Big Deer Blog

Bob sent this series of cam photos from Eastern Maryland taken about midnight on December 27, 2014. They confirm that in most parts of the nation whitetails do some breeding from mid-October through December/January. The majority of the breeding takes place in early to mid-November, during the “peak rut,” and that is when most of the adult does are impregnated. But if a doe is not impregnated then, she’ll recycle into estrus some 28 days later, during a “late rut” that typically occurs in early December. These pictures prove that there is a “third rut,” or at least some final sporadic breeding going on in late December. An adult doe that is somehow not impregnated during her first and second cycles [...]

Hello Mike: On the 28th day of the October 2013 Indiana archery season I arrowed a buck that I had never seen before. I had 9 different bucks on camera but no images of this particular buck. It just goes to show how mature bucks will travel out of their core area in search of that first estrus doe, so always be on the lookout and ready. He came in at 30 yards to a drag line I had drug to the stand. This had been only my second sit in this particular set, which also brings the point that while over-hunting the same stand can definitely hurt your hunting, not over-hunting it can bring great results. Keep up the good [...]

Although I got my first drop-tine buck this year, I have NOT, it seems, satisfied my lust to shoot another one. Emails like this one from our friend and Montana trad bowhunter Luke Strommen still fire me up:  Mike: Saw this buck in a house the other day and thought of you.  Double drops and all kinds of cool points!  The man that owned it found it at a local garage sale maybe 10 years back and bought it. It came from somewhere out here on the Milk River.

Today’s blog from North Carolina bowhunter Brad Duke, who had a dream season in 2014. This is the story of Brad’s second archery giant on BIG DEER!   "I have been hunting Ohio for 4 years now, passing buck after buck, wanting a true giant. This past year my good friend Brian (we met in Ohio on a hunt one time) got hold of some very good property, so we leased it and set up cams in June. Right away had several shooters on camera-- wide ones, heavy ones, drop tines, you name it! Several hunts went by with no luck…until my November hunt on the 11th to 13th, when I had several pics of a buck we called 'The Wide 10' [...]

Special thanks to South Dakota hunter Kelly Kirsch for this awesome picture. Kelly told me he’d come up with an idea for his shed collection, and this tree blew me away. The shed tree made its debut last Christmas, and has now become official Christmas tree of BIG DEER! Thanks to all you bloggers for making 2014 our biggest traffic year yet for BIG DEER blog. And the TV show had great ratings too. I truly appreciate your support, and look forward to 2015 (we’re working on some cool new stuff). Merry Christmas and happy New Year. God bless you and your family…and if you’re still hunting a buck, good luck.—M.H.