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Oversized Load
By Mike Handley
Ohio trucker keeps promise to share venison with his friend’s mother, the leaseholder. Robert Smith of Sidney, Ohio, spends most of his days in the cockpit of a semi. So busy crisscrossing the country in 2012, he could hunt only during weekends. He rarely got two full days, however. By 5 p.m. on Sundays, he was often beginning a new week behi... READ MORE
No. 3
By Ed Waite
Bowhunter credits homemade mineral and real estate for the bony trophies on his wall. Garnering Buckmasters’ prestigious Golden Laurel Citation for his state-record 2014 whitetail should have been the epitome of David Howard’s fantastic deer hunting career, but the retired coal miner apparently isn’t ready to lay down his bow. Th... READ MORE
Why We’re Getting a New Sunroom
By Mike Handley
Long-standing Illinois record withstands first real threat. Here’s the story behind the new No. 2. As soon as Jeff Heimann decided to point his shotgun at the bobble-headed buck instead of the doe he’d originally intended to shoot, he stopped paying attention to its antlers. For all he knew, he was about to take an easy poke at a 10-poi... READ MORE
New Stand, Second Sit
By Zach Baer
Rumors of this buck’s demise by vehicle were greatly exaggerated. After booking my first hunt with Sunfish Valley Whitetails in 2013, I have returned every year to enjoy the hospitality, great food and lodging. Theirs is a family-run business in Latham, Ohio, and the guides work diligently to ensure the best possible hunting experience. This ... READ MORE
‘Freakin’ Movie Star’
By Lisa Price
2015 buck is proof Louisiana’s best public land still has what it takes to grow head-turners. Garry Ward couldn’t believe it. From the vantage point of his climbing stand, he was surrounded by scrapes and rubs. The deer poop on the ground was so plentiful in places that it also could be seen from up high. So where were the deer? He&rsqu... READ MORE
Eleventh-hour Mood Swinger
By John E. Phillips
While this Texan was second-guessing his decision to hunt with an outfitter, his taxidermy bill was approaching on four legs. When Philip Kalmbach of Lincoln, Texas, decided to up his odds of taking a real trophy whitetail in 2015, he turned his attention to Kansas. The 44-year-old had taken plenty of Texas bucks wearing between 120 and 140 inches ... READ MORE
Lucky Coat
By Lisa Price
Forty-year-old coat, a freebie, is still this Arkansas hunter’s good luck charm. In 1933, with interest rates prohibitively high on loans, the federal government enacted the Farm Credit Act and established the Production Credit Association. The association provided low-interest, short-term credit to farmers, ranchers and other rural residents... READ MORE
If It Talks Like a Buck
By Dale Weddle
It sometimes pays to blow through a tube if you hear a grunt-like noise. The weirdest growling, grunting sound that Brandon Brown had ever heard echoed out of the nearby hollow. Steadying himself, the Kentuckian blew on his grunt tube a couple of times in response. A buck with a familiar rack came into view five minutes later, moving toward the sta... READ MORE
The Last Two Minutes
By Dale Weddle
Tennessean’s pull-up rope was already tied to his bow when he quickly aborted his planned descent. Military bases can offer some outstanding whitetail hunting if you’re willing to jump through the necessary hoops to gain access. Fort Campbell, which straddles the Kentucky-Tennessee border, has lots of hoops. Matt Carrigan of Chapmansbor... READ MORE
If at First You Don’t Succeed
By Ed Waite
Rather than throwing in the towel after a miss, father and son hit the reset button. David and Brittany Oettel knew a bigger-than-average whitetail roamed the area near their farm as early as Christmas 2014. An across-the-road neighbor, a bowhunter, told them he’d stuck a giant buck and hadn’t found it. The man was convinced the shot wa... READ MORE
Image No. 1
By John E. Phillips
Arkansas man a believer in trail cameras after his first photograph. Stumbling upon a shed antler in 2015 set the stage for Brandon Brewer’s deer season the following year. The hunter from Humnoke, Arkansas, found the half-rack on the farm he works. He’d been walking the edge of a reservoir filled with buckbrush, which had sprouted duri... READ MORE
Choosing Eenie over Meenie
By John E. Phillips
Mississippi deer hunter bases choice of destination on nighttime sighting vs. daytime photos. Trail camera photographs, shed antlers and a witness’ wide-eyed description might’ve piqued Pittman Edwards’ interest in the giant whitetail seen by members of at least two hunting clubs in Bolivar County, but it took seeing the animal to... READ MORE
Trading Whiskers for Whitetails
By Matt Bingham
This Tennessean mothballs his rods and reels when the oaks begin dropping acorns. I am an avid Mississippi River catfisherman for most of the year, but I swap my fishing stuff for deer hunting gear between September and December. A few years ago, my fishing partner, Josh Doyle of Marion, Arkansas, invited me to hunt with him in St. Francis County. ... READ MORE
A Different Kind of Crown
By John E. Phillips
Step right up, folks, and behold the St. Francisville monster. A Louisiana dentist became a social media phenom last year after arrowing a whitetail worthy of its own carnival barker. Dr. Frank Sullivan got almost as much press as the president last October, all because he shot a sideshow-huge buck that hung out behind his St. Francisville business... READ MORE
Two Miles In
By Mike Handley
It’s funny how counting a few points can stoke a man’s furnace. On the last day of the Black Warrior Wildlife Management Area’s three-day, mid-December rifle season, Shannon Alvis shot one of the largest public land bucks ever recorded from Alabama. He can thank a buddy, Darrell See, for telling about the hunt, his intuition for c... READ MORE
Party's Over
By Lisa Price
This Buckeye State hunter thought he'd never get to turn out the lights. When Ohio bowhunter Craig Peters called his wife on Nov. 10, 2016, to tell her he'd arrowed his biggest buck ever, she wasn't surprised. Neither were his coworkers, family or friends. For the past decade and a half, Craig has refused to shoot immature whitetails. "My father (R... READ MORE
Trading a Soup Spoon for a Fork
By Mike Handley
After five years, discriminating deer hunter collects meat for his soup and bone for the wall. It took half a decade for Husky Hummel to leave Ohio with something more than a nonresident hunting license in his pocket. The 48-year-old car dealer from McClure, Pennsylvania, is accustomed to eating tag soup. He prefers it to the notion of shooting a d... READ MORE
An ‘Average’ Guy with a Cheap Crossbow
By Mike Handley
Absolutely nothing is average about this public land giant. A full belly, a hunting buddy and visions of big bucks can make a seven- or eight-hour drive seem more like a jog around the block. Matthew Ostrander had made the long drive from Richmondville, New York, to Coshocton County, Ohio, twice before Thanksgiving 2016, but by himself. His buddy, ... READ MORE
Right Time, Right Place
By Dale Weddle
Some things are just meant to be. Evan Richardson is not your typical 12-year-old. While other kids his age might find a thousand things more interesting than twiddling their thumbs in a deer stand, Evan can’t imagine anything more pleasurable. He might be short in the tooth, but this little deer hunter already values the experience more than... READ MORE
The 246-incher You Never Heard About
By Rusty Johnson
This Oklahoma giant flew under the radar. George Allen Jr. has hunted the same stand on his father-in-law’s property for almost 20 years, and he’s harvested some great bucks there. None, however, can touch the whitetail he yelled at on Nov. 20, 2016. George knew a big 10-pointer was roaming the Seminole County tract in 2016, and he hunt... READ MORE