Big Deer Blog

Thanks to Mike from Iowa for this great guest blog: On November 2, I drove to the new farm with my wife and spent the weekend hunting the small chunk of ground that our little cabin sits on. The previous hunting season had produced very few deer sightings, and over the course of the summer we hadn't gotten pictures of any bucks that I considered shooters. My confidence in this farm was low, but after doing a lot of TSI work and improving all the food plots over the off season, I had high hopes that things would change for the better. I am still trying to work things out on this property, and I bumped several deer on the way in to [...]

John Rogers sent me this on our Mike Hanback—BIG DEER Facebook page: “Another Hurricane Sandy buck. Killed Monday in Maine. Dressed 208 lbs. (my) third 200-plus buck in a row.” In Maine, it’s more about a buck’s maturity and body weight than it is about antlers, with 200-lbs. (dressed) being the benchmark, though I point out that John’s buck has a killer rack and brow tines for a North Woods buck. Great job buddy! The fact that this buck was kill during the East Coast super storm of 2012 is more impressive yet. Come to find out that when I hunted in Maine in November 2011, I was very close to John’s camp where he shot this giant. He said, [...]

From Zach: Mike, had to share this pic with you! I have my camera set on a two minute timer between shots, so it's pretty awesome that I caught the deer in this stance when I did! Cool man, great shot. See how the other deer have their necks stretched and are watching the “cat fight,” very typical and interesting.

You need to watch this clip to the end, it really is amazing stamina and balance by that guy. Michigan, 2012, 2 mile trip to the butcher! You never know what you’ll see these days.

Great story from Joe in NJ: Hi Mike: My son, Luke, got his bow for Christmas last year and practiced with it all year. He took and passed his bowhunter’s education course in October. Unfortunately he had to wait until his 10th birthday to get his "official" hunting license (one of those laws that I never understood). Luke was very excited to start hunting and we went as much as possible in the few weeks since his birthday. He had a great encounter with a 9-pointer and a 7-pointer, but he was not able to get a shot within his 15-yard effective range. After a few more hunts he was able to get a shot at a 7 pointer. Unfortunately [...]