Big Deer Blog

November 8 Regardless of weather or phase of the moon, most does in the northern two-thirds of America will be bred between November 5 and Thanksgiving—this year, next fall and so on. Historically, November 8 has been and will continue to be one of the top big-buck days within this window. Get this: A whopping 15 Boone and Crockett bucks were killed on November 8, 2003, by far the most of any day that fall. Why so good? Well, in two or three days most of a herd’s does will pop into heat. For these two or three days prior, the horny big boys lug around in a daze and wait for that to happen. A giant might walk right [...]

Today’s excellent guest blog was sent by Andrew O’Day, 13, from Iowa. Way to go Andrew, awesome buck! The 2014 Iowa youth season had its typical challenges that come with hunting in September...rain, warm temps and an abundance of standing corn awaiting harvest. Fortunately, the Iowa DNR made some changes recently that allow youth hunters to use an unfilled youth tag during other select seasons. After several opportunities to take younger, smaller bucks, I was able to take advantage of some quite noticeable pre-rut activity on one particular farm. An unusual ratio of day-to-night trail pictures led my dad, Clint, to determine that we needed to give this new stand a try during the final weekend of the early muzzleloader [...]

This guest blog is from Oklahoma hunter and craftsman Robert Nichols, who does some of the best skull-antler carving I have ever seen. Robert is raising his boys right: Mike: This is my son Ethan Nichols. He's 13 years old and I wanted to share the story of his first buck. Ethan has hunted hard for the last 5 years. He's had several missed opportunities and has even passed on a few deer because they weren't bigger than his brother’s buck! Priorities! Well, on the last evening and in the last few minutes of the 2014 Oklahoma Youth Rifle Season his patience finally paid off in a great way. The buck crossed an opening next to a tree line, giving Ethan a glimpse [...]