One December day a few years back, a Virginia hunter name Rob shot a 10-pointer just before dark. He hiked back to his truck, put up his rifle and called a buddy to help with the drag. When the boys went back in 30 minutes later, the buck was gone. They swept their flashlights around and shined the deer hunkering down in a nearby thicket, eyes glowing and still alive. No rifle, what now? Rob and his friend drew their knives and sneaked into the brush. They jumped on the buck, wrestled it and held it down while one guy stabbed its neck. The buck went ballistic, pounding the hunters with hooves and tossing them aside like rags dolls before [...]

A talking head on Outdoor Channel puffs out his chest and declares, “Man, the full moon is the worst time to hunt!” Sounds pretty good, and you buy it. Your Daddy told you to never over hunt a spot, and you never doubt Pops. Stands to reason that if another hunter tromps too close to your tree stand, your day is ruined, right? Uh, no to both of the above. Let’s change your thinking on some misguided beliefs about big deer and how to hunt them. Big bucks always move best at dawn and dusk. Whitetail deer are crepuscular animals, so yes, bucks move most often at dawn and dusk. But not always. A few years ago in Canada, I shot [...]

Here' how to evaluate new ground and zero in on places where bucks hang out. The more feed on a property, the more family groups of does that live there. It’s that simple. And here’s the kicker. Bucks will follow the gals to the food sources during the early-fall “fattening-up period,” and the horny guys will keep prowling around them later in the rut. If a place has a couple of soybean, corn or alfalfa fields—or better yet a mix of crops—that’s great. But one or even two major food sources aren’t enough. Suppose there’s a drought? What if in early fall a farmer picks clean his grain? Well, the does gotta eat several times a day. They’ll quickly expand [...]