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Trail Cameras and Big Bucks
By Buckmaster
Nearly every big buck harvest you see these days includes trail camera photos. Trail cameras are now in integral part of nearly every deer hunter’s scouting efforts — and they’re a lot of fun, too!
A few stalwarts complained about trail cameras when they first became popular, but the management advantages were hard to dispute. ... READ MORE
MO Public-Land Giant by Boat
By Mark Melotik
We’d guess relatively few hunts for outsized bucks begin with a nail-biting predawn lake run in a well-tuned fishing boat, picking slowly through a snag-filled stump field in inky, snowy darkness. But that exact, stealthy approach worked handsomely last Nov. 26, for Missouri’s Larry Ruebel and his 11-year-old son Landon.
The pair was... READ MORE
Gone But Not Forgotten
By Mark Melotik
The allure of giant antlers can make people do crazy things — and I’m not just talking about getting up at 3:30 a.m. and treading out into the cold to sit for hours on end.
While the vast majority of deer hunters are law-abiding sportsmen who care about the animals and their habitat, there are a few who fall victim to temptation and ... READ MORE
Grow Your Own Big Bucks
By Mark Melotik
Tired of all the extra effort required to beat the crowd to the best public-land hunting? If so, it might be time to buy your own chunk of deer hunting land.
Let’s consider a typical small-tract scenario of 80 acres or less. Maybe much less. Can you take those 80 acres — or 60, 40 or even 20 — and turn it into a buck-hunting pa... READ MORE
Well-Known Ohio Giant Falls
By Mark Melotik
Sometimes the planets align and a big buck simply gets dropped in your lap. Talk to Ohio’s Eric Phillips, and it’s likely you’ll come away believing that’s exactly what happened last Dec. 17 — the second day of the state’s gun season. That’s when he bagged a well-known Buckeye State brute not far from his f... READ MORE
Going Semi-Guided For Deer
By Mark Melotik
Several years ago I was bowhunting Kansas with a couple buddies, and a few days in we were on the trail of my friend Jared’s hard-hit buck. As we followed the winding blood trail it eventually led us into an area that made the hackles stand up on my neck.
The isolated, sign-filled spot reeked of a big-buck hangout. Better, because we were ... READ MORE
The Latest Buck Bedding Research
By Mark Melotik
Have you ever set a stand based on where you believed a mature buck was bedding? Many of us have done just that, but the latest whitetail research has found the tactic might be hit-and-miss at best. Well, sort of.
According to data compiled recently by Mississippi State University researchers and presented at the 2024 Southeast Deer Study Group Me... READ MORE
Mushroom Hunt Leads To Tall-Tined Treasure
By Mark Melotik
It was back on April 15, 2022, when Ohio’s Joel Drake found a monster of a Buckeye State deadhead. And ever since, friends and family had been asking just how many inches the mighty rack might hold. Now, Drake can finally tell them. Spoiler alert: It’s much larger than he thought.
Earlier this year Drake, 23, had gotten word that a l... READ MORE
Focused Youngster Nabs Impressive KS Pickup
By Mark Melotik
How’s your shed hunting been so far this spring? Stumble across any noteworthy deadheads? One of the people who can relate is Wyatt Dochterman, age 9 of Fort Riley, Kansas. He now owns an impressive rack listed in the BTR record book after an official scoring session in late March.
At the tender age of 9 and already in the BTR records? Absol... READ MORE
Hunting A Kentucky Legend
By Mark Melotik
For Kentucky’s Ryan Ederer and his wife Jodi, bowhunting whitetails is a team effort. That’s because the Grant County couple’s 2- and 6-year-old children keep them plenty busy when out of the woods, but the plan seems to be working nicely.
Case in point? The gigantic Bluegrass State stud bagged by Ryan Ederer on Sept. 14, 2023.... READ MORE
Reuniting With A Jaw-Dropping VA Droptine
By Mark Melotik
Opening morning of Virginia’s 2023 muzzleloader season will likely never be forgotten by Surry County hunter Jake Berryman. On that date—Nov. 4, 2023—the 17-year-old laid claim to the largest buck ever taken by the hard-hunting Berryman family, an 18-point bruiser that is now the state’s 11th largest whitetail in BTR’s... READ MORE
A Legendary Deer Gets Its Due
By Mark Melotik
For those of us who count chasing mature trophy whitetails as more a year-round lifestyle than simple hobby, a question often arises: Do the record books hold all the best heads ever taken? The easy answer is “not possible” — especially considering how long whitetails have been hunted across their remarkably wide and diverse range... READ MORE
Iowa Pickup Turns Heads at 2024 Deer Classic
By Patrick Dunning
We’ll never convince die-hard anti-hunters that regulated hunting seasons are the best way to help wildlife, but we should strive to educate those who don’t hunt (but aren’t opposed to it) about nature and pecking orders in the animal kingdom. Nature is beautiful, but it’s often brutal and unforgiving, too.
Anti-hunters p... READ MORE
First buck hits Top 10 in Hoosier State
By Patrick Dunning
Gregory George grew up in a family of hunters in the western part of Michigan’s lower peninsula, where he says folks gun hunt for meat in sweatpants, and buck-skinning poles give locals a chance to showcase trophies during deer season.
Throughout his childhood in the Great Lakes State, Gregory harvested three does, mostly as a rite o... READ MORE
190” Texas Tank
By Patrick Dunning
A fine example that giant free-range whitetails reside in northeast Texas can be found in Cody Nicholson’s pre-rut success last year on a new permission piece.
In the short history Cody had with this farm, he identified the 20-pointer through trail cam photos and one distant on-the-hoof encounter during bow season.
... READ MORE