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Weak Knees
By Mike Handley
Louisiana northpaw learns the advantages of being a switch-shooter. Jason Archer’s 2013 hunt in Concordia Parish could’ve been a DIRECTV commercial. When you look at your watch and realize a few hours remain in the day, you go hunting. When you go hunting in hog-infested woods, you might expect to shoot a pig. When you choose where to g... READ MORE
Say Cheese!
By Terry Rathman
Justin Newsome’s trail cam setup was like a free photo booth without a curtain. The buck Justin Newsome smoked last September was drawn to a trail camera like a moth to a bug zapper. Justin, a 34-year-old power plant employee who decided Butler, Mo., is a greener pasture than his native Florida, lives about 16 miles from the Kansas state line... READ MORE
The Way to a Buck’s Heart …
By Dale Weddle
Here’s why the raccoons in three Kentucky counties look more like hairy beach balls. “I probably feed deer more than anybody you could imagine,” Jason Stanford laughed. “How much do you feed a year, on average?” I asked, sort of casually. “Probably about 30,000 pounds of corn, at least,” he replied. “... READ MORE
Who Said There’s No Roller Coaster in Kentucky?
By Dale Weddle
When daylight’s burning, there’s no better place for a deer hunter to lick his wounds than from a treestand. The giant whitetail came barreling out of nowhere, running along the edge of the soybean field with its head lowered to battering-ram level, though more interested in smelling the ground than goring Aaron Flanagan. Aaron, caught ... READ MORE
When it’s Okay to be Late for Work
By Darren Schrock
Being called a fair-weather hunter isn’t all bad. Opening day of Indiana’s 2013 firearms season was one of the most memorable days of my life, but not for the reason you’d think. My oldest daughter was married that day, and the entire extended family was in town to join us in celebration. I have to admit, though, that the wedding ... READ MORE
Fearing the Worst
By Lisa Price
Kentucky buck is presumed dead for 11 months before it actually dies. When the 13-pointer stopped mugging for Ashley Bugg’s trail camera in January 2012, the hunter from Corydon, Ky., assumed the deer he’d been watching for two seasons was dead. “In the last photograph I had of the buck, it looked to be in bad shape,” Ashley... READ MORE
Got Rack?
By Lisa Price
You probably do, if you hunt the Mississippi Delta, where big deer are as iconic as cotton, catfish and done-me-wrong songs. Andy Lloyd of Inverness, Miss., owns thousands of acres of some of the most fertile ground in North America. So whenever he has the deer hunting itch, scratching it is as easy as throwing a dart at map. But don’t count ... READ MORE
Success in the Sauna
By Mike Handley
Who wants to hunt deer when it’s 94 degrees in the shade? If you’re going to spend an afternoon in a deer stand when the mercury is pushing 100 degrees, you’d better keep the wind in your sweaty face. Bowhunter Jody Slingo knows this. Even though he could pinpoint — almost to the blade of grass —where an incredible buc... READ MORE
Rethinking the Hold-low Rule
By Ed Waite
Do today’s whisper-quiet bows and lightning-fast arrows render this bowhunting tenet obsolete? If Ryan Stolz hadn’t anticipated his buck’s ducking the string, a phrase that’s rightfully falling out of favor with the (compound) bowhunters who coined it, he might’ve had his mount a whole lot sooner. And he might’ve... READ MORE
Goddess of Urrpp
By Mike Handley
The cow that wasn’t responded to the grunt that wasn’t. Fifteen-year-old Wayne Navarro and his sister, Brooke, three years his junior, have grown accustomed to their mother’s noises. She does it in the kitchen, in the car, and on the living room sofa. If the urge comes, she tucks her chin and urrpps. And if she doesn’t like ... READ MORE
No Interpreter Needed
By Mike Handley
Whenever a doe becomes a bobble-head and closes sesame, you’d better be ready to shoot. When Jason Erb saw the bobble-headed doe tuck her tail and move off, he suspected the gesture wasn’t aimed at him or her two yearlings. It was Sunday, Nov. 3, 2013, too early in the year for her to shoo away her fawns and become a hussy, but not too ... READ MORE
Hello, Stranger!
By Rusty Johnson & Mike Handley
Okie sends son off to shoot the ‘big one,’ and comes home with a giant of his own. For all he knew, when Brooks Malone put on his orange cap and struck out with his rifle on Nov. 17, 2012, he might’ve been walking into a place as barren as the local high school’s football field. He’d given his visiting son, Tucker, dib... READ MORE
Take Two
By Rob Meade
Deer hunters almost never get a second chance at a world-class buck. Here’s why we say ALMOST. Stoked by trail cam photographs of an enormous buck he’d pulled in early October, Lear McCoy spent a lot of time aloft in 2012, hoping to put his sight pin on the whitetail with sweeping main beams, gnarly bases and backward kicker. In Novembe... READ MORE
Roving Whitetail Chooses Wrong Zip Code
By Ed Waite
Late-season bowhunt ends with a world record and a good cry. Long after most of Ohio’s deer hunters had either tagged out or quit because of the bone-chilling cold, 33-year-old Jim Cogar of Powell was still climbing into stands, hoping to see the rambling buck he’d been after since October. It was almost as if he couldn’t live wit... READ MORE
For Mississippians, Pike Still Peaking
By Jill J. Easton
If your heart’s set on steak, would you go to a fast-food drive-through? Finding a good place to hunt trophy whitetails can be difficult. For Matt Moore and his dad, Jimmy, the search for the perfect property spanned years. They traveled to several states and tried many outfitters without much success. But that was before they happened upon S... READ MORE