|
|
Kody Skinner Buck
By Kody Skinner
My girlfriend, Chelsey Keylor, and I spent the evening of Oct. 30, 2010, in an elevated box blind, watching a food plot. We’d barely settled in when three does came onto the field and began browsing.
"Do you want me to record them?" asked Chelsey, who was operating the camcorder on her very first time in the deer woods.
"No, that’s ok... READ MORE
Bo Middleton Buck
By Mike Handley
When Bo Middleton’s grandfather, the late Floyd “Cooney” Sanders, told him he’d seen a great big buck while looking out his kitchen window, Bo humored him. But the more the 28-year-old thought about it, he could not dismiss the possibility.
“He was getting on (in years), and he could not see that well,” Bo said ... READ MORE
Ricky Caldwell Buck
By Greg Hicks
“There’s no place like home.” Dorothy said it in “The Wizard of Oz” in 1939. Louisiana’s Ricky Caldwell spoke those same words on the Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge in 2012. Ricky was born and raised not far from what would eventually become one of the best public hunting tracts in North America. Under his... READ MORE
Pat Bates Buck
By Mike Handley
Pheromones and estrous doe scents might be akin to Cupid’s arrow, but whatever Pat Bates pours on bushes is more like Thor’s hammer.
One whiff of the concoction will turn bucks into white-eyed defoliators, or, if they’re big and stupid enough to do battle with flora in front of Pat, into wall art.
The retired firefighter from Al... READ MORE
Kyle Simmons Buck
By Mike Handley
Because he rarely asks for time off from his job, inclement weather usually dictates when Kyle Simmons can go hunting. The demand for firewood near Spragueville, Iowa, keeps him busy for 60 or more hours a week. But last October, the 24-year-old saw the stars aligning and asked his boss for an uncharacteristically long weekend. Rain had ushered in ... READ MORE
Mikell Fries Buck
By Mike Handley
Mature bucks’ antlers might grow a half-inch or more a day during the spring and summer months, but that doesn’t mean they’ll double in size from one year to the next. After all, unless they’re on the downswing, whitetails have to regrow what was shed (or something similar) before adding mass, length or extra points.That was... READ MORE
Scott Odenbrett Buck
By Rusty Johnson
Try telling Ryan Odenbrett that life is fair.
He wanted to go bowhunting on the cool gray afternoon of Oct. 20. He knew exactly which stand to visit, too. But the conflicted sophomore at Southern Missouri really needed every available hour to study for a biology test. Or did he?
His dad, Scott, made the decision easy.
“You study for your t... READ MORE
Michael Rothman Buck
By Mike Handley
Michael Rothman knows cold. So convinced that, no matter how early his arrival, he was spooking deer out of a cornfield en route to his shooting house, the deer hunter from Bonnieville, Ky., decided to just spend the night in the box blind. It wasn’t as if there were a Scotty, a Samantha or a Jeannie who could beam, nose-wrinkle or head-bob h... READ MORE