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Entries for December 2016
Fool Me Once (is Enough)
By Mike Handley
Deer hunters are easier to pattern than deer. It took 18-year-old Cole Tiger of Bellaire, Ohio, the entire 2015 season to realize he was being played by the buck he hoped to shoot. While the enormous whitetail loved to mug for the teenager's trail camera, it never once came out to play when he was sitting in his stand. By the time Cole put two and ... READ MORE
Sweet Spot
By Mike Handley
Drew Miller was glassing a cornfield near Paris, Texas, in mid-August when he spotted a giant buck with drop tines. The deer popped out of a cedar thicket about a half-mile north of his property. Drew, who owns an oil change business, had always assumed the cedars were part of the neighboring dairy farm, where hunting isn't allowed. When looking at... READ MORE
If at First You Don't Succeed
By Mike Handley
Because 7-year-old Ezra Oettel closed his eyes right before squeezing his rifle's trigger, he missed a dandy 8-pointer on opening day of Indiana's 2016 youth season. Twenty minutes later, he and his dad, David, were able to hit the reset button. David and Brittany Oettel introduced both their children to deer hunting as soon as the kids were big en... READ MORE
A Testament to Homework
By Mike Handley
Jacob Lamar of Athens, Alabama, might well be among the best public land deer hunters in the Southeast. After throwing a dart that landed on Kentucky's Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, he pored over maps and aerial photographs before driving up there with his brother, Adam, to walk a portion of the 171,280-acre tract. LBL, one of th... READ MORE
A Break in the Weather
By Mike Handley
A buck called Andre the Giant twice cheated death in 2014, escaping both a bullet and a broadhead. The whitetail's luck didn't hold the next season. Brandon Hazel of Anthony, Kansas, nicknamed the buck not because it wore a tremendous rack, but due to its body size. "He seemed a foot taller at the back and much longer than any other deer I had ever... READ MORE
Charmed
By Mike Handley
Thirteen-year-old Tyler Fewell of Esmont, Virginia, wishes his grandfather were still alive to see the buck he shot on Sept. 25, 2016. It was just the kind of deer the man mentioned in his stories. Peter Britton, Tyler's granddad, died last January. The man didn't hunt, but he encouraged his grandson to do it. He spoke constantly of the big-racked ... READ MORE