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Rack Magazine
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Brooke’s Buck
By Dale Weddle
Tennessee girl, lover of deer burgers, shoots a whitetail that’ll wind up on more than a plate. Brad Bentz and his 11-year-old daughter, Brooke, teamed up with friends Calvin Blevins and his daughter, McKenzie, to participate in Kentucky’s youth-only deer hunt Oct. 10-11. They drove up from Maryville, Tennessee, the night before the hun... READ MORE
But What Happened to the 8-Pointer?
By John E. Phillips
It costs nothing to take second, third and even fourth looks at deer you’ve already let pass. Ronald “Bubba” Belk of Sheridan, Montana, hunted deer in southeastern Kansas with outfitter Larry Ellis in 2014. Also in camp during that first week of the Sunflower State’s muzzleloader season were David Morris and some cameramen f... READ MORE
Double-Teaming a Paddlehead
By Dale Weddle
Vermont’s finest bull by bow no longer lives there. Hungry for a new challenge, Brad Thornsberry and his wife Martina decided in 2012 to look beyond their beloved Kentucky. Spurred by descriptions of New England’s beauty and plentiful game, husband and wife (operators of Beaver Creek Outfitters in Knott County) applied for moose tags in... READ MORE
Green, Green Grass of Away
By Ed Waite
Cincinnati hunter discovers I-275 is the road to Heaven. Just in case the grass WAS greener on the other side of the state line, Ryan Hancock of Cincinnati, Ohio, found himself a 60-acre farm to hunt in Indiana last season. He simply wanted more options, and the tract is far larger than any he hunts in his home state. Plus, the Hoosier farm is a b... READ MORE
Getting a Goodun
By Duncan Dobie
Georgia hunter values marksmanship and old-fashioned luck over all things fancy. Lucy Nix says her husband and hunting partner, Steve, is the luckiest man she knows. The Clayton, Georgia, couple has hunted deer across many Southern states for years. She’s taken her share, but he rarely fails to collect venison, and he brought home a lot more ... READ MORE
Beaten by the Path
By Lisa Price
Eighteen-pointer’s fatal mistake was taking the same trail twice, just a few hours apart. When the Sunflower State’s 2011 deer season opened on Nov. 30, Greg Tanking’s hunting buddy, Lou, watched the sunrise from inside a blind formed by hay bales. Many hunters buy imitation hay bale blinds because deer and other animals become ac... READ MORE
Fine Day for Playing Hooky
By Lisa Price
Bucks are more predictable when they’re interested only in eating and sleeping. Ethan Brogden of Burns, Tennessee, hunts his father’s 80 acres in Dickson County. So do his stepbrother, Jeff Triolo, and friend Jacob White. His stepdad, the late Mike Trilio, used to hunt there as well. The guys had been drooling over the same buck since 2... READ MORE
That Smell
By Dale Weddle
Walking Lynyrd Skynyrd song might never hunt again without a spray bottle. Steven Olt had thrown everything he had at the monstrous buck and come up short. Ever since the Green County, Kentucky, hunter had retrieved trail camera photographs of the giant deer, he’d focused on tagging it. “I never could pattern the buck,” he said. &... READ MORE
All in the Family
By Dale Weddle
A Butler did it. In Kentucky. With a rifle. Family members weren’t surprised when they heard about the buck Allie Butler shot last year in Breckinridge County, Kentucky. It’s a wonder the 24-year-old hadn’t bested all their bucks sooner than she did. Allie took to hunting like a duck to water. “I don’t guess she had a ... READ MORE
Just One Look
By John E. Phillips
A near hair-to-grill encounter is all it takes to awaken Kansan’s inner deer hunter. Keith Hendrix, now 77 and living in Topeka, still remembers the afternoon in 1973 when a gigantic buck crossed the country road in front of his vehicle. He was so enthralled by the sight, the 35-year-old policeman decided to go on his very first deer hunt the... READ MORE
Lone Star Doozie
By Duncan Dobie
Floodwaters pushed this buck onto higher ground. That he chose not to recede was his undoing. Lucky indeed is the person fortunate enough to hunt on his own or family land. It’s definitely more special, even if you don’t shoot a big buck. Thirty-year-old Cody Griffin of McKinney, Texas, did both last October. In most parts of Texas, dee... READ MORE
Lifetime Hunt Lasts Maybe Half an Hour
By John E. Phillips
Behold the Land of Lincoln’s No. 3 Typical (by shotgun) Before an electrical accident robbed Jason Langenhorst of 80 percent of his left hand’s grip, he drew 70 pounds and relied on a 12 gauge stoked with 3-inch magnums to get the job done during the Illinois deer seasons. Today, the hunter from Germantown turns deer into venison with a... READ MORE
Cox & Son: Deer Movers
By Rob Meade
Nobody complains about too many handles, right? Three years after helping his father, James, wrangle a beefy whitetail out of a woodlot in Highland County, Ohio, Jeremy Cox faced a similar dilemma in neighboring Clinton County. There was simply too much deer for one man to handle, even if there were lots of handles. Neither father nor son is too pr... READ MORE
Switching Targets
By Ed Waite
If you hear a tweet in the bush, don’t be in a hurry to drill the bird in hand. Amanda Davis was 10 years old when she and her grandmother took the Ohio hunter safety class. “My mom and dad were not very enthusiastic hunters,” says the now 26-year-old nursing student. “I hunted with various relatives.” For the first 10... READ MORE
Head Knobs and Boom Sticks
By Ed Waite
New ground and a triptych of day-old trail cam images convince bowhunters to don orange and take up arms. Ethan Johnson and Will Montgomery have bowhunted together for several years, mostly on land owned by Ethan’s uncle. Ohio’s 2015 archery season wasn’t kind to them. “I was talking to my girlfriend’s father one eveni... READ MORE
Minnesota Man-Drive
By Darren Warner
Group effort leads to the undoing of one of the most talked about bucks of 2014. Stan Kreidermacher heard two shots on the other side of a deep ravine from where he stood. It was Minnesota’s late muzzleloader season, so two shots meant two hunters had slung lead. Soon afterward, he heard the footfalls of several deer descending the opposite h... READ MORE
Mother-in-Law Buck
By Lisa Price
A whitetail like this would give any hunter the Elvis leg. Joe Bryan of Rayville, Louisiana, made a lasting first impression on the hunters with whom he shared an Illinois deer camp in 2014. During the initial get-acquainted lunch at Buck Creek Farms, he told them his mother-in-law had booked his hunt as a gift for his 20th wedding anniversary. "On... READ MORE
Itchy Palms
By Ed Waite
A mother’s advice is right on target. When T.J. Schulz and his wife, Mandy, moved from Michigan to Goshen, Ohio, a few years ago, they found themselves with no place to hunt deer. Knocking on doors yielded no invitations, and the nearby public lands were crowded. A buck in the back of a truck probably kept the couple from writing off their ne... READ MORE
Twice as Wary
By Dale Weddle
And you think a 4- or 5-year-old buck is a challenge! Dave Morgan of Richmond, Kentucky, played cat and mouse with an Ohio buck for four years before hearing his bowstring hum while looking at it. He collected hundreds of trail camera photographs of the brute, but the elusive deer wasn’t keen on moving during the day or taking the same trail ... READ MORE
Day No. 6
By Dale Weddle
And on the seventh day, he rested and looked at the strange deer he’d shot. Kentucky Bend lies east of the Mississippi. It also lies west of the mighty river. It’s a perfect example of the old adage, “You can’t get there from here.” Ol’ Man River twists and then turns almost back on itself, cutting off a section ... READ MORE