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The Deer Camp Fridge Test
By Noel Prevost
Like many hunters, my deer camp is a long distance from home. In my case, the deer grow larger in the northern portion of the state, so that’s where my cabin and camp are. Because it’s a 3 1/2 hour drive, I can’t check on our place very frequently during the off season, so it will go for months without attention. If the power has ... READ MORE
Gut Instinct Leads to Gut Pile
By Lee Hutcherson
Although I’ve only been hunting whitetails a few short years, I no longer wander around undecided about where I will hunt. This season, I learned something that other Buckmasters fans might appreciate. I’m blessed to hunt 2,000 acres of private land, so picking a spot to hunt can be a little overwhelming at times. Heck, it’s hard ... READ MORE
Slip-on Mud-buster and Scent Rag
By Brian Soderston
Anyone who has hunted from a metal treestand and had a chunk of mud fall off a boot will tell you the same thing. It’s usually a quiet day, and the clod always hits something metal on its way to the ground, creating a loud, unwanted noise. And why does this seem to happen at the worst possible time, when deer are near your stand? Talk about ... READ MORE
Train Your Best Friend to Find Sheds
By Irby C. Edwards III
Now that I have trained my young Labrador Retriever to find sheds, I look forward to my time in the woods at the end of deer season. Remi’s nose comes in handy here in Georgia where ground cover is thick. Sheds are much harder to find in the forests of the Deep South, unlike the giant fields and open ground in the Midwest. It was easier to tr... READ MORE
A Venison vs. Deer Meat Story
By Harley Trumbo
Thank God, I never witnessed my father field dressing a deer! At age 60, and the youngest of three brothers, I shudder at their horror stories of Dad’s methods of handling dead deer and field dressing them. Killing a deer was rare back then, so Dad made it a point to stop by every gas station in town and relive the hunt with friends &m... READ MORE
Don’t Let Your Ladder Sink
By Tim H. Martin & Ryan Noffsinger
In December of 2017, Buckmasters Art Director Ryan Noffsinger had a scary incident while climbing into an old metal ladder stand on his property. Years before Millennium became our trusted sponsor, a member of Ryan’s hunt club had erected an off-brand ladder stand on seemingly firm ground during the dry Alabama summertime. The ladder portion ... READ MORE
More Unusual Tactics & Tips
By Jamie Gemino
I’m just being honest when I say I’ve been very successful the past few years to have taken some monster bucks in my home state of Indiana. Buckmasters fans have been sending some very unusual tips to Tip of the Week, and I’d like to share some of my own methods for putting nice bucks on my wall. Pop-up Blind Backdoor Ambush Matu... READ MORE
Good Ol’ NaHCO3!
By Michael Morton
As a longtime bowhunter, I’m extremely careful about my scent control. And if you’re like me, you respect a deer’s sense of smell above practically everything else. You could say I take scent-masking to the extreme, but I don’t believe that’s possible. I use every modern advancement available as part of my routine, wh... READ MORE
Flashlights Save Lives
By Tim H. Martin
Several years ago, something terrible happened that caused me to re-think the value of a flashlight. It’s the reason I carry multiple flashlights in my backpack today, just in case one stops working. About 10 miles from my hunting land, a man was hunting with his son and a family friend. There was a tragic incident that has haunted me for yea... READ MORE
Nature’s Deer Alarms
By Cecil Adkins
Here’s a tip for Buckmasters fans I use when hunting in thick places such as overgrown fields, dense cutovers, heavy woods and sapling tickets. In places like this it’s often difficult, if not impossible, to monitor all directions for approaching whitetails. You simply cannot see far enough into the thick stuff. But Mother Nature has an... READ MORE
Small Property Water Holes
By Michael Malloy
Most hunters know the big three elements to keeping deer on your property: water, cover, and a good food source, even on small tracts like my 10 acres in Georgia. If any one of these three is missing, the deer will likely leave your area. Whether you have 10 acres or hundreds, recent droughts have taught us a lot about what deer do when water is la... READ MORE
Scent-soaked Sock Secret
By Armand Tetreault
Photo: Armand Tetreault wasn’t afraid to try an unusual tactic. In only four years, it has helped him put 13 deer in the freezer, including this Rhode Island buck. I am 54 years old and fairly new to the sport of whitetail hunting. Since my hunting career hasn’t been all that long, many hunters might assume I wouldn’t have much to... READ MORE
Evergreen Rubdown
By Wesley J. Cagle
One of my personal favorite tips is something I’ve done for a long time, and it really works for tricking a deer’s nose. I’m almost never winded, and have had countless deer walk within feet of me. It’s become a routine now. All I do is take fresh pine needles — preferably from a young tree — and break them ever... READ MORE
De-stinkify Your Hands
By Tim H. Martin
When I think back to the time I shot and field dressed my first buck, I can still remember the frustrations of trying to get the stink off my hands. That was nearly 40 years ago. Mind you, these were extra funky rutty hands, because I’d somehow managed to grab the buck’s hock glands while dragging it out of the woods — the classic... READ MORE
Give the Most to Your Host
By Rob ‘Buck Rub’ Cyr
If you are blessed enough to have access to hunting on private land, be thankful, but also, get to know your hosts. Think about things from the perspective of the landowner and ask yourself these questions: Are you the type of hunter YOU would enjoy having on your property? Would you enjoy having YOU around? Hopefully, your host perceives you as a ... READ MORE
Thanks, Pop! And All Hunting Mentors
By Tim H. Martin
This Thanksgiving, take a minute to thank the person who introduced you to hunting. If they have since passed, please use that minute to remember them. I am thanking my father, Larry K. Martin. Thanksgiving Day 2017 will mark exactly 40 years since he took me on my first white-tailed deer hunt. FORTY YEARS! On Thursday, November 24, 1977, I had no ... READ MORE
Three Outside-the-Box Tips
By Amy Young
Buckmasters fan Amy Young sent us three unusual tips that have helped in her hunting career. She definitely thinks outside the box!Tip One: Local Ingredient Sponges To make my own natural-scent sponges, I take local ingredients: dirt, leaves and materials from around my stand, then mix with water and strain. Next, I place the water in a sealable co... READ MORE
Bowhunting Mentality for Gun Season
By Bryan Smith
I am a 56-year-old hunter who has been chasing whitetails for 35 of those years. Bowhunting is a passion, and early in my career I learned to work hard to stay undetected by deer within spitting distance. Like most serious bowhunters, I shower with scent-free soap/shampoo, wash every item of my clothes in scent-free detergent, avoid smoke or perfu... READ MORE
The Mock Intruder Trick
By Ed Rogers
Every hunter has his or her own method of convincing big bucks to come to their stand. Here is my favorite method of luring them in. Whenever I take a buck, I remove the tarsal glands. These are the dark, smelly patches of fur located inside the big bend of each hind leg. Some hunters call them hock glands. I scrape off any meat tissue, rub a littl... READ MORE
Living Buck Sensors: Other Deer
By Tim H. Martin
When a deer approaches a treestand or steps onto a food plot, the inexperienced hunter’s instinct is to shoot it as soon as possible, or before it gets away. There’s nothing wrong with that if the only goal is to quickly fill a tag and head to the processor, but it robs beginners of important learning experiences that will serve them w... READ MORE