About Clay Hanback

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So far Clay Hanback has created 551 blog entries.
22 07, 2024

3 Land Works to Better Bowhunting this Season

2024-07-22T14:09:30-04:00July 22nd, 2024|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Bowhunting, Deer Hunting, whitetail deer|0 Comments

While you’re out mowing grass or working your land with a tractor or ATV, try this. Mow or bush-hog a strip of grass or a lane through a thicket right up to one or two of your favorite tree stands you’ve hunted for years. Keep those lanes trimmed all summer. Deer will find them and use them. One day this fall, an 8-pointer might walk smack down the strip to your stand. The trimmed lanes are great places to plant mini-plots. Scour old farm/weed fields and clear-cuts for hidden fruit trees, like apple or persimmon. Open up the trees by clearing away brush; prune a few limbs and pour some fertilizer over the roots. A tree should make some soft [...]

18 07, 2024

New Pope & Young World Record Velvet Bucks!

2024-07-16T08:43:44-04:00July 18th, 2024|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Bowhunting, Deer Hunting, whitetail deer|0 Comments

Pope and Young, America’s leading bowhunting organization, is excited to announce a new World Record Typical Whitetail Deer in Velvet and a new World Record Non-Typical Whitetail Deer in Velvet. Pope and Young convened a special panel to measure these potential World Records at a Measurers Workshop held in Regina, Saskatchewan on June 15th, and these two amazing bucks have been verified as new World Records in their respective categories. Jack McNaughton shot his Typical Whitetail in Velvet near the Smokey River in Alberta on August 31st, 2013. Jack’s buck has a verified final score of 182 4/8” topping the charts and coming in as a new world record. “Jack’s buck is one of the most incredible whitetails I have [...]

15 07, 2024

Big Deer’s 2024 Moon-Rut Guide

2024-07-15T13:30:20-04:00July 15th, 2024|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Bowhunting, Deer Hunting, sportsman channel, whitetail deer|0 Comments

From Kansas to Virginia and north to Canada, 95 percent of the adult does will come into estrous and be bred from roughly November 5-20, regardless of moon phase, or weather for that matter. Biologists will tell you it’s been that way for years in the Northern two-thirds of the country, and will continue to be that way forever. So take off anytime from Halloween though Thanksgiving, and you’ll hunt rutting deer. And anytime you hunt rutting deer you are going to have a good time, with the potential to shoot a good buck. But I do believe that some days and weeks are better than others to take your bowhunting vacation according to when the various phases of the [...]

9 07, 2024

How to Scout for Big Deer

2024-07-09T14:35:08-04:00July 9th, 2024|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Bowhunting, Deer Hunting, sportsman channel, whitetail deer|Comments Off on How to Scout for Big Deer

You can go out and glass fields on summer evenings, and poke around for deer tracks and stuff like you always have (yawn, boring). Or, you can think out of the box to find a huge buck to hunt in a few months (okay, perk up now and read on). Take a Hike Say you hunt a 400-acre block of woods, or maybe even a huge public area. You probably only hunt 100 of those acres, or maybe even just 50 of 75. You figure other people roam the ridges and hollows beyond your stand, so you stay put. Plus, you’ve likely gotten comfy and a bit lazy. You bust a buck in your old, familiar spot every once in [...]

30 06, 2024

Why You Should Make Mock Buck Scrapes in Summer

2024-06-30T12:11:10-04:00June 30th, 2024|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Science, whitetail deer|1 Comment

Several years ago, in hopes of reducing the spread of CWD, Virginia wildlife officials prohibited the use of minerals, and bait, to attract deer. Since I’ve been now forced to give up monitoring mineral licks, I’m making mock scrapes and setting trail cameras beside them. Several studies have shown that whitetail bucks will visit scrapes with fresh scent year-round, and especially in the summer months. The fake scrapes are good places (not as good as mineral licks, but the next best thing) to get images of bucks that will roam your area this fall. A mock scrape is not only scent-based, but also a visual sign. Rake out at least a 2 foot by 3 foot area below an overhanging [...]

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