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Entries for October 2014
‘I’ve Got Your Deer’
By Mike Handley | November 03, 2014
When Mitchell Oney answered his cell phone on the evening of Kentucky's 2012 rifle opener, he was probably relieved that his wife Michelle, who was hunting nearby, hadn't somehow been injured.
He still swallowed hard after she spoke.
"I've got your deer. Do I shoot him?" she asked.
Mitchell had been obsessed with this buck for two years, and the... READ MORE
Buckeye Bookends
By Mike Handley | October 26, 2014
Rob Ross and his 13-year-old daughter, Ginny, will never forget Ohio's 2013 deer season, when both shot record-book bucks from the same homemade ground blind, two weeks apart.
Ginny was first to fill her tag on the afternoon of Nov. 23, and her father was beside her.
"We didn't see this buck until it was practically in our lap, only 30 yards from... READ MORE
‘Warm Hollow Buck’
By Mike Handley | October 15, 2014
When the smoke cleared and the buck was no longer in the food plot, Roger Poe began shaking. The hunter from Mt. Olivet, Ky., also imagined the worst: that he must've pulled the shot and missed, or else hit the deer too high. It's always disconcerting when a deer doesn't drop, isn't it? After all, that's why a lot of hunters simply can't manage fol... READ MORE
Third Time’s the Harm
By Mike Handley | October 12, 2014
Twice in 2012, friends of Bill Robinson stuck a magnificent buck with arrows. One hit it too far forward in the shoulder; the other didn't go deep enough. The first time, the buck was on the north side of the Republican River; it was on the other side a month later. The following year, Bill happened to spot the deer with the palmated rack, still so... READ MORE
Bossier Behemoth Reshuffles Records
By Mike Handley | October 05, 2014
Going into Louisiana's 2013 deer season, Jon Black and his son, Hunter, had a couple of bucks on their wish lists. They'd combed through thousands of trail camera photographs, and those two towered above the rest. Hunter wound up taking one of the 1,200-acre farm's superstars in late November, a 14-pointer that scored in the 170s. By then, however,... READ MORE
Hiding in Plain Sight
By Mike Handley | September 28, 2014
While hunting turkeys in Republic County, Kan., during the fall of 2012, Tom Hamel and his grandson, Shea Crum, twice jumped an enormous whitetail. Unbeknownst to them, the deer was the talk of the nearby town.
"Almost everybody knew about that buck," Tom said.
"Two farmers had photographs of it. One man was even posting pictures on the Internet,... READ MORE
COLD Trailing
By Mike Handley | September 21, 2014
Few Southerners get the chance to track deer in snow, which sounds easy enough.
In theory.
A Louisiana oil man thought it would be a piece of cake, but that was before the giant whitetail he shot last January ceased bleeding, before its tracks began disappearing as the temperature began rising.
It was fun while it lasted, but when four sets of e... READ MORE
Bellringer Gets Another Poke
By Mike Handley | September 14, 2014
After more than 20 years of collecting glass-eyed trophies for his wall, Tony Pruett of Vanntown, Tenn., would rather hunt with his son or grown daughter than go it alone. But he had no buddy when he took to the Lincoln County woods before dawn on Dec. 31, 2012.
He tried rousting then 12-year-old Tyler, but his son opted to sleep in that day. A wa... READ MORE
Fooling Moses
By Mike Handley | September 07, 2014
When Josh Stephenson saw the tsunami rolling through the yellowed stalks, he stood and grabbed his bow. Whether the parting corn represented a Biblical shift or the opening of a new fault line near Danville, Ind., whether a robed and bearded man, a herd of deer or geology was to blame, the 25-year-old bowhunter wasn't going to find out without clip... READ MORE
Clue(s)
By Mike Handley | September 01, 2014
Colonel Mustard did not do it in the library with a lead pipe. Miss Scarlet did not do it in the kitchen with a knife. And Professor Plum didn't do it in the study with a revolver.
In the game of Clue that played out in central Louisiana during the long Christmas break, 'twas John Prior who drew blood, with a rifle, in a place called Honey Brake.
... READ MORE
Never Assume You’ve Missed
By Mike Handley | August 24, 2014
One reason even veteran deer hunters fail to get more than one shot at a fleeing deer is because they're shocked when the animal doesn't falter or collapse after the first boom. All too often, those who manage a follow-up shot are too rattled to make it count. That might've been the case in Pointe Coupee Parish, La., last December, when Phil Major ... READ MORE
Opening Day to Remember
By Mike Handley | August 17, 2014
Last deer season, Heather Artist scheduled a 10-day vacation to coincide with the opening of Missouri's rifle season on Nov. 16. No longer in college (she graduated the previous May), she was determined not to miss a day of hunting.
The night before the opener, she and her two sisters arrived at their parents' house and set their alarm clocks for ... READ MORE
Thanks to a Little Brown Bottle
By Mike Handley | August 10, 2014
Mike Mallory has no qualms about stinking up his boots. As far as he's concerned, drag rags are for wusses.
The old trick of dousing his boots with doe-in-heat scent paid off handsomely last year for the carpenter from Akron, Ohio. Going into the season, he might've known the place he hunts held at least three shooter bucks; he knew where they lik... READ MORE
The Wind and the Willows
By Mike Handley | August 03, 2014
On Nov. 18, the Monday following an unsuccessful opening weekend of New York's 2013 shotgun season, Tom Sheridan left the auto body repair shop early in order to rush home and hunt the remains of the day. The wind was supposed to cease gusting that afternoon in Onondaga County, and he was eager to be in a deer stand.
"I hate to hunt in the wind," ... READ MORE
Going the Distance
By Mike Handley | July 27, 2014
South Louisiana hunters are accustomed to racking up miles whenever they set their sights on big deer. The Sportsman's Paradise might yield some of the most bodacious bucks on the planet, but coming across one in Acadiana is like looking for alligators in Minnesota.
That's why 25-year-old John Zaunbrecher Jr. of Eunice, La., doesn't think twice ab... READ MORE