From Minnesota bowhunter Kevin Clouse, who for 3 years traveled down to Missouri to hunt for this awesome buck: I named this deer the “Beer Can Buck” 3 years ago. When I first saw him, I thought his bases were as thick as a beer can. My hunting partner, Tom Vandehey, also saw him 2 days later and agreed…he’s a monster! No other sightings of him during our first year hunting with Tombstone Creek Outfitters. The second year, no encounters with the Beer Can Buck, and just a couple trail cam pics at night. This year, our third year there, the hunting was extremely slow. Just like last year, only a couple pics of him at night. With things slow, I decided to get [...]

From Tulsa World: The final evening of muzzleloader season in Oklahoma wrapped up with what likely will be one of the largest mule deer ever killed in the state — and the first killed on a ranch that is well over 100 years old. Justin Lotspeich killed the buck Sunday night on the family ranch, which has been in operation roughly 60 miles northwest of Woodward near the Kansas border since 1903. “I felt some buck fever, I’m not going to lie, it does set in a little bit when you get that close and put your eyes on ‘em.” Justin says the giant was green-scored at about 200 inches, and he estimates the animal was 6½ years old. The fact that [...]

From longtime blogger Scott G. from Michigan: Hi Mike: Thought I would update you on the big buck "Zeus " hanging around our property that you have posted a couple times. He showed back up this past week around 2:00 am for a few photos. He has showed up only a few times all year and not in daylight since early July. With the rut soon upon us and some time off work coming up I'm hoping he will make a mistake and show up during daylight in bow range of Dad or myself. If not, it's still fun knowing he is out there! He's the biggest buck I have captured on trail cam on our property in the 12 [...]

The Deer-Forest Blog at Penn State University notes that this doe was seen in a landowner’s backyard this summer. Although the massive belly disrupted her normal walking and resulted in more of a waddle, the doe did not show any outward signs of being sick and appeared to have a fawn. What the heck is going on here? According to Dr. Justin Brown, PGC Vet, “Based on the enormous size of this tumor, its location, and the fact that the deer is not showing other outward signs of disease, the most likely cause of this mass is a hernia.” He goes on to write that a hernia occurs when internal organs or tissues pop through an opening in the muscular wall that surrounds the abdomen, [...]

      In March 2013 researchers at Penn State captured a buck on a state forest, and slapped a GPS collar and ear tags on him. They tracked Buck 8917 for 2 years and found out: Most of the year, outside the November rut, he moved less 1 square mile. (I have been saying this on TV and blogging it for a long time—most bucks have much smaller home ranges than hunters imagine.) One day during 2013 rut, he traveled 2.7 miles, crossed 4 ridges for a total of 3,200 feet in elevation change and visited 3 locations in a 6-hour period. Then he turned around, came back and ended up right where he started 6 hours later! Another 2.5 miles in those 6 hours and another 2,600 feet [...]