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BuckMag Features
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Murphy Was a Deer Hunter
By Bob Humphrey
Anything that can go wrong in the deer woods usually does. I had no hunting mentors when I was a kid. There were no hunters among my family or friends. I didn’t even know anyone who hunted. I gleaned what I could from outdoor magazines (there were three at the time) and books (there were darned few of those), but most of what I learned came t... READ MORE
Pining for Bucks
By Ken Piper
You can figure out how to hunt any property if you focus on a deer’s basic needs. I couldn’t see the buck when my daughter’s .243 roared, but I saw it run off the field, and it didn’t look hurt. Turning to me with a horrified look, Megan said, “Dad, I think I missed it! All this time waiting for a chance at a buck, and... READ MORE
Monster Magnets
By Dan Tierney
Learn how these four bowhunters consistently tag trophies on small private properties and public land. For three years, the Wisconsin giant taunted Dan Infalt from its strategically positioned bed under a willow tree in a relatively open area. With each season, the buck grew bigger and smarter, constantly eluding Infalt while consistently bedding i... READ MORE
Lunar or Loony?
By David Hart
Does moon phase really affect deer activity? As an outfitter who hunts on some of the most storied ground in the country, Darrin Bradley is always looking for a leg up on trophy bucks. So, in 1994, he started keeping track of his personal deer observations and those of his hunters, along with weather data. “I wanted to collect statistics rela... READ MORE
Drop Tine Blues
By Michael Morgan
Nothing is more frustrating, or more rewarding, than hunting with a bow. I have lived my whole life in Louisiana, and ever since I was in diapers, I have loved the outdoors. I started bowhunting six years ago and found it to be the most rewarding and frustrating hunting of my life. In other words, I’m hooked. Three years ago, my friend Whit A... READ MORE
A Day In The Life
By David Hart
White-tailed bucks lead a pretty mundane existence ... until the rut kicks in. Countless research projects have taught us a lot about whitetail behavior. Bucks range far and wide during the rut, for example, and buck activity is often dictated by doe behavior. Most studies are conducted using GPS technology that sends a signal every hour. It’... READ MORE
Second Chance
By Mike Handley
If at first you don’t succeed, get another arrow ready. A 24-year-old welder from Abingdon, Ill., made short work of dispatching a deer on Nov. 4, but it took the avid bowhunter more than two hours to realize it. Matt Ford wanted to know if the gigantic buck was dead, of course, but he was in no hurry to confirm his suspicion that his less-th... READ MORE
No Bones About It
By Bob Humphrey
There’s more to judging a trophy than antlers. Body characteristics can tell you a lot about a buck. The buck that stood before me was a real tempter — not huge, but the best I’d seen in an 11-hour vigil. I knew he would meet many hunters’ definition of a shooter, even my own under different circumstances. But I knew this pi... READ MORE
Keys to a Successful Food Plot
By Steve Bartylla
Follow these tips to maximize plant growth and palatability for deer. It was bad. Germinating right before the drought hit, the farmer’s soybeans never had a chance. The only thing in that area of the farm to survive was the acre of clover I’d established earlier that spring. But with the farm crops ruined, I desperately needed more foo... READ MORE
The Gremlin in the Gas
By Ken Piper
How to prepare your ATV for storage and reduce the harmful effects of ethanol. It’s a sure bet that if you’re reading this article, you’re a deer hunter. And although it’s not politically correct to stereotype people, that means you probably have a few items around your house that run on small gas engines. If you do, whether... READ MORE
Sibling Revelry
By Ryan Noffsinger
Illinois brothers celebrate taking nearly 450 inches of bone in less than two weeks. Brothers Austin and George Chandler share a peculiar language consisting of three-word sentences. “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh,” for example, means “You won’t believe the size of the buck I just shot!” With these two, such a statement is pu... READ MORE
Cold Isn’t Cool
By David Hart
How to stay warm during a long day in a cold deer stand. There you sit, all warm and toasty in the cab of your truck, heater on full blast, radio cranking out your favorite tunes. It’s cold, finger-numbing cold, but you did your time. Two hours in a treestand was enough for you. Besides, you didn’t see any deer. But while you toast mars... READ MORE
There Goes the Neighborhood
By Mike Handley
Anyman’s Land coughs up TWO Louisiana records. When Buckmasters published a series of stories about North America’s top 10 producers of record book bucks in 2009, the news generated some unexpected results. Some readers were happy to see their states garner recognition; others’ contempt for “land-grabbing” outfitters f... READ MORE
10 Tricks to Stay All Day
By David Hart
You can’t shoot a buck if you’re warming your toes by the fire. It’s 10 o’clock and you haven’t seen a deer in two hours. Why bother spending the next five hours staring at empty woods? Deer don’t move much in the middle of the day, so instead of fighting hours of boredom, you opt for a warm truck and a steaming ... READ MORE
Gene Pool
By Ed Waite
Two things are clear: Joe Harris’ farm has big deer, and his children know how to shoot. It’s not for lack of trying that 10-year-old Joey Harris hasn’t spent much time in front of a camera, at least not while wearing hunter orange and gripping a dead whitetail. The boy came close last year, but the buck that would’ve landed... READ MORE
Extreme Buck Management
By Steve Bartylla
How to attract and hold more and bigger bucks on your property. When I noticed the 6 1/2-year-old 8-pointer I had nicknamed G2s approaching, I got ready to take a shot. As he spent what seemed like forever working a scrape, I knew being between him and the does would work to my favor. Finally, he headed my way. I drew my bow, settled the pin and se... READ MORE
When In Doubt ...
By Michael Venti
Listen to mama, and always go with the hot doe. While scouting during the spring and summer of 2011, I got several glimpses of an awesome buck. He looked very promising on the three sets of trail camera pictures I had. I was never able to get a really good picture, but he kept getting bigger every time I saw him. When archery season finally arrived... READ MORE
A Year to Remember
By Art Benton
Departed friends and a big buck made 2011 something special. Last year was really different at our hunting camp in Brooksville, Fla. We had gathered as usual, but one of our hunting buddies had passed away, and we had lost two more during the season. Let’s just say we all did some serious reflecting while passing the time on stand. Despite ou... READ MORE
Pressured Bucks
By Steve Bartylla
How to score on ultra-smart, ultra-wary whitetails. It had already been a long day. I’d showered, crossed two swamps, stripped, bathed in Scent Killer and gotten dressed twice — and it was still an hour before first light. Shortly after settling in, I heard the buck coming. At most, it was 60 yards away behind a clump of brush near seve... READ MORE
A Giant Little Buck
By Matt Little
Spending time with dad is great, but shooting a giant buck makes it even better. During the 2011 Ohio youth hunt, my daughter Chelsey told me the same thing she had the two previous years: “Dad, I don’t care if we even see anything. I just love spending this time with you.” The previous year, we had been sitting in the blind drink... READ MORE