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Keys to a Successful Food Plot
By Steve Bartylla
Follow these tips to maximize plant growth and palatability for deer. It was bad. Germinating right before the drought hit, the farmer’s soybeans never had a chance. The only thing in that area of the farm to survive was the acre of clover I’d established earlier that spring. But with the farm crops ruined, I desperately needed more foo... READ MORE
The Gremlin in the Gas
By Ken Piper
How to prepare your ATV for storage and reduce the harmful effects of ethanol. It’s a sure bet that if you’re reading this article, you’re a deer hunter. And although it’s not politically correct to stereotype people, that means you probably have a few items around your house that run on small gas engines. If you do, whether... READ MORE
Sibling Revelry
By Ryan Noffsinger
Illinois brothers celebrate taking nearly 450 inches of bone in less than two weeks. Brothers Austin and George Chandler share a peculiar language consisting of three-word sentences. “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh,” for example, means “You won’t believe the size of the buck I just shot!” With these two, such a statement is pu... READ MORE
Cold Isn’t Cool
By David Hart
How to stay warm during a long day in a cold deer stand. There you sit, all warm and toasty in the cab of your truck, heater on full blast, radio cranking out your favorite tunes. It’s cold, finger-numbing cold, but you did your time. Two hours in a treestand was enough for you. Besides, you didn’t see any deer. But while you toast mars... READ MORE
There Goes the Neighborhood
By Mike Handley
Anyman’s Land coughs up TWO Louisiana records. When Buckmasters published a series of stories about North America’s top 10 producers of record book bucks in 2009, the news generated some unexpected results. Some readers were happy to see their states garner recognition; others’ contempt for “land-grabbing” outfitters f... READ MORE
10 Tricks to Stay All Day
By David Hart
You can’t shoot a buck if you’re warming your toes by the fire. It’s 10 o’clock and you haven’t seen a deer in two hours. Why bother spending the next five hours staring at empty woods? Deer don’t move much in the middle of the day, so instead of fighting hours of boredom, you opt for a warm truck and a steaming ... READ MORE
Gene Pool
By Ed Waite
Two things are clear: Joe Harris’ farm has big deer, and his children know how to shoot. It’s not for lack of trying that 10-year-old Joey Harris hasn’t spent much time in front of a camera, at least not while wearing hunter orange and gripping a dead whitetail. The boy came close last year, but the buck that would’ve landed... READ MORE
Extreme Buck Management
By Steve Bartylla
How to attract and hold more and bigger bucks on your property. When I noticed the 6 1/2-year-old 8-pointer I had nicknamed G2s approaching, I got ready to take a shot. As he spent what seemed like forever working a scrape, I knew being between him and the does would work to my favor. Finally, he headed my way. I drew my bow, settled the pin and se... READ MORE
When In Doubt ...
By Michael Venti
Listen to mama, and always go with the hot doe. While scouting during the spring and summer of 2011, I got several glimpses of an awesome buck. He looked very promising on the three sets of trail camera pictures I had. I was never able to get a really good picture, but he kept getting bigger every time I saw him. When archery season finally arrived... READ MORE
A Year to Remember
By Art Benton
Departed friends and a big buck made 2011 something special. Last year was really different at our hunting camp in Brooksville, Fla. We had gathered as usual, but one of our hunting buddies had passed away, and we had lost two more during the season. Let’s just say we all did some serious reflecting while passing the time on stand. Despite ou... READ MORE
Pressured Bucks
By Steve Bartylla
How to score on ultra-smart, ultra-wary whitetails. It had already been a long day. I’d showered, crossed two swamps, stripped, bathed in Scent Killer and gotten dressed twice — and it was still an hour before first light. Shortly after settling in, I heard the buck coming. At most, it was 60 yards away behind a clump of brush near seve... READ MORE
A Giant Little Buck
By Matt Little
Spending time with dad is great, but shooting a giant buck makes it even better. During the 2011 Ohio youth hunt, my daughter Chelsey told me the same thing she had the two previous years: “Dad, I don’t care if we even see anything. I just love spending this time with you.” The previous year, we had been sitting in the blind drink... READ MORE
Judgment Day
By Bob Humphrey
How to assess bucks on the hoof to manage deer and avoid fines. Boredom, fatigue, lack of sleep from two days of travel and the agonizing cold of northern Saskatchewan were taking a toll. I’d been staring at the same empty spot of woods for several hours with little to show for my mostly mental effort. I lowered my chin and closed my eyes, ju... READ MORE
Is the Rut Overrated?
By David Hart
Is the rut really the slam dunk so many of us assume it is? Just how popular is the rut? Ask any deer hunter and he’ll insist it’s the best time to tag a trophy-class buck. We plan our vacations around it, and we anticipate it the way a child counts down the days to Christmas morning. Even outfitters charge a premium for that mythical p... READ MORE
Home on the Range
By Dennis L. Dahlke
Despite being shot at twice, this mature buck refused to leave his core area. This hunt began three years ago in east-central Kansas. It was late September as I lay on a pond dam glassing an oak ridge. At just about sundown, I spotted a mature buck looking my way. I put out a trail camera but failed to get any shooter bucks on it. The next year, in... READ MORE