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Rock Star
By Lisa Price
You know that awkward moment when you realize, hey, those ARE antlers? This guy does. Although Jerry Watt is a self-professed “man cave kind of guy,” that doesn’t mean he leaves the rest of the house — or the chores — to the missus. He’s also the kind of guy who’ll cut short a deer hunt in order to help his... READ MORE
Where Calendar Trumps Thermometer
By Lisa Price
Whether hunter or hunted, if you live in the sauna known as southwestern Georgia, you’re going to break a sweat. Deer hunters in the Midwest complain loudly whenever the temperature climbs into the 60s in November. Farther north, they’d consider it justification for staying indoors and watching hunters on television whispering into the ... READ MORE
Deer Dementia?
By Rob Meade
Even smart, nocturnal bucks can forget everything they’ve learned. As a timber buyer in the logging industry, Chad McCoy of Peebles, Ohio, spends a lot of time in the woods. Even when he’s not working, he’s often still looking at trees from a deer stand. In the fall of 2010, while appraising property in Adams County, he came acros... READ MORE
The Perfect Garnish for Backstrap
By Dale Weddle
Bluegrass doctor makes up for lost time in a span of five minutes. Patrick Williams would’ve been happy just to be far removed from a waiting room full of patients. He’d have been ecstatic if he’d also managed to carry home some meat for the larder. On Nov. 11, 2012, the physician from Prospect, Ky., experienced quite another mood... READ MORE
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