. Although early November is usually a good time to be in a deer stand, there hadn’t been much activity to that point. Whi... READ MORE

Buck of Steel

Buck of Steel

By Mike Handley

Not all deer leap tall buildings when hit by a speeding bullet. One reason even veteran deer hunters fail to get more than one shot at a fleeing deer is because they’re shocked when the animal doesn’t falter or collapse after the first boom. All too often, those who manage a follow-up shot are too rattled to make it count. That might've... READ MORE

Because the Wind Was Wrong

Because the Wind Was Wrong

By Dale Weddle

Not for nothing: If Larry Price tells you a turkey dips snuff, you’ll find the can under the bird's wing. Aside from accompanying his stepfather a few times in his youth, hunting never interested James Irvine until he moved his family from an urban to a rural setting almost a decade ago. “It was just seven or eight years ago that I boug... READ MORE

Fooling Moses

Fooling Moses

By Mike Handley

Trash talk and some eau-de-deer combine to cook this buck’s grits. When Josh Stephenson saw the tsunami rolling through the yellowed stalks, he stood and grabbed his bow. Whether the parting corn represented a Biblical shift or the opening of a new fault line near Danville, Ind., whether a robed and bearded man, a herd of deer or geology was ... READ MORE

Beyond Blessed

Beyond Blessed

By Jenna Gregg

Jenna Gregg’s first-buck story will be hard to top, in print and on screen. I grew up around hunting with my parents and their friends, but I never really got into it until I started dating Floyd, now my husband, who suffers from OCDHD — obsessive-compulsive deer hunting disorder. Floyd pulled me into the fold during our high school yea... READ MORE

Burger to Bone

Burger to Bone

By Dale Weddle

It’s always wise to take one last look-see before committing to a target. Larry Mangin didn’t fall far from his family tree. His maternal and paternal grandfathers — Floyd Bennett and Tony Mangin — were hunting buddies. Both grew up in the Big Bend area of Meade County, Ky. Larry’s mother, Doris, is 86. On Dec. 12, 201... READ MORE

Opening Day to Remember

Opening Day to Remember

By Heather Artist

The best stands are sometimes determined by luck of the draw, even if someone else is doing the drawing. Last deer season, I scheduled a 10-day vacation to coincide with the opening of Missouri’s rifle season on Nov. 16. No longer in college (I graduated the previous May), I was determined not to miss a day of hunting. My two sisters, Michell... READ MORE

‘Warm Hollow’ Buck

‘Warm Hollow’ Buck

By Dale Weddle

This Kentuckian never imagined he’d burn his only vacation day just to make a trip to the taxidermist. When the smoke cleared and the buck was no longer there, Roger Poe began shaking. He wasn’t sure if it was due to the December cold or the fact that he’d just shot at the biggest deer he’d ever seen. Second chances are rare... READ MORE

Five Dollars to Boot

Five Dollars to Boot

By Ed Waite

Seeing a buck of this caliber in photographs is one thing. Seeing it in the flesh can steal consonants from speech. Shawn Evangelista almost forgot how to form words last year. Even his three-word sentences, repeated for emphasis, were more a series of emitted vowel sounds, punctuated by gulps of air. You’d think that seeing — and indee... READ MORE

Missouri Guy Gets His Groove Back

Missouri Guy Gets His Groove Back

By Mike Handley

Ever stand in front of a classroom full of little deers, look down, and realize you’re naked (or might as well be)? Being busted by a button buck can wreck a deer hunter’s self-confidence. When this happened to Danny Boyer last season, the bowhunter from DeSoto, Mo., realized he had to change something about his setup, and none too soon... READ MORE

Switch-hitter

Switch-hitter

By Lisa Price

Sliding a shotgun stock over to your off-shoulder can mean the difference in shooting or not shooting. For more than two decades, the only people who saw Roy Smith’s deer mount were those who happened by his office inside the Perry County, Ill., highway department. It hadn’t been measured by anyone, never appeared in a record book and, ... READ MORE

Why Randy Brown Wants His Stand Back

Why Randy Brown Wants His Stand Back

By Dale Weddle

Kentucky’s early bow season offers grand opportunities at bucks still in velvet. Just ask Nick Brown. Nick Brown thought he’d caught a break when the buck passed behind a tree, which allowed him to draw his Mathews Drenalin. But that was before the animal stopped, forcing the 28-year-old bowhunter to hold both string and breath. Nick wa... READ MORE

No Walk in the Park

No Walk in the Park

By Dale Weddle

The road to the taxidermist is sometimes pocked with potholes. If a relative shoots the buck you’ve been bowhunting, and then a power line crew armed with chainsaws moves in right on top of your hunting spot, would you chalk it up as a busted season? Jeff Osborne thought about it, but he just couldn’t bear spending Kentucky’s 2013... READ MORE

And It Wasn't Even Public Land!

And It Wasn't Even Public Land!

By Mike Handley

Anyone who can remain in his stand after this kind of morning deserves a crack or three at a decent buck. Turning one's last vacation day and shelling out for a nonresident hunting license and deer tag are small prices to pay for a much-needed change of scenery. But when a frustrated Jesse Ferree paid that price in 2012, he got more of the same. Th... READ MORE

Ten-Gallon Rack

Ten-Gallon Rack

By Mike Handley

Eric Minter’s buck wasn’t the smoothest of talkers. Either that, or it was just looking for love in all the wrong places. When the 31-pointer strolled into the white oak flat where several does were snuffling up breakfast on Oct. 19, 2009, when it opened its mouth to perhaps announce its intentions, the long-faced Ya-Yas went berserk. T... READ MORE

What a Difference a Year Makes

What a Difference a Year Makes

By Mike Handley

When this south Georgia whitetail began packing on antler, it didn’t have to start from scratch. Mature bucks’ antlers might grow a half-inch or more a day during the spring and summer months, but that doesn’t mean they’ll double in size from one year to the next. After all, unless they’re on the downswing, whitetails ... READ MORE

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