Big Deer Blog

My great friend Grant Kuypers of Buck Paradise Outfitters, who you have seen me hunt with many times on TV, had an unreal season in 2016. Grant wrote: One morning in October: I don't get to hunt much with the business but was lucky enough to have some time after the ag harvest and before whitetail season. What a great morning it turned out to be! Left the house to head to the farm with a mule deer tag I had drawn in my pocket. Took the long route to get there and came upon this awesome heavy old muley. Love hunting with my muzzleloader! One day in November: I had a few hours off and went out at 3 [...]

In my preseason posts on BIG DEER I predicted that 2016 would be the best rack year we’ve seen since 2010 across America. That turned out not only to be true but an understatement, as gigantic bucks have been killed from Virginia to Indiana to Kansas to Wisconsin and all places in and around and in between. A part of the buck boom has been the comeback of Pike County. "We took in more big deer this October than any year I can remember," says award-winning taxidermist Todd Smith. That is quite a statement from someone who has had a taxidermy business based out of Pittsfield, Illinois, in the heart of Pike County, for more than 25 years. "The bucks [...]