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Balance of the Sexes
By P.J. Reilly
Can you fix buck-doe ratios, and should you even if you could? The second day of Illinois’ 2010 firearms season was foggy and warm. I couldn’t see more than 10 yards through the pea soup, so I heard the little doe coming well before I saw her. It wasn’t her footsteps that caught my attention; it was her incessant bleating. She cam... READ MORE
Breaking Bad
By Ed Waite
Skill and experience can’t prevent a treestand accident – but a safety harness can. Imagine clinging to hope, practically covering your ears, while a suffering friend begs you to kill him. Or imagine being in such excruciating pain that you would plead with someone to end it, to pull the plug before there’s even a plug to pull. Mi... READ MORE
Muzzleloader’s Paradise
By P.J. Reilly
With the flexibility to be used in several seasons, smokepoles are gaining ground on other firearms. The hammer falls and a high-pitched crack melds into a thunderous boom. The crack-boom is mashed together, but it's clearly two separate sounds. White smoke then spews from the barrel, and the scent of sulfur hangs in the air. Even if you're shootin... READ MORE
Family Tradition
By Chrystal Schultz
It’s good to have an Ace in the hole when you’re after a big buck. Hunting is a tradition in my family. My great-grandfather taught my grandfather, and he passed it down to my dad. Once I expressed an interest, Dad and Grandpa began to teach me. It didn’t take long for me to realize I wanted to hunt more than just the rifle season... READ MORE
Once in a Blue Moon
By Russell Thornberry
A story of what usually happens when we ignore the voice of reason in our heads. If two full moons occur in a single month, the second one is called a Blue Moon, which is something of a rare event. Thus the saying, “Once in a Blue Moon.” I was working in my office and wrestling with whether or not to go bowhunting one evening before I h... READ MORE
Slippin’
By Bob Humphrey
When the deer won’t come to you, it might be time to revive the lost art of still-hunting. Like most deer hunters, I spend the majority of my time waiting for deer to come to me. That gives me plenty of time to think, and I was doing just that one day last fall, taking account of past successes. I’ve killed most of my deer from an eleva... READ MORE
The UV Factor
By David Hart
Science indicates deer hunters should be concerned about the blue “glow.” The decoy looked as real as a decoy can get. It was covered in a thin cloth printed with all the details of a real whitetail, right down to a gleam in the eyes. So what spooked the buck? It wasn’t me. I stood motionless, covered head to boots in full camoufl... READ MORE
Strike a Pose
By Dana R. Rogers
When using a decoy, you’ve got to set the stage if you want to drag more than a plastic buck out of the woods. As I approached my camera setup, I could see the GlenDel buck lying flat on its side. The frozen ground had given way, and the rebar stakes were bent. The target’s legs were twisted and cracked – and that’s exactly ... READ MORE
Ground-Busting Bucks
By Tracy Breen
Who says you have to climb like a monkey to smile like a Cheshire cat? As the average age of whitetail hunters continues to rise, so does the number who choose to hunt from the ground. And many have learned ground-busting bucks isn’t as difficult as they thought. Whether you use a pop-up blind, natural brush or spot-and-stalk, hunting whiteta... READ MORE
Hang On!
By P.J. Reilly
Five tips for creating a better treestand setup. The perfect treestand. It’s something tree-climbing deer hunters work toward each season. The perfect treestand is more about the setup than the brand on the box. A good setup puts you within bow or gun range of a big buck. It’s comfortable, safe and functional. Quite frankly, it’s ... READ MORE