As you reflect on last deer season and think, Man, what a killer or bummer year, guess what? It’s time to get out there and start scouting again. Snooping around for old sign gives you a leg up on the bucks you’ll hunt 7 or 8 months from now. Core of the Matter When scouting in late summer and early fall, the times when most hunters do it, you want to cover lots of ground, but you’re leery of laying down scent and jumping the deer you’ll hunt in a few weeks. So you play it safe and poke around the fringes of fields, woods and thickets. Sure, you find fresh tracks and maybe some early rubs. But these are [...]

There were lots of big deer shot across North America in the fall of 2021, but this little story from Torrey, Virginia tops them all. Virginia “Gin” Dunning went out one day during the early antlerless season last September and shot a fat old doe for the freezer. Look at the picture, Gin made a perfect high shoulder shot. My favorite shot, I’m pretty sure that deer dropped on the spot. This would not be a remarkable feat save for the fact that the Virginia huntress is 94 years young! Gin’s daughter, Betty, who was along on the hunt, says her mom has killed 30 deer over the past 50 years, most of them bucks. But she was absolutely thrilled [...]