Last December 5 Jeff Burgess overslept. His dad came and rousted him out of bed, and when they got into the woods daylight was breaking. The story goes that Jeff was pretty upset with himself, until about 10 a.m., when this 18-pointer came cruising by. The Rutherford County buck scored 151¼, a brute for Carolina. I would argue that Jeff had nothing to be upset about, and that arriving at his stand at daybreak actually worked to his advantage. Many if not most hunters I know hunters want to get to their stands super early each morning, an hour or more before daybreak, so they can set up and “let the woods settle down.” I have hunted with friends and guides who want [...]

According to the just released 2016 Whitetail Report from the QDMA, 34% of the bucks harvested across America during the 2013/14 season were 3.5 years old or older. That is the highest number on record for older bucks in the national harvest. The trend of hunters holding off and passing younger bucks continues. In 1989, 62% of the annual buck harvest was yearling (1.5 year old) males; that number has dropped to 33% of yearlings in the overall harvest today. But back to the older bucks in the recent harvest data. I assume that the vast majority of that 34% were 3.5 years old on the money. I bet less than 5% of the bucks were 4, 5 or 6 years [...]