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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
The Perfect 10
By Jeffery Patterson
Call it beginner’s luck or call it fate, but you can add another hunter to our ranks. I got my crossbow from a friend who said he wanted to sew a seed in my life. At the time, I had no idea what he was talking about, but I decided to give this hunting thing a try. I got up at 5:30 on the first day of Virginia’s archery season and was in... 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
Lessons Learned
By Amanda Baker
Every miss and close encounter brings you that much closer. I have been deer hunting in Wisconsin for about 15 years. I started with a rifle and took up archery about three years later. I hunt public land and private, and until 2018, the biggest deer I had taken was a small 6-pointer. Some years, I didn’t shoot anything, and there were severa... READ MORE
Proud To Be a Cat Person
By Stephen McGrew
Who decided that only dogs could be man’s best friend?
I received a call from my uncle the previous Sunday inviting me to bow hunt with my cousins behind their house on Tuesday. I jumped at the opportunity since that meant I wouldn’t have to get up as early as I would if I were going to our lease in Coweta County.
Tuesday came and I a... READ MORE
If It Feels Right ...
By William Sawyer
Trust your instincts when you think you’ve made a great shot. During the 2014 archery season in Guilford County, North Carolina, I had found a large rub while putting out some corn. It looked like a great place to set up, but I didn’t want to hunt it until conditions were perfect. On the second Saturday of the season, I asked my wife to... READ MORE
What the Doctor Ordered
By William Miley
The best therapy is spending time in a deer stand. I live in Abilene, Texas, but I am from Westminster in Maryland. About 17 years ago, my family attended a church picnic for 4th of July. Someone had set up a bow range as part of the entertainment, and my good friend Rick Ellis told me to give it a shot. I borrowed pastor Ed Conrad’s compound... READ MORE
Opening Day Duck
By Roper Wilkes
Big South Carolina buck instead turns out to be a huge doe. Hi, Smalltown Bucks fans! My wife Joan and I run 707 Deer Processing in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and we thought you might be interested in seeing this deer. Our friend, 18-year-old Bryan Williamson, harvested this massive 204-pound antlered doe on Sept. 2. Bryan comes from a die-hard ... 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
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