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Stress Test
By Richard C. West
It’s great to finally see the buck of your dreams, but don’t get too excited. On the Saturday before Thanksgiving in 2015, an Illinois buck tested my heart. It was the second day of the firearms season, and I’d spent my first day – all 12 hours – on the stand with nothing to show for it but a couple of song birds, a re... READ MORE
The 12-Year Wait
By Candice Guthrie
For the past 12 years, I’ve have been hunting on my dad’s lease in north Louisiana, Bienville Parish in Saline. I’ve only had a chance to shoot does. For some reason, I would never see a buck, and the two times I did see bucks, they were chasing does, and I can’t shoot that fast!
I finally had my chance to change things the... READ MORE
Half a Buck Is Better Than None
By Michael Krause
Even deer hunters get by with a little help from their friends.
For the past 30 years, I’ve been venturing back to my old stomping grounds in Deposit, N.Y., to hunt with my friends from high school. This past season resulted in a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
It happened at about 3 p.m. on the second day of the New York season. It was cold... READ MORE
Veteran’s Day Dream!
By Donna Shaver
I was hunting in North Carolina on a very cold Veteran’s Day morning in 2013 with my 73-year-old, handicapped father when the flash of antlers caught our attention. Quickly, as the buck moved through the pines, I lifted my Savage muzzleloader into position and peered through my binoculars as the rack headed toward an opening. “Wow, he h... READ MORE
Thanks for the Memories
By Christina L. Krause
I got my first buck on Dec. 12, 2009, and I remember it like it was yesterday.
I was sitting in my treestand, waiting impatiently to see the woods wake up around me.
A few groups of deer ran by in the distance, and I hoped they would go by my husband, Mike, and my daughter, Michaela. After that, it was pretty slow.
By 8:35 I started to get a lit... READ MORE
Velvet Surprise
By David M. Cole
I wasn’t a white-tailed deer hunter until I met Donna Shuman at Georgia Southern University. The first time I traveled to her hometown to meet her family, I was instructed to go to their hunting club. I arrived just after dark, just in time to see my future wife dragging a nice buck under a fence.
After we were married, I became an avid deer... READ MORE
No Limits
By Bonnie Olson King
New hunter overcomes challenges to claim her first buck. The 2015 hunting season turned out to be one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I was 64 at the time and had only taken up hunting in 2012, when I retired from my nursing career due to significant health issues. That fall, I received a crossbow for my birthday, and that was when h... READ MORE
Tracking Clubber Nine
By Derrick S. Schreiber
Finally, after 81 hours in the stand, I arrowed a buck I’d named Clubber Nine on Dec. 3, 2011. I’d seen him on my trail camera since October. He was distinctive with an impressive body and a right rear foot that apparently had been broken at some time. I have the good fortune of having sole access to the ground I hunt, which made it pos... READ MORE
In Memory of Papaw
By Kyle Bevis
We all want big bucks, but hunting is more about the memories. On December 20, 2010, I harvested my first buck on my Papaw’s old home place. It took many long days of hunting, but I was determined to shoot a buck just to share it with him. It was funny because every time we would come in from hunting, the first question he would ask is, "Did ... READ MORE
Cow Mountain’s First-Timers
By Bill Hanson
A first deer is a memory of a lifetime for more than the young hunter. As first appeared in The Community Voice of Sonoma County, California. From the highway the north end of Cow Mountain is the only green zone east of the 101, save the flat lands of the Ukiah Valley. The recent Mendocino Complex Fires which includes Hopland’s ‘River F... READ MORE