Reports coming in say this monster was shot in Winona County, Minn., on Monday. There’s talk that it may be a new Minn. state record. Winona Co. is right across the Mississippi River from Buffalo Co., Wisconsin. People in the know tell me there are great whitetail genetics over there, maybe better than the famed Buffalo Co.
From my friend John who lives in western North Carolina and works for Remington: This is one of my college friends, Jim Phillips, who lives in Avery Co., NC. Most people contend we can’t grow respectable deer in NC, particularly in the mountains where we have no agriculture. Jim proves pretty much every year that you can have good deer if you manage your does and let your bucks live to an age of 3 ½ plus. Jim arrowed this deer the second day of bow season on a mixed white oak/red oak ridge. He believes the buck to be 4 ½ and will confirm when the jaw bone is delivered to the University of Tennessee. First big velvet from [...]
Our friends Zach and Ellie from southern Illinois were out scouting on their farm and found a good pinch point between two ponds. “So we decided to set out a camera and this is what we got,” said Zach. “Very mature deer, his body is huge in my opinion for this early in the year.” Yes, great deer (I'm guessing 5 1/2 w/short face and pot belly) and just the 130-class buck that millions of hunters (most hunters) should look for this season. This is your typical American buck. I can’t tell you how many 8- and 9-pointers I’ve seen that look just like this in all my travels, but it has to be thousands. On TV you see a lot of people [...]
Thanks to Tony for letting us know about this monster that a hunter shot in Charles County, Maryland last week (they kill some big deer every year in that county). Cool buck, main-frame 10 w/split G-2s and super-wide. After battling the heat and mosquitoes for a couple days, it cooled off a bit and Jon got the monster he and his wife had named “Colossus.” Way to go man! Read the story at Marylandwhitetail.com
Here are 4 places where you can’t go wrong hanging tree stands in the coming weeks. Break Lines: Look for linear strips where dark pine timber and/or hardwoods come together with brush, tall grass, second-growth saplings, etc. Deer love to walk and browse on these edges year-round; bucks rub and scrape like mad on the lines as the rut approaches. Oak Ridges. A narrow hogback with acorn trees within 100 yards of a corn or bean field is one of my favorite spots. Deer cut around points, ditches and gullies on the ridges; hang stands on or near these terrains to funnel bucks close for shots. Does and bucks eat acorns and browse in ridge thickets not only in the evenings, [...]