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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
The Deer Doctors
By Bob Humphrey
New studies examine predator impact, protein effect and more. Wildlife biologists, many of whom are hunters, spend a considerable amount of time in the field and come up with some pretty interesting stuff. Most of what we know about deer anatomy, physiology, biology, breeding behavior, food preferences, vocalizations and habitat use originated fro... READ MORE
Raise Your Rattling IQ
By P.J. Reilly
Ph.D. applies some science to the mystery of antler rattling.
Being a deer hunter offers the opportunity to see things in the woods that non-hunters probably will see only on TV: a buck chasing a doe during the rut, a buck making a scrape or a doe challenging a coyote to protect her fawns.
The first time I saw two bucks fighting was about 15 year... READ MORE
The Seven Deadly Sins of Bowhunting
By P.J. Reilly
Hunting with stick and string has enough challenges, so avoid these common mistakes.
In a perfect world, Superman always foils the crime, baseball is always played outdoors and bowhunters always get the drop on Old Swayback.
Spoiler alert! Superman is a cartoon. Teams like Seattle and Milwaukee play their home games inside domes, and bowhunters s... READ MORE
Murphy Was a Deer Hunter
By Bob Humphrey
Anything that can go wrong in the deer woods usually does. I had no hunting mentors when I was a kid. There were no hunters among my family or friends. I didn’t even know anyone who hunted. I gleaned what I could from outdoor magazines (there were three at the time) and books (there were darned few of those), but most of what I learned came t... READ MORE
Pining for Bucks
By Ken Piper
You can figure out how to hunt any property if you focus on a deer’s basic needs. I couldn’t see the buck when my daughter’s .243 roared, but I saw it run off the field, and it didn’t look hurt. Turning to me with a horrified look, Megan said, “Dad, I think I missed it! All this time waiting for a chance at a buck, and... READ MORE
Monster Magnets
By Dan Tierney
Learn how these four bowhunters consistently tag trophies on small private properties and public land. For three years, the Wisconsin giant taunted Dan Infalt from its strategically positioned bed under a willow tree in a relatively open area. With each season, the buck grew bigger and smarter, constantly eluding Infalt while consistently bedding i... READ MORE
Lunar or Loony?
By David Hart
Does moon phase really affect deer activity? As an outfitter who hunts on some of the most storied ground in the country, Darrin Bradley is always looking for a leg up on trophy bucks. So, in 1994, he started keeping track of his personal deer observations and those of his hunters, along with weather data. “I wanted to collect statistics rela... READ MORE
Drop Tine Blues
By Michael Morgan
Nothing is more frustrating, or more rewarding, than hunting with a bow. I have lived my whole life in Louisiana, and ever since I was in diapers, I have loved the outdoors. I started bowhunting six years ago and found it to be the most rewarding and frustrating hunting of my life. In other words, I’m hooked. Three years ago, my friend Whit A... READ MORE
A Day In The Life
By David Hart
White-tailed bucks lead a pretty mundane existence ... until the rut kicks in. Countless research projects have taught us a lot about whitetail behavior. Bucks range far and wide during the rut, for example, and buck activity is often dictated by doe behavior. Most studies are conducted using GPS technology that sends a signal every hour. It’... READ MORE
Second Chance
By Mike Handley
If at first you don’t succeed, get another arrow ready. A 24-year-old welder from Abingdon, Ill., made short work of dispatching a deer on Nov. 4, but it took the avid bowhunter more than two hours to realize it. Matt Ford wanted to know if the gigantic buck was dead, of course, but he was in no hurry to confirm his suspicion that his less-th... READ MORE
No Bones About It
By Bob Humphrey
There’s more to judging a trophy than antlers. Body characteristics can tell you a lot about a buck. The buck that stood before me was a real tempter — not huge, but the best I’d seen in an 11-hour vigil. I knew he would meet many hunters’ definition of a shooter, even my own under different circumstances. But I knew this pi... READ MORE
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