Big Deer Blog

I vent on some pet peeves of mine: I enjoy a cold beer or 2 after a hunt, especially around a camp fire, but I’ve got a problem with guys who drink long and hard into the night in deer camp. I know you’re on your fall vacation and doing some male bonding, but be cool. Drunks, even buddies, argue and fight. A couple of years ago I watched a soused little guy cold cock a 250-pound dude that had moved in on a spot where the skinny fellow was trying to kill a big buck. If you’re hung over you can’t hunt well, or safely. Stay out of the woods until you sober up. Why do people throw paper cups, cake wrappers and [...]

It’s almost time to hang your first sets of the season, keep these things in mind: --Rather than clumping cross country and deep into the woods, set your stands 50-100 yards from a logging road, power right-of-way or field edge if it works out with the deer sign and movement patterns. Much of the walking to the stand will be quiet and easy and you won’t jump many deer. Use Google Earth or an aerial photo to determine the best routes in and out. --After finding a potential tree for a stand, turn around and see where the various winds will push your scent, especially the predominant wind in that location. If an old doe circles behind your stand and catches a whiff she’s liable to stamp and [...]

I have never hunted Africa, but I have hunted in many remote locations in North America with many outfitters and guides over the past 30 years, and so here are some thoughts I have on the alleged actions and behavior of Walter Palmer, the dentist from Minnesota, and his guide, Theo Bronkhorst, as they hunted lions in Zimbabwe in July. The hunt was ill-fated from the start. Bronkhorst said that due to travel delays, he had to divert from the area he intended to hunt, and was forced to shift the hunt onto another property nearer the park. I assume that Bronkhorst had the necessary permits and paperwork set up to hunt the original area, and had the hunt gone off then and there, [...]