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One for the Can
By Mike Kochheiser
Three generations of my family hunt on my father’s farm — my father, myself and my son. Until Ohio’s 2013-14 deer season arrived, none of us were aware of the huge, 196 1/8 inch buck with the 25 1/2-inch spread that my father would take before the season ended.
The first time we saw the buck was when it appeared on a trail camera... READ MORE
Cow Mountain’s First-Timers
By Bill Hanson
A first deer is a memory of a lifetime for more than the young hunter. As first appeared in The Community Voice of Sonoma County, California. From the highway the north end of Cow Mountain is the only green zone east of the 101, save the flat lands of the Ukiah Valley. The recent Mendocino Complex Fires which includes Hopland’s ‘River F... READ MORE
Ghosts of Christmas Past
By Burnell Simmons
Far too many of us take hunting and Christmases for granted.
Thirteen years — that’s how long it’s been since I fell 25 feet from my treestand. I survived the fall and the hospital stay and made it home for that Christmas in 2001.
It happened at 8:20 a.m. on Dec. 16. I had to walk home from the swamp I was hunting because I had ... READ MORE
Veteran’s Day Dream!
By Donna Shaver
I was hunting in North Carolina on a very cold Veteran’s Day morning in 2013 with my 73-year-old, handicapped father when the flash of antlers caught our attention. Quickly, as the buck moved through the pines, I lifted my Savage muzzleloader into position and peered through my binoculars as the rack headed toward an opening. “Wow, he h... READ MORE
A Little Help from His Friends
By Craig Pondish
Garden State deer drive results in three deer, including a dandy buck. The New Jersey deer season has an extended permit season that continues from the regular six-day firearm season until January 31. The bag limit is one antlered and unlimited antlerless deer. On Saturday, Jan. 19, on private farmland in Burlington County, seven members of our sma... READ MORE
Worth the Wait
By John Mitchell
It took a few years, but when Micah got his first deer, it was a good one. I started taking Micah to the dove lease when he was 7, and he started deer hunting with me when he was 9. Micah has developed a love for hunting and being in the woods. Even so, it felt like he would never get his first deer. It seemed like no matter what, something always ... READ MORE
Study, Hunt, Repeat
By Ben Englert
College student’s first archery harvest gets a 4.0 in Bowhunting 101. It was Nov. 15, and the 2018 Indiana shotgun season would begin two days later. I was logging as many hours as I could with my bow, hoping to tag out before the gun-toting army arrived on opening morning. I had put in countless hunts since bow season started on Oct. 1, but ... READ MORE
The Bow Stalk
By Taylor Maas
Never-quit attitude helps Iowa bowhunter recover his biggest-ever buck. October 11, 2017 started similar to most other fall workdays. After getting to the office that morning, I checked the weather throughout the day, trying to decide if and where I should hunt that evening. The wind that evening allowed me to hunt from a stand I had never tried be... READ MORE
Half a Buck Is Better Than None
By Michael Krause
Even deer hunters get by with a little help from their friends.
For the past 30 years, I’ve been venturing back to my old stomping grounds in Deposit, N.Y., to hunt with my friends from high school. This past season resulted in a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
It happened at about 3 p.m. on the second day of the New York season. It was cold... READ MORE
Snow Falls in the Catskills
By Vincent J. Prybeck
To-the-point New Yorker has enough go for one more season. Nov. 17, 2018, Upstate New York. A Catskill Mountain deer season starts. Snow fell 24 hours earlier. Cloudy, windless, good snow, 28 degrees. In darkness, we hike uphill. With John settled, I head farther uphill. At 2,100 feet, I climb the ladder. Now wait. Season 48 now. How many do I have... READ MORE