Blog | Big Deer

1 03, 2021

CZ Purchases Colt, Plus Other Gun Industry News

Clay Hanback2021-03-01T13:28:04-05:00March 1st, 2021|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, CZ-USA, Deer Guns & Loads, Deer Hunting, whitetail deer|0 Comments

Czech firearms company Ceska Zbrojovka has signed a deal to acquire Colt, the American gun maker.... The deal is worth $220 million…and is subject to approval by regulators. The Czech company said it expected the transaction to be completed in the second quarter of 2021. “With this strategic move, CZG will acquire significant production capacity in the United States and Canada and substantially expand its global customer base,” the Czech company said. As a side note, CZ-USA is the new firearms sponsor of BIG DEER TV for 2021 and I am excited about it. My first year of hunting deer with CZ rifles, which are renowned for dependability and top accuracy at a price deer hunters can afford, was wildly successful. [...]

25 02, 2021

Shed Hunting: Most Antlers You Find Are From Mature Bucks

Clay Hanback2021-02-25T09:16:44-05:00February 25th, 2021|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Shed Hunting, whitetail deer|1 Comment

The Deer Lab at Auburn University has a 430-acre high-fenced facility. All the deer inside the fence are well known and documented. During the 7-year-period from 2012 to 2018, biologists and grad students were inside the facility daily, working, doing research, taking samples and looking around. They found only 284 of 747 (39%) of antlers they knew were shed by the bucks during that period. They analyzed the antlers they found, and determined from their records and data that the average age of the bucks that cast them was 5½ years. For the antlers that were never found, the average age of the bucks was 3½. Bottom line: The larger antlers of older bucks are easiest to see and pick [...]

23 02, 2021

3 Shooting Tips To Kill More Deer With One Bullet

Clay Hanback2021-02-23T14:30:35-05:00February 23rd, 2021|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, CZ-USA, Deer Guns & Loads, Deer Hunting|0 Comments

1. Most of us go to the range a month before deer season, fire a few shots off the bench to confirm our rifle’s zero and call it good. But you need more training than that for consistent one-shot kills. Best way to practice is with a scoped rimfire rifle that approximates the heft and feel of your deer rifle. Grab a brick of .22 LR ammo if you can find it, and set targets 50 yards away in a safe area. Once or twice a month, fire dozens of rounds from the sitting, standing, kneeling and prone positions. With the .22 there’s no recoil, so practice as much as you want. It's fun, and you’ll be amazed how much [...]

21 02, 2021

Hunt Sheds In Deer Bedding Areas

Clay Hanback2021-02-23T10:48:30-05:00February 21st, 2021|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Shed Hunting, sportsman channel, whitetail deer|0 Comments

When you’re out shed-hunting, pick up a deer trail and follow it for a few hundred yards to a half-mile or more, until you come to a thick and obvious deer bedding area. In winter a good one is a brushy southern exposure that gets midday sunlight, or the east side of a grassy ridge where deer hunker out of a northwest wind. You're apt to find fresh deer beds, tracks and dropping in the melting snow here. Back in hunting season you would have stopped before entering the bedding cover, tested the wind and worked the outer fringes of the sanctuary so as not to spook any deer. But now, plow right in. Of all the sheds you find [...]

19 02, 2021

Ruger-Built Marlin Lever-Actions Available By End 2021

Clay Hanback2021-02-19T10:51:51-05:00February 19th, 2021|Big Deer TV, Deer Guns & Loads, Deer Hunting, sportsman channel, whitetail deer|0 Comments

A Michigan hunter named Goose saw me shoot several bucks recently on TV with a Marlin Model 336 in .35 Rem. and he had to have one. He ordered his .35 lever more than a year ago, and has been waiting patiently for it since. My buddy John Havlick, owner of Frank’s Gun Shop in Amsterdam, New York, texted, “Last year was absolutely crazy for us, and 2021 is starting the same way.” John says lever guns are still hot sellers with deer hunters up in the Adirondacks, but he hasn’t been able to get his hands on any Marlins for a long time. That will change, but it’s going to take the better part of another year. After Ruger [...]