Big Deer Blog

On a crisp, colorful afternoon several years ago, Ontario bowhunter Shane Good shot the buck of his dreams, a 171-inch giant (see picture). The next season, on October 27, Shane ran his climber up the same tree and watched incredulously as another buck—bigger than last year’s—rolled onto the scene. He grunted, and the giant came on a string. Shane’s shot was true; the main-frame 10-pointer scored 176! I emailed Shane and told him how cool it would be to shoot a third monster from the same tree 3 years in a row. This guy is a tremendous bowhunter who was on a hot streak, and I thought he could do it. He sent me this note and photo the next [...]

Right now, bucks are relatively docile and still locked into their summer bed-to-feed patterns. So long as you don’t press them too hard, they’ll keep moving reasonably well at dawn and dusk. Tweak these setups to your land. There’s a darn good chance you’ll tag out early. The Choke Point One September I hunted in sprawling alfalfa and corn country where you could see deer coming and going for miles. The only way to have a fighting chance with a bow in a big spot like that is to narrow the country down, way down. During the middle of the day when the deer weren’t out, I looked around for two hours and sized things up. Then I tucked a [...]