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Breakfast with Whitetails
By Tom Fegely
One of the benefits of being an outdoors writer is the bonus of hunting and wildlife photography – deer in particular – as part of the job. Most of my whitetail encounters are made from fall into spring, which is why I decided to have breakfast with the whitetails one August morning. My alfresco dining spot was a large high-fenced field... READ MORE
Mapping Trophy Bucks
By Steve Bartylla
The contour map revealed a long ridge slicing through the big timber, eventually splitting into a “Y.” Fifty yards before the split, a dip in the ridge formed a saddle. As a bonus, a deep erosion cut ran from the valley all the way up to just short of the saddle. The combination of features formed a great location for intercepting roami... READ MORE
Tinkle Up A Buck
By Harvey Bauer
During several years of hunting in West Virginia, I had the great pleasure of getting to know an elderly mountain man who has harvested more than his share of trophy bucks.I arrived at his secluded farm for one of my visits while he was working in his barn. The big doors stood open and an astonishing number of big whitetail racks were tacked inside... READ MORE
How I Found My Hunting Partners
By Mark L. Nash
“Be still,” I whispered to Jordan. The doe saw our odd shapes at the base of the tree and stopped to study us for a moment. She soon decided that we didn’t belong there and beat a hasty retreat. A short time later, I spied a small deer standing farther down the ridge behind where the doe had been. “Take your time and shoot t... READ MORE
Gut Piles and Roadkills
By Tom Fegely
Having grown up hunting deer in Pennsylvania and with visits to more than three dozen whitetail-rich states over the years, it has become obvious that deer hunters provide other wildlife with a phenomenal amount of fresh meat, organs and other internal body parts every hunting season.
It’s from early October into December that the greatest c... READ MORE
A License to Drive
By Rick Sapp
Just as his father taught him 40 years ago, Tim Hooey is teaching his son to hunt. But sometimes it is not easy knowing what is perfectly good repetitive instruction and what is outright nagging. Sometimes Dad forgets that he was the same do-it-my-own-way kind of kid. Hooey meticulously planned the opening-day hunt. It would be most productive to h... READ MORE
Late Breeders & Big Eaters
By Peter R. Schoonmaker
The wind picked up, and the early December sky turned ash gray. From the steep lee side of my mountain treestand, I could only imagine what it was like on the western side. Mounting gusts let me know that a snow squall would soon arrive. The air wasn’t the only thing moving. I could see deer legs in a stand of hemlocks below me. When the squa... READ MORE
Film Your Own Hunts
By Steve Bartylla
Catching movement out of the corner of my eye, I turned to see the mature 10-pointer trotting my way. I hit “record” and shifted the camera to center the oncoming buck. Steadily following his approach, I got in position for the impending shot. With the buck stopped behind a tree, I shifted the camera two steps forward and attached the r... READ MORE
Buck Fever
By Dale R. Larson
While preparing for a Colorado elk hunt, I was trying to establish a 50-yard pin. The sight pin bulb was covering my spot on the target, making it difficult to concentrate on it. I was high-tech back then, with a painted bulb on the end of the brass sight pin. The bulb end of my 20-yard pin had broken off, and I had become accustomed to using the b... READ MORE
Vanishing Bucks
By Dale R. Larson
Have you ever wondered why you couldn’t locate a specific buck you hunted the previous season? For years, I would have high expectations and visions of the antler development on the leftover bucks after each hunting season. However, without fail, when the next season rolled around, those bucks couldn’t be found. The average life span of... READ MORE
Rut Phases
By Dale R. Larson
The rut … that magical time of the year for which all bowhunters live. Whether it’s the aggressive, sign-posting time of the prerut, the tongue-hanging-out ignore-everything chase and lock-down phase of the rut, or the try-to-find-leftover-does activity of the post rut, I couldn’t live without it. I have often said that if I coul... READ MORE
Reading Rubs
By David Hart
The buck was only a 6-pointer. Barry Henningsen wasn’t interested in tagging it, so instead of drawing his bow, the 52-year-old Manassas, Va., resident stood stone-still in his portable stand and watched the buck ease up to a small tree. Henningsen was on a military base that he frequents – one that, despite heavy hunting pressure, has ... READ MORE
Sign of the Times
By John Trout Jr.
Four hot scrapes followed a trail along the side of the ridge. Nevertheless, I remained skeptical after climbing into my stand just before dawn. You see, I had been beaten by so called hot scrapes too many times. You know how it works. You come across a fresh scrape and realize that not long ago a buck was there. It looks like a no-miss situation. ... READ MORE