Big Deer Blog

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 [...]

On September 29 I posted this blog on the velvet monster that Kentucky hunter Jeff Fogle shot with his bow earlier last month. The other day Jeff sent me an email with these pics: Just got my buck back from the taxidermist! Green scored 184 2/8". Most amazing taxidermy work I've ever seen. I wish it was possible to capture all the detail in the pics. I wrote Jeff back and asked how in the world he got his buck back so quickly. He said: My taxidermist is quick! Mine was the first deer of the year for him. He only takes 20 a year. He would've had it done in 2 weeks if he hadn’t had to soak the velvet [...]