Big Deer Blog

Press release today: MISSOULA, Mont. - The sportsmen's group Backcountry Hunters & Anglers urged cool, patient heads to prevail in the extremists' occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, valuable public lands fish and wildlife habitat located in Oregon. "National wildlife refuges like Malheur are a treasure shared by all Americans," stated BHA President and CEO Land Tawney. "The actions being perpetrated by extremists in Oregon are the misguided actions of a fringe element - and should be condemned by sportsmen and all citizens in the strongest terms." Oregon sportsmen were quick to decry the extremists' actions. "As sportsmen and conservationists, we urge the occupiers to end this fool's errand," said Brian Jennings, BHA's Oregon outreach coordinator, "and we urge [...]

Daemon T. Aldrich sent me this via Facebook: Mike: I harvested this buck named "Romeo" on Nov 20, 2015 on private ground in Indiana. I chased this deer last year, when he was 4 1/2 and pushing 160. This year, after 38 days and numerous encounters, I harvested him on Nov 20th. Of those days I could only really hunt him for 7 sits due to the wind and where he was. Lots of work went into this, and I'm extremely fortunate and feel blessed to harvest such a monarch. Double throat patch and what a beauty, 5 ½ and scored 179 5/8. Hope you enjoy. Love all your work.—Daemon Thanks for sharing buddy, one of the best-looking bucks I’ve [...]

Guest blog with some great insight from our good friend Matt “Flatlander” Cheever from Illinois: Hey Mike: Here’s a good late season blog: Reading the rut and what’s left of it. I admit I get pretty caught up focusing my rut hunting efforts from November 3rd to November 12th.  This is not to say I don’t hunt outside that, I hunt nearly every weekend of the season, but this is the bulk of my vacation time. This year I noticed some shooter bucks cruising in mid-October.  On Oct. 18th I botched a chance at my best bow buck to date, later to have a neighbor get him.  Though I came up short against that buck, it told me that big [...]

Got this from Tony W. the other day, great story: Mike: My daughter turned 10 this fall and that meant she was old enough to hunt.  She has been wanting to bowhunt ever since seeing the animated movie “Brave” a few years ago.  I bought her a crossbow for her birthday last year, and that gave us a year for her to practice.  She was consistently hitting a 6-inch target at 30 yards so I was confident in her shooting out to that distance. The practice paid off on Nov 13th, the day before opening day of rifle season in Nebraska.  We had sat out that morning and didn’t see a thing.  We were driving back and I spotted a [...]