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Rut Factors
By David Hart
It’s the best time to tag a monster buck, so why aren’t you seeing any? It’s the peak of the rut, so it’s only natural to expect a giant buck to chase a doe past your stand. Isn’t that what’s supposed to happen during the rut? But after a full day in the woods, you see nothing but a disinterested spike and a few ... READ MORE
Bowhunting With a Rifle
By Mike Handley
Just as bowhunters sometimes head to wide open spaces, gunners should consider trying thickets. Even before leaving Alabama for Pawnee City, Neb., I was torn between hunting the edge of an alfalfa field with 400-yard views in two directions or the little pocket I’d bowhunted almost yearly for 10 years. By no stretch of imagination is the latt... READ MORE
Just Rewards
By Jay Cremer
Would you work the late shift for just one buck?
I was running late on the last day of bow season before the Illinois shotgun opener. To add insult to injury, I knew I was going to miss the last and best few hours of the day since I had to be back to work at 4 that evening.
On the bright side, the bucks had been pushing does pretty hard. I had se... READ MORE
Mr. Puke and Mr. Big
By Jeremy Landreth
Father and son take two special bucks on one amazing day. I’m an avid bowhunter who enjoys shotgun season more for taking kids hunting than hunting myself. When the 2012 Illinois shotgun season arrived, I was happy to have my 9-year-old son Matthew and my 15-year-old cousin Walker Simpson geared up and ready to go. The plan was for Matthew an... READ MORE
Scaling New Heights
By P.J. Reilly
How treestand height affects impact points and shot angles.
It’s no secret that bowhunters love hanging out in the trees. Ground blinds have been gaining popularity in recent years, but treestands are still the go-to setup for bowhunters.
Elevation helps you see farther and reduces the chance of a buck spotting you, but other things are dif... READ MORE
Big Deuce
By Mike Handley
Two brothers, two arrows and one very big buck. Tony Yoder might prefer not to dwell on the day he white-knuckled his bow and torqued the shot at the biggest whitetail he’s ever encountered. But every time he visits his brother, Winston, the memories come flooding back … of seeing the monstrous buck, shooting at it, spending an entire ... READ MORE
Become a Buck Profiler
By Darren Warner
Because good deer hunters don’t have to be politically correct. Ask any researcher who’s spent a lot of time around whitetails, and they’ll tell you that deer, just like our pets, have distinct personalities. “I think there’s a lot of collateral research that supports the belief that bucks have different personality ty... READ MORE
It’s in the Genes
By Bob Humphrey
Are whitetails from Florida really the same as those from Saskatchewan? Sheep hunters first procured the term Grand Slam from baseball to recognize those who had taken each of the North American sheep species recognized by the Boone and Crockett Club: Dall’s, Rocky Mountain bighorn, desert bighorn and Stone’s. Turkey hunters later follo... READ MORE
Surviving Lockdown
By P.J. Reilly
When the bucks won’t come to you, it’s time to go to them. Lockdown. It’s like deer season constipation. After several weeks of steady deer sightings, they suddenly just disappear. Hunters sit in their stands and hope and pray things will shake loose, but often all they experience is frustration. Lockdown is that difficult period ... READ MORE
Here Comes the Bride
By Mike Handley
Giant Indiana buck isn’t second place in everything. The year Jackie Robinson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking Major League Baseball’s five-decade color barrier, a doctor from Natchez, Miss., shot a Louisiana buck that would not be seriously challenged for 66 years. The gnarly whitetail taken in 1947 by the late Dr. Joseph Shi... READ MORE
Speed Scouting
By David Hart
Never pass up a chance to hunt new land, even if you don't have much time to scout. Never one to pass up an opportunity to hunt new land, David Wilton still hesitated when a couple asked him to help with their deer problem. He was sitting next the man and woman at a church dinner a few years ago when the discussion turned to gardening. "They told m... READ MORE
Single and Happy
By Ken Piper
Flat-shooting bows have given new life to single-pin sights. I'm getting to that age where things just don't work the way they used to. My belly is round instead of flat, I can't hear a deer coming any more (wear hearing protection at the gun range!), and the pins on my bow sight are getting blurry. I'm also starting to appreciate the simpler thing... READ MORE
The Real Rut
By Bob Humphrey
Understanding whitetail breeding is the key to hunting the rut effectively. In the small woodlot behind a lush clover field, a buck stirs in his bed. The sun set less than an hour ago. He rises, surveys his surroundings and takes two steps forward. He licks his nose and tests the air while his ears twist this way and that, straining against the clo... READ MORE
Covert Ops
By Steve Bartylla
How to get more from your trail cameras than just pictures. I’d been holding out for a big, mature buck with my bow, but when I still hadn’t put a tag on one by the close of the firearms season, I knew I had to make a move. I had several trail cameras out and decided to swap out the memory cards and let the pictures tell their story. If... READ MORE
Management Makeover
By David Hart
Biologists face new challenges as herd dynamics change. Like nature itself, white-tailed deer management is in a constant state of change. Too many deer, too few hunters, disease, even the constant evolution of hunters themselves creates new management hurdles for deer biologists. It’s no surprise that a host of new challenges is on the horiz... READ MORE