North Dakota has one of the earliest archery openers in the country (noon on August 29) and hunters are putting down the bucks. Thanks to Derek for the first buck story of 2014 on BIG DEER blog: Hi Mike: I went to our farm to check my trail cams and do a little scouting, and found out that neither of my cams had worked. I was bummed out but saw plenty of deer sign so I decided to sit in a stand rather than scout from a distance. I watched this buck and 3 others for 3 hours inside of 300 yards before they came down the trail toward me. A 28-yard shot hit the mark just a bit low but definitely in lungs. He ran [...]

Some bucks never die. This picture has popped up again on Facebook and some forums and is causing a stir. Ten people have sent it to me in the last few weeks. I must have received this picture at least 100 times over the past 4 years. When I first posted about this buck back in 2010, the story was it came from Maine or Ontario. That was quickly shot down when a savvy reader said he’d seen it on a website for a high-fence preserve in Wisconsin. Rumor has it the buck weighed more than 400 pounds…another rumor says it looks so big because its body was bloated by the heat. I cannot confirm those things. Will this buck [...]

We’re editing a TV show on hunting in Nebraska, and I ran across this amazing buck and story in my research: As the story goes, a bowhunter by name of Al Dawson was out in the woods near the Platte River one day in 1958 when he spotted the biggest buck he’d ever seen. Al recalled to a magazine: "…heavy, scraggly points, long and short, growing from the main beams in all directions… two long prongs curving out and down on either side of his head, between eye and ear…extended below his jaws, giving him an odd, lop-eared appearance." Al hunted the giant hard for the next 4 years. He saw him a few more times, and other hunters in the area did too. [...]

It seems I have seen an inordinate number of piebald fawns born this summer. It got me to thinking about all the white bucks I’ve written about over the years…none more impressive than the drop-tine that Ohio farmer Randy Schroeder shot in Ohio in 2007. I first reported on this deer in Outdoor Life back then, but the story and sight of it never get old. Just look at that beautiful hide and chocolate rack, awesome man: Mike: On November 24, my hunting buddy Todd and I headed down to my cabin in Meigs County in Southeastern Ohio. Deer gun season is always a special time for me. The crops are off, the machinery is put away and it is time to play. [...]

North American Whitetail has the story of the monster Mikell Fries shot with his bow last October 14. Why was the giant (with drop tines!) still in velvet? …while examining the buck, Mikell noted there was only one testicle, and even it was poorly developed. While it’s unknown if this was a physiological anomaly or the result of an injury, it no doubt caused the hormonal imbalance that prevented the monster whitetail from going through a normal antler cycle. Clearly the deer had never shed the rack he’d been wearing when Mikell first found him before the season in 2012. From an 8-pointer then, he’d grown into a 26-pointer! Big Deer are fascinating… And BTW, every once in a blue [...]