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Entries for 'Gray Loon'
Prone to Hitting the Bull's-eye
By Mike Handley
Jody Beth Walker did her best imitations of a doe, a rock and a bush to lure a 19-pointer into her sights in 2014. The huntress from London, Kentucky, a widowed mother of two, accepted an invitation from her boyfriend's grandparents to hunt their property in Morgan County on opening day of rifle season. She left work on Friday, Nov. 7, and drove t... READ MORE
Hook
By Mike Handley
Just because a buck changes zip codes doesn't mean it's gone for good. After months of drooling over trail camera photographs of a truly world-class whitetail, Jamey Collier of Chillicothe, Ohio, was crushed when the flow of images was staunched. He and his wife had nicknamed the deer Hook because of a distinctive point on its left beam. For three ... READ MORE
Pushing the Right Buttons
By Mike Handley
As soon as Alex McCabe of Cresco, Iowa, began collecting trail camera images of a large buck with a lopsided rack in 2014, he became obsessed with it.
He noted wind direction, temperature and barometric pressure every day on his calendar. Whenever he checked the cameras on that farm, he recorded times.
By October, Alex was convinced he just neede... READ MORE
Miscalculation
By Mike Handley
Dennis Dahlke would rather go home empty-handed than affix his tag to an adolescent buck, which is why he's been able to paper his wall with record book certificates. Because he knows the bucks he hunts in Kansas routinely pack on another 20 or more inches of antler a year, especially after they've reached 4 years of age, the man from Bonner Spring... READ MORE
Rise and Shine
By Mike Handley
Chase Jones chose the wrong day to stay in bed. The 12-year-old is normally eager to join his father, Mike, in a deer stand. On Nov. 26, however, just five days into Alabama's 2014 rifle season, the sleep-addled youngster wanted nothing more than to remain under the covers. With or without his son tagging along, Mike prefers to be in position befor... READ MORE
Why Ryan Switched from Deer to Ducks
By Mike Handley
Ryan Sullivan's fraternity brothers at Arkansas State University couldn't understand why he was so eager to leave campus every weekend. It had little to do with a home-cooked meal or laundry. It had everything to do with the giant whitetail that liked to mug for his trail cameras, a buck he'd first seen in 2010. The 20-year-old was obsessed with th... READ MORE
The Mouths of Babes
By Mike Handley
A football coach from Sabetha, Kansas, can thank his (then) 10-year-old son for persuading him to toss his usual deer hunting playbook in 2013, which resulted in his career-best whitetail.
Garrett Michael's consultation with his young sons - Preston, Payton and Paxton - occurred the night after he passed up a 150-class buck. He'd been hoping to sh... READ MORE
Process of Elimination
By Mike Handley
After three years of losing a game of hide and seek with an incredible buck he'd seen in 2010, Thomas Waters decided the only remaining option was to hunt the one piece of his friend's 570 acres he hadn't tried. The hunter from Mobile, Alabama, had two open weekends during the 2013-14 season, so he set out a trail camera to reconnoiter that part of... READ MORE
From Wow to Blam in Two Minutes
By Mike Handley
Retrieving 25 images of a fantastic buck from his trail cameras in July and August of 2013 inspired 23-year-old Kyle Robertson to take up bowhunting. So stoked at the prospect of taking the deer, he didn't want to wait for or be limited to the state's firearms season. The stream of nighttime photographs ceased two weeks before Kentucky's bow season... READ MORE
Do-over
By Mike Handley
Jon Dodridge's 2014 season did not begin as well as it ended. Right out of the chute, the hunter from Minford, Ohio, failed to recover a handsome 10-pointer. He arrowed the 5x5 during his first evening in a stand, but there was no sign whatsoever. When Jon returned a week later to check his trail camera, the number of fresh scrapes in the vicinity ... READ MORE
Shaken, Not Stirred
By Mike Handley
James Edwards knows what it's like to be tased. The bowhunter from Rocky Mount, Virginia, thought he was immune to buck fever, but he suffered its effects twice on Oct. 27, 2014. James knew an enormous buck was roaming the 150-acre farm he hunts in Union County, Ohio. He'd seen it the previous week, both in the flesh and on two trail camera photogr... READ MORE
Adrenaline Hotter than Coffee
By Mike Handley
After nine cold, gray and mostly deerless days, Dennis Coon was almost glad to see Wisconsin's 2009 firearms season come to an end. More than anything, he wanted a hot cup of coffee. The hunter from Horseshoe Bend, Arkansas, always hunts the Wisconsin Dells between visits with family and friends during the Thanksgiving holidays. Nov. 29 was his las... READ MORE
Friends are Sometimes Better than Trail Cams
By Mike Handley
A phone call from a friend, an unplanned detour and a stomachache combined in 2013 to force a Richland, Indiana, deer hunter into paying for taxidermy. Dean Tharp might spend almost all his free time in the woods during deer season, but he's never considered himself a head hunter. "If a buck has antlers just a little out past the ears, I'll take i... READ MORE
One Buck, Two Blood Trails
By Mike Handley
Randall Britton of Morristown, Ohio, climbed into his ladder stand about 3 p.m. on Oct. 28, 2013, eager to see if the rut had started in that corner of Belmont County. That was his first day to go afield with a crossbow that season. He was only about 300 yards from his house, within the 12 acres his neighbor had given him permission to hunt. And he... READ MORE
Record Buck from Public Land
By Mike Handley
Joseph Holloman of Quitman, Miss., and his buddy, Brian Jordan, were sharing a 38,000-acre tract of public land with about 400 other hunters during a special muzzleloader hunt in 2012. Their plan was to be in their stands before dawn, and then to rendezvous at noon. While walking toward each other at the appointed hour, a buck jumped up between the... READ MORE