Blog - Big Deer

3 08, 2022

Study: Human Voice Spooks Deer More Than Predators

Clay Hanback2022-08-03T09:56:36-04:00August 3rd, 2022|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Science, whitetail deer|0 Comments

I always cringe when I go into the woods to scout or hang a tree stand or whatever, and a person with me talks and jabbers and laughs away. I look over and give them the Shhh! signal. If they keep jabbering, I give them the Shut the H_ up! Turns out I’m right. A new study conducted in Georgia found that the sound of a human talking in the woods strikes greater fear in whitetails than other predator sounds. During the project, deer were almost twice as likely to flee from the sound of a human voice than from the barking of dogs or even the calls of meat-eating wolves, coyotes and cougars! Click here to read more about [...]

1 08, 2022

Survey: Pennsylvania Hunters Like New Saturday Deer Opener

Clay Hanback2022-07-29T11:13:37-04:00August 1st, 2022|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Guns & Loads, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, sportsman channel, whitetail deer|1 Comment

A major survey shows that most hunters in Pennsylvania liked the new and controversial Saturday-after-Thanksgiving start to the firearms deer season. For many years, the Penn. gun season started the Monday after Thanksgiving, but that was changed to the Saturday opener in 2021. Two-thirds of the hunters surveyed preferred the Saturday opening day. Top reasons cited included more opportunity to hunt since most people are off work that day, and kids are out of school and its easier for them to go with a parent on Saturday. 27 percent of hunters surveyed by Responsive Management on behalf of the Pennsylvania Game Commission said they oppose a Saturday opener. Most of those hunters are old-school and hunt from mountain camps. Deer [...]

28 07, 2022

How To Process And Cook Wild Hog Meat

Clay Hanback2022-07-28T14:59:00-04:00July 28th, 2022|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, CZ-USA, sportsman channel, trijicon|0 Comments

One look at this ugly creature and you mighty say, “No way I’m eating that nasty thing!” I used to be that way too, but the more I’ve hunted feral hogs in the last few years, the more wild pork I’ve begrudgingly eaten. The key to safe and tasty hog meat begins just after the kill shot. The best (some would say only) hogs to process for the table are small to small/medium animals. “A piglet about the size of a football is my favorite,” says my buddy Sarge, a Texas wildlife biologist and hog hunter. “I’ll process and eat hogs that are 3 times the size of a football, but that’s about my limit. The little ones are most [...]

27 07, 2022

Confessions of an Elk-A-Holic

Clay Hanback2022-07-27T10:48:44-04:00July 27th, 2022|Big Deer TV, BigDeer|0 Comments

Confessions of an Elk-A-Holic By Jack Atcheson, Sr. with Michael Hanback Author’s note: Jack Atcheson. Sr. shot more bull elk on public land than any other hunter in North America. Jack was one of the top hunting consultants in the nation when I began my writing career 35 years ago; he took me under his wing and we enjoyed many long, tough DIY elk and mule deer hunts together. Jack passed away December 27, 2017 at age 85. My friend and I wrote this article together for Outdoor Life in 2001. When I was 15, I worked for a lumber company and lived alone in a tent in the Montana woods for a few years. That might sound rough for [...]

25 07, 2022

Find New Land To Hunt Big Deer

Clay Hanback2022-07-25T08:45:44-04:00July 25th, 2022|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, sportsman channel, whitetail deer|0 Comments

The walls are lined with racks, big ones. Tacked between the sneakers and skull mounts are ink-stained aerial photos and framed prints of the same 40-something guy with the cheesy grin, his hands clamped on the beams of a dozen giant bucks. Topo maps are rolled and stacked in a corner by the gun safe. Shed antlers litter the floor like old bones in a cave. This is my buddy’s war room, the place where he goes to plot his hunts. Walk in, gawk the heads, and you’ll wonder, Iowa, Saskatchewan, Kansas? “Nah, I killed ‘em all right around here,” Rick says. “Most came from the woodlot just down the road.” Rick’s story is not uncommon among America’s top everyday [...]