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Dressed to Kill
By Ken Piper
The best thing you can do to increase hunting success is be in your stand. Growing up hunting public land in the mountains of Pennsylvania, I’ve spent many a long, cold day in the deer woods. My father was a stump-sitter. His favorite way to hunt was to choose a low spot along a gas line opening and sit all day, dark to dark. It’s hard ... READ MORE
The Coyote Equation
By David Hart
Can we control the whitetail’s most prolific predator? The verdict is in: Coyotes eat a lot of deer. Studies in South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia and other states have found that predators can kill upwards of three-quarters of all fawns born in a given year. As a result, hunters everywhere have declared war on coyotes. We shoot them at every o... READ MORE
R&R, Kentucky-Style
By Ed Waite
There’s nothing like a relaxing weekend of hunting to shatter the nerves. Jody Beth Walker of London, Kentucky, grew up in Whitley County, where her family lives. She still hunts deer there, but she spent the 2014 rifle opener fending off a little buck and tagging a great big one in Morgan County. Jody had intended to hunt her usual place, wh... READ MORE
Know When to Walk Away
By P.J. Reilly
Why hunting on low-odds days can hurt your chances when the time is right. Country crooner Kenny Rogers scored the biggest hit of his career with “The Gambler.” Just about everyone knows its signature refrain: “You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em. Know when to fold ‘em. Know when to walk away. Know when to run.&r... READ MORE
Much Ado About Nothing
By Bob Humphrey
Things don’t change that much during the peak of the rut. Conventional wisdom says bucks stick close to home and follow patterns early in the fall. Then when the rut hits, they spread out across the landscape, roaming far and wide in search of prospective mates — and foiling our best hunting plans. That contention is based on circumstan... READ MORE
Quoting Lincoln
By Mike Handley
If it fools even one buck, one time, isn’t rattling worth the extra pound or two in your bag of tricks? Abraham Lincoln once opined, “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool ALL the people ALL the time.” The 16th president wasn’t talking about rattling up bucks, ... READ MORE
Girls’ Night Out
By David Hart
Does do some crazy things during the rut, too. Deer research has come a long way in recent years. Thanks in part to the advent of GPS-fitted tracking collars, biologists can track a deer almost as if they were actually following the animal through the woods. Most of the tracking research has looked at buck activity with a heavy emphasis on the rut,... READ MORE
Hook
By Ed Waite
Just because a buck changes zip codes doesn’t mean it’s gone for good. Jamey Collier of Chillicothe, Ohio, is a trail camera junkie. He sets them out in the early spring and swaps out their image cards weekly, which allows him to keep track of the deer visiting his mineral sites. After pulling the cards on July 1 last year, he went home... READ MORE
Too Hot for TV
By Bob Humphrey
An uncensored look inside whitetail bedding areas. My son and I were slipping around the perimeter of a large bog late one November morning. The early action had subsided and we were slowly making our way out when a deer jumped out of the tall grass and bounded off. There was no chance for a shot, but it provided a good opportunity for a lesson. &l... READ MORE
Do-Over
By Ed Waite
Losing a 150-inch 5x5 almost ended this Ohio man’s love affair with hunting. Sooner or later, anyone who hunts is going to lose an animal and, subsequently, his self-confidence. The frustration can be as crippling as an errant shot, even if the shot wasn’t. Jon Dodridge of Minford, Ohio, knows the pain of not recovering a deer. His firs... READ MORE
Covert Ops
By Darren Warner
Ohio biologist sheds light on how hunting pressure affects deer movement. Of the pantheon of concerns deer hunters worry over, one question seems pretty high on most everyone’s list: How often can I hunt my favorite stand? Whitetails are savvy and know their hangouts well. They’re also armed with powerful senses. What’s more, they... READ MORE
Big Plans for Big Woods
By Mark Melotik
Huge blocks of unbroken timber allow bucks to get old and burly. The barrel-chested 10-pointer strode confidently into the little clearing, heading slowly but steadily toward a sturdy, solitary evergreen at its center. In a sudden explosion of power and speed, the massive buck sent bark, pine needles and branches flying. Seconds later, a violent tw... READ MORE
Nuts! Too Many Acorns!
By David Hart
An abundance of food doesn’t have to mean tough hunting. A puff of wind rattled the oak leaves high above Steve Giles, sending another shower of acorns to the ground. The young, naive Ohio school teacher reached for the bow hanging next to his treestand and waited for the buck that would surely come running. But two hours later, the sun set o... READ MORE
Pushing the Right Buttons
By Alex McCabe
When small talk doesn’t do the trick, it might be time to smash some bone! As soon as I began collecting trail camera images of a large buck with a lopsided rack in 2014, I became obsessed with it. I instantly set out to pattern “Loppy” by recording wind direction, temperature and barometric pressure every day on my calendar. Also... READ MORE
Looking for Bone?
By Mike Handley
Searching the right haystacks is the best way to find needles. Pursuers of whitetails, this continent’s favorite and most widespread big game animal, take to the woods each fall for a variety of reasons. Many deer hunters simply enjoy communing with nature. Some are more driven to collect venison for the freezer. For others, the quest is all ... READ MORE
The Gene Factor
By David Hart
Can hunters use selective harvest to improve buck antlers? Imagine being able to take inferior bucks out of the population so only the biggest, strongest and healthiest are left to pass on their genes. The results of your genetic selections would create a land filled with giant bucks with racks so massive, you’d end up on the cover of Buckmas... READ MORE
Getting In ... and Out
By P.J. Reilly
Spend as much time preparing to get to your stand as you do hanging it. As I watched my neon-yellow fletchings disappear in a creased section of hide just behind the shoulder of the stout Pennsylvania 10-pointer, I couldn’t help thinking of John “Hannibal” Smith’s signature line as the leader of The A-Team: “I love it ... READ MORE
Yo-yoing in Iowa
By Mike Handley
Be careful that the time you shave off a hunt isn’t your 15 minutes of fame. As soon as Joe Daubner heard the ka-thump of a deer landing on his side of the fence, he instantly regretted having lowered his bow to the ground. The Iowa bowhunter had concluded he wasn’t going to get an opportunity at the non-typical whitetail he’d wat... READ MORE
Looking For Achilles
By Duncan Dobie
Hunting suburban bucks is different, but it can be very rewarding. Opening day of Georgia’s 2014 archery season started out like gangbusters for avid suburban whitetail hunter Lee Ellis of north Atlanta. Hunting a spot where he had obtained trail camera photographs of a huge 10-pointer, the morning hunt yielded a nice coyote, a feat not many ... READ MORE
Fear Factor
By David Hart
What spooks deer? Some fear responses are learned while others are instinctive. Whitetails are nervous animals, and who can blame them? Everything, it seems, loves the taste of venison. As a result, evolution has taught them to stay on constant high alert. Every unusual sound, scent or sight sends deer looking for cover. But why does a whitetail sp... READ MORE