February 2016 - Big Deer

29 02, 2016

Deer How-To: Late-Winter Buck Scout

admin2020-06-10T09:16:59-04:00February 29th, 2016|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Shed Hunting|Comments Off on Deer How-To: Late-Winter Buck Scout

It was a gray, bone-chilling evening, one of the last of the New York muzzleloader season. Craig Dougherty was fixing to climb down from his stand and call it a year when he looked up and saw a 150-inch brute standing in a plot of brassica greens. Boom! Craig’s .50-caliber roared and he tagged the biggest buck he’d ever seen on his farm. The more Craig pondered his good fortune that night a few years ago, the more curious he became. That was the first time he’d ever seen the big buck on his land. Where had he come from? How had the deer approached the plot? Where had he been living, eating and bedding all those years? The next [...]

26 02, 2016

What Became of this Trail-Cam Monster Buck?

admin2020-06-10T09:16:59-04:00February 26th, 2016|BigDeer|Comments Off on What Became of this Trail-Cam Monster Buck?

I was going back through the Big Deer archives and found this photo that a guy sent me in 2013. Supposedly from Iowa, free-range and pushing 270", though with all that mass and third beam it could be a game-farm deer. If a wild buck, I wonder what became of him? There have been some giant non-typicals killed in recent years, was he one of them? I can't recall seeing any photos of this buck dead, have you?

25 02, 2016

BIG DEER TV Wins 3 Telly Awards

admin2020-06-10T09:16:59-04:00February 25th, 2016|Big Deer TV, BigDeer|3 Comments

The Oscars are Sunday night. “Who cares?” you ask, and I agree. I only bring it up because we were honored recently with 3 Tellys, cable television’s version of the prestigious film awards. In the TV Programs category at the 36th Annual Telly Awards, BIG DEER TV won a much- coveted Silver for Entertainment for “A Dream Buck For Krista.” In this episode, cancer-survivor Krista Dick, a wonderful and inspiring young lady, and I persisted over 2 years and 4 hunts in South Carolina and finally got her buck, an old 5 1/2-year-old warrior. It was one of the most emotional and uplifting episodes I have ever produced, one of my all-time favorites. I gained a friend and hunting buddy for life. [...]

24 02, 2016

Field Report: Calling Illinois Coyotes

admin2020-06-10T09:16:59-04:00February 24th, 2016|BigDeer, Deer Guns & Loads, Predator Hunting, Remington|Comments Off on Field Report: Calling Illinois Coyotes

Longtime Big Deer blogger Scott from MI went on his annual coyote hunt down in Illinois and filed this report, which includes great info on calling coyotes and coyote guns and loads: Hi Mike: We had a great coyote hunt the other weekend in Illinois. We hunt along the Mississippi River in the northwest corner of the state. Weather was great, low in the teens and highs in the upper 20s and 30s. Most of the snow was melted with some hard icy spots left, so it made it a little difficult to sneak around and into our setups. Still, it was much better than previous years when we have had 12 to 24 inches of snow to deal with! All of our normal [...]

23 02, 2016

Shed Hunting Field Reports

admin2020-06-10T09:16:59-04:00February 23rd, 2016|BigDeer, Shed Hunting|1 Comment

Shed nut Kelly from South Dakota reports from his last 2 weekends, during which he walked 43 miles, give or take: Went to a new place two weekends ago, northwest SD. Logged 16 miles Saturday and about 7 Sunday for a total of 23 miles. I picked 18 on Sat. and 4 on Sun., almost one antler per mile. In the picture above you can actually see where the shed dropped through the snow, pretty neat. Another long walk last weekend turned up 29 more antlers. With deep snow piles gone the grass is laid flat, and old antlers missed from last year show up. Found about 50% fresh antlers and 50% old last weekend, including 4 nice ones [...]