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In the Nick of Time
By Jayden Steinkamp, age 11
Napping in the stand is okay, but shooting a big buck is better.
It was midseason in Indiana in 2013, and the wind wasn’t blowing hard. We had gone hunting in the morning and saw one doe. We were hunting at my grandpa’s, and there are some big deer there. He doesn’t like us to shoot does, so we passed.
When it got 2:50 p.m. that... READ MORE
The Fall that Changed It All
By Allen Wall
There’s no amount of experience or luck that will stop a treestand accident. The popping in my back sounded like someone running their fingers down the keys of a piano. The moment my feet touched the ground, my legs collapsed and my butt slammed to the ground. All of the vertebrae in my back compressed with the weight of my head and shoulders... READ MORE
How To End a Season
By Miranda Cheatham
Every hunting season since I was 2 years old, my dad and I have traveled from our home in Niceville, Fla., to Macon County, Alabama. It had been four years since I was able to take a nice buck worthy of mounting.
This year I had a new gun handed down to me, a 1980s Browning BAR .270. I had been letting small bucks walk until the rut hit. Then, on ... READ MORE
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
Turkey for Two
By Krissy Jean Zimmer
I love it when a plan ... falls apart. It just makes it that much sweeter when you make a new plan, get busted twice and still manage to bloody up the tailgate. As planned, we started the morning on the ground in front of a long narrow food plot. We knew the sun was going to be highlighting us so we brushed in, settled down and waited for daybreak.... READ MORE
The 12-Year Wait
By Candice Guthrie
For the past 12 years, I’ve have been hunting on my dad’s lease in north Louisiana, Bienville Parish in Saline. I’ve only had a chance to shoot does. For some reason, I would never see a buck, and the two times I did see bucks, they were chasing does, and I can’t shoot that fast!
I finally had my chance to change things the... READ MORE
The 165-Inch Spike
By Tony Crowder
Every time my daughter Alexis and I had been out hunting, she was determined that would be the time she would get a deer. She’d put in the work, helped build a box blind, and she’d been out there every chance she had regardless of weather. She was ready and hungry for her first deer.
We’d planned to go hunting early Monday, Nov. ... READ MORE
Buck Fever vs. Girl Power
By Mendy Fryman
First things first. I love to hunt, and I also love being a girlie gal, so I fix my hair and wear earrings — the same pair every time for luck — each time I go to the woods. This is in case a photo op arrives, either a selfie or when I take a deer! My husband Daryl always hurries me out of the bathroom before we go to the woods, and he ... READ MORE
First of Many
By Lyndsey Wesner
I’ve had a lot of firsts in the past eight months, so after I caught my first 20-pound king salmon, shot my first 8-point buck with a bow, took my first doe with a bow, and my first doe with a muzzleloader, naturally I expressed desire to shoot my first turkey.
My husband Rick said, “It's not easy. They have keen eyesight, and the slig... READ MORE
Oh, Brother!
By Todd Davis
Last year my youngest brother Fred kept harvesting critters in northeast Oklahoma, while I struggled to see anything in drought stricken north Texas.
North Texas looked, smelled, and felt like being on the moon. Everything was brittle, dried up and turning to dust. After ribbing me for months, Fred finally extended an invitation to hunt with him t... READ MORE