Big Deer Blog

Sneak 15 yards…lean against a tree…look for movement…listen…glass ahead and to the sides with your binoculars…then slip another 20 yards…look and listen. I’ve killed quite a few rutting bucks that way with a gun, but only when conditions are right. This is NOT something you do on public land. And I “slip hunt” only on a private property with very light hunting pressure. You want to still-hunt without worry of bumping into a stranger, or driving an 8-pointer into his sights. Stalking has advantages. You cover a lot of ground, which increases your odds of encountering more bucks trolling for does if you do it right. The more you move around, the more rubs, scrapes and big tracks you’ll find [...]

One morning in Oklahoma, a guide named Jim pointed me to a box blind and whispered, “When the sun comes up, you can see and shoot a country mile brother. Watch the tree line out front. Good luck.” I climbed into the box and the sun rose splendid pink and blue. I couldn’t see a mile to the tree break, but might as well have. My rangefinder read 412 yards to the front edge of the timber. I refuse to shoot at a deer that far away, not even with a finely tuned rifle and a solid rest, so I was basically an observer the rest of the morning. Might as well make the best of it. I glassed 3 [...]