This disturbing story ran in my local newspaper a while back, front page. Here’s the gist of it: A family let their dogs out of the house one day last October. Meantime, on the adjoining property two guys were sitting in tree stands with their bows, hunting deer. The dog owners called for their dogs to come back, but one animal did not return. That 5-year-old German Shepard had walked under one of the hunters’ stands. According to reports, for some odd reason, the hunters exchanged texts about what to do about the dog. Allegedly one of the men, a 47-year-old chiropractor, said he would handle it, and he shot the dog twice. When asked by authorities why he did [...]

Today’s guest blog from longtime BIG DEER blogger Matt “Flatlander” Cheever. Sounds amazing!  Hey Mike: The weather is turning and it’s grilling season. Many of us have a freezer full of deer and fish that to be need thinned out before we start replenishing this fall. Here’s a great way with what I call “Outdoorsman’s Surf and Turf.” There is no finer dining than the loin of a nice whitetail deer and fillets from ice-fished bluegills. Stuffed Venison Filet Mignon: From a back-strap/loin, cut 1½-inch-thick filets or cutlets; make a small incision in each cutlet that opens up the center up like a pocket. Next, run roasted garlic, fresh mozzarella, sweet Italian peppers and artichoke hearts through a food processor until [...]

A built-in walk-in cooler at your home or hunt shack is a great convenience, a luxury really. The only potential downside I can see is that once it’s set and hooked up, it’s there. You must go get your gutted deer, drive them to the cooler and hang them up. No big deal for whitetail hunters east of the Mississippi. First time I saw the Koola Buck I got to thinking: While you could assemble and set it at your home or deer camp and run it throughout the season, you could also take it to the deer or other animals you hunt. For Western hunters especially, I can see real value in hauling this collapsible, portable cooler into a  backcountry camp, [...]

I wrote this article several years ago, back when I was writing a ton of deer-hunting  stuff for Outdoor Life the magazine. I really miss my old writing days—I graduated college cum laude w/a degree in English, and magazine writing is what I trained to do—but the opportunities to write regularly and well for print mags these days is limited. It’s mostly online writing now, which is fine, but it’s not the same. Anyhow, here are 3 of the sometimes humorous, bone-headed and serious hunting mistakes I wrote about in that article. Click here and read the rest. Muzzle Break The Mistake: One day on the plains, a high-profile hunter (who wishes to remain anonymous) shot over the back of a 160-inch [...]

In October 2008 I first blogged about a giant whitetail that was living in the city limits of East Sioux Falls. Somebody posted a Youtube video of him (I don’t see it online now) and it caused mild hysteria amongst hunters and non-hunters alike. At the time people figured the buck was the walking state record non-typical for South Dakota. He was a 12x14 and people figured he might score 250! The monster would come and go between the city limits and private lands, where people have tried to hunt him. Rumors flew like they always do with a noticeably Big Deer—“somebody poached him...no, he’s still out there…he got hit by a car…” For the last 7 years I’ve tracked this [...]