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Western Whitetails
By Fred Eichler
As whitetails continue to adapt to mule deer country, so must the hunters who pursue them. The monster whitetail had five long, heavy points on each side of his rack. With a trembling hand, I slowly lifted my recurve bow off the hook. Luke Robb, a friend and one of the guides who works for me, was sitting in a stand just above with a camera. He whi... READ MORE
Diversion Tactics
By Joe Blake
A decoy might make the difference in tagging a buck this season. The giant 9-pointer was trudging across the huge Nebraska CRP field, no doubt looking for a willing doe. Although he was more than 100 yards away, his massive rack stood out clearly above the tall grass. I was able to glass the trophy from my perch, 12 feet up a twisted elm, longbow i... READ MORE
Reading Rubs
By Darren Warner
Rubs have been shrugged off as scouting tools, but they can be an important part of the buck equation. To many deer hunters, at least those who don’t play an instrument, buck rubs are like sheet music. They know what they’re looking at and that it contains a lot of information, but they’re not sure about the melody — or, in ... READ MORE
Supersized!
By Mike Handley
Put on your bibs, because here are a couple of ’Bama whitetails that’ll make you drool! Alabama has one of the longest and most generous deer seasons in the country, as well as one of the largest herds. But it isn’t known for bucks that’ll make a discriminating hunter salivate like a dieter watching a KFC Double Down commerc... READ MORE
Do Buck Limits Matter?
By David Hart
If success rates are relatively low, why do we even have buck limits? In 2007, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources changed a long-standing tradition when it reduced the state’s bag limit from a buck a day to three per season. The reason, according to deer studies project leader Chris Cook, was to shift pressure away f... READ MORE
Scoring From Ground Zero
By Darren Warner
You can’t always find a climbable tree in good whitetail habitat. For several long days, I’d faithfully hunted from a permanent ground blind in northern Michigan, and I was beginning to think I was wasting my time. I’d probably overhunted the blind, repeatedly drawn back by my father’s news of spotting a mature buck in the a... READ MORE
What Jinx?
By Mike Handley
Old Kansas Proverb: Sometimes you get the deer’s goat, sometimes he gets yours. Dear Abby: While deer hunting in Kansas last season, I was given the chance to test-drive an Ameristep pop-up blind erected by a guy whose trip was cut short by news of a workplace crisis. The man, from one of those C-cities in Ohio, obviously put a lot of work in... READ MORE
Put a Buck to Bed
By Bob Humphrey
A look at whitetail bedding areas and how they’re important to hunters. My son Ben and I made our way to within 100 yards of our double ladder stand. “We’re gonna have to be as quiet as we can from here on,” I said. He understood why and nodded. We moved slowly and quietly, inching forward only when the wind blew, then crept... READ MORE
Get Up and Go!
By David Hart
You need a Plan B when treestands and food plot vigils aren’t working. When a herd of cows decided to camp out under Gary Smith’s northern Virginia treestand, he had no choice but to get down and move. It was still early in the morning, but instead of hustling to his backup stand, Smith decided to still-hunt his way along a ridge. It tu... READ MORE
The Long Haul
By Joe Blake
The more time you spend in the woods, the better your odds for success. The cold, north wind continued stinging my face, just as it had throughout the day. Intermittent waves of sleet and snow didn’t make things any easier as I continued to scan the Minnesota woodlot. The discomfort caused me to question the wisdom of remaining in the stand, ... READ MORE