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Craving Chocolate
By Ken Piper
And this buck’s dark rack wasn’t even its most noticeable feature. It was the third morning in the stand for Scent-Lok’s Mike Andrews. He had several bucks in his archery sight over the previous two mornings, but the buck he was after, a big 10-pointer, had passed by out of range both days. He couldn’t help asking himself wh... READ MORE
So You Want To Be a Turkey Hunter?
By Bob Humphrey
If you’ve been intimidated by the thought of turkey hunting, now’s a great time to give it a try. When I started turkey hunting back in the early 1980s, there wasn’t a whole lot of instructional information around on how to do it. To make matters worse, turkey hunting was still in its infancy in the northeast, where I hail from. T... READ MORE
How To Score Your Turkey
By Bob Humphrey
Did you know you could score your turkey and possibly enter it into the record books? The National Wild Turkey Federation maintains official records of wild turkeys taken by fair chase methods anywhere in the world. Rather than simply using weight, their system consists of a combination of three measurements: live weight, beard length and spur leng... READ MORE
Turkey Vocalizations
By Bob Humphrey
While wild turkeys are known to use at least 30 different calls, you need only master these few. According to researchers, the wild turkey’s vocabulary consists of at least 30 distinct calls. Fortunately, you only need to be able to mimic a half-dozen or so to hunt them effectively. Probably the most familiar, and easiest to imitate is the "y... READ MORE
How to Bag the Biggest Bird of Your Life
By Bob Humphrey
The older a turkey gets, the smarter he gets. Try these tips to bag the biggest bird of your life. When I started guiding turkey hunters, birds were hard to find and permits hard to get. Most of my clients were first-time turkey hunters and I advised hunters to take the first legal bird they could. “Get one under your belt, gain some experien... READ MORE
Tactics for Hard-Hunted Turkeys
By Bob Humphrey
Increase your turkey hunting success with these tips for pressured birds. As my truck rolled down the gravel road I turned to the fellow I was guiding and revealed, “this is one of the heaviest hunted spots in the area. The road ends up ahead and there’s a field off to the left. At dawn it looks like a parking lot.” No response wa... READ MORE
How To Deal With Henned-Up Birds
By Bob Humphrey
Turkey season is hard enough without having to deal with henned-up gobblers. Try these tricks the next time you face a not-so-lonesome tom. One of the biggest obstacles most turkey hunters will face at one time or another is dealing with henned-up birds. Of course, this depends a lot on the timing of hunting seasons in relation to the turkey's bree... READ MORE
Going Public
By Ace Sommerfeld
When it comes to hunting public land, attitude and preparation go a long way. Photo: Andy Treistad missed this buck during a special military base hunt. He returned the next season to finish the job. I heard all the horror stories of hunting public land and felt bad for anyone who had to put up with the perils of such places. The biggest complaint... READ MORE
Bucks In the Hood
By Tom Fegely
You Can Play an Important Role in Controlling Suburban Deer.
If you don’t get down here soon, I’m going to shoot that buck myself,” Bob Walker half-teased in a phone call a couple autumns back. “He comes through here at least once a day, and we have him pretty well patterned. If somebody else doesn’t get him soon he's... READ MORE
Worth the Wait
By Carl Siebers
How a grateful son helped return the gift of hunting to his proud father. Forty-three years ago, I went on my first deer hunt and harvested a fork-horn on opening morning. I discovered the meaning of buck fever, but not from the deer I’d taken. I recall discarding the paper-jacketed 16-gauge pumpkin ball casing. Morning rain had made the... READ MORE
In a Zone
By Steve Bartylla
Break down buck behavior to know where to set up stands.
It was one of the more educating afternoons of my bowhunting career. From a stand on the cornfield, I glassed a buck in his bed on the opposite ridge. With more than two hours before last light, I was pumped. I had no doubt that he would rise and head my way before dark. My only concern was ... READ MORE
Role Reversal
By Jeff Kreager
This time it was Dad’s turn to be told where to hunt. The 2006 Ohio archery season started quickly when my son, Cody, was able to arrow a big buck on opening day. Cody was home from college and didn’t have much time to hunt, so I placed him over the trail camera that was getting regular pictures of that deer. I’ve placed Cody in m... READ MORE
An Ounce of Prevention
By Tom Fegely
Muzzleloaders require extra care to prevent mishaps and ensure functionality. In 1975, the second year of Pennsylvania’s winter flintlock season, I was invited to join a commercial outfitter in the Pocono Mountains for a post-Christmas muzzleloader hunt. Two of the participants were New Jersey hunters who, a couple days before, had received f... READ MORE
How To Beat the Lull
By Steve Bartylla
When the hunting gets slow, it might be time to break a few “rules.” On Oct. 23, 2006, Wisconsin hunter Barry Rose hoped to meet up with the buck he’d seen earlier in the season. The 16-point typical monster, with antlers measuring 208 1/8 inches, was well worthy of any hunter’s attention. On the way in to the stand that ove... READ MORE
Scents and Scents-Ibility
By Bob Humphrey
Scent suppression is like a chain: One weak link and the whole system fails. Some studies suggest a whitetail’s sense of smell might be 10,000 times more sensitive than ours. We don’t know for sure, and the number isn’t really important. What is important to deer hunters — especially bowhunters — is doing everything yo... READ MORE
Hiding In Plain Sight
By Tom Fegely
We’ve learned some of our best concealment tricks from the original masters.
My thoughts should have been on deer, but the occasional scratch in the dry leaves below my treestand commanded my attention. After several minutes, a glimpse of movement in the mottled leaves revealed the oval form of a woodcock going about its business of poking i... READ MORE
That’s No Squirrel
By Matt Saunders
Ohio youth hunter gets the job done with a single-shot .410.
My 8-year-old son Luke had been bugging me all summer about getting him a .410 shotgun so he could go hunting with me. I finally caved in and bought him a Rossi single-shot .410 and his apprentice license. I taught him how to be safe with the gun and respect its power, and also to respec... READ MORE
Funneling Bucks
By Steve Bartylla
Sometimes a buck needs a little nudge to put him in the right spot for a shot.
The more I studied the area, the more convinced I became that I’d found the best stand site on the property. Other locations along the creek bottom looked good but were too wide to cover.
This spot was different. Here, the creek bank sliced diagonally from tight ... READ MORE
Fall of the Kessnich King
By John Albert
You know you have a big buck when you shoot the one the taxidermist is after. I have lived in Wisconsin for almost seven years now and have been fortunate to meet some unique and fine people. One of those people is the owner of 751 acres near Bear Valley, where we hunt and practice fine deer management. On Nov. 3, 2004, I was headed to a stand I us... READ MORE
An Early Christmas Gift
By Sandy and Donnie Wigginton
Daughter buys her dad a license for an out-of-state hunt of a lifetime.
I moved to Rogersville, Ala., five years ago from Mississippi. It was difficult to move, because my father and I have always shared a love for the outdoors. It has always been something that enabled us to have time together. For his 2006 Christmas present, my brother Casey, Mo... READ MORE