Mike: My son and I hunt private land in WI. Several of our best stands are a long walk to get to. We have to walk in over trails that show good deer traffic. (We wear rubber boots and use a scent eliminator.) We really don't have a good alternative way to walk in. We've noticed that in the 4 years we've owned this property, deer never come to our stands from along those trails we walk.   My question: Would it be better to ride our ATVs (more noise but no human scent trail) to the stands and then hide them out of sight? Or would it be better to continue to walk in and be quiet?--Tom   Tom, [...]

              First big sheds starting to show on Facebook. Left photo: Doody found this 180-class set in West Virginia. Right: Jon found this massive side, Kansas I believe. Everybody loves seeing big antlers, send us your shed-hunting pics and stories to post!      

From Springfield News-Ledger: When the huge whitetail buck walked below his tree stand, Paul Gragg wasn't sure he would be able to make the shot. Gragg, 49, was hunting in late October (2015) with a prehistoric atlatl — a wooden throwing device that a skilled user can launch a 7-foot long hunting dart with remarkable speed and power. The buck walked straight under Paul’s stand. When it moved out to about 8 yards and swung its head to the right, Paul extended his left arm and let fly. The broadhead-tipped dart hit home center above the front leg. “My first thought was how easy that dart went in him," Paul said. The 15-point buck jumped and ran about 40 yards before it fell [...]

America’s state wildlife biologists are underpaid and underappreciated, and they have to put up with a lot of politics, bureaucracy and other BS, but they do great work, not only for deer but for all game and non-game animals and birds. Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries Facebook: District biologist Pete Acker rescued this bald eagle that had been struck by a vehicle (recently) in Surry County. He says, "Quickly I found the mature bald eagle could not fly but was still very nimble on the ground. I was able to capture it without further injury and transport it to a local rehabilitator, Smithfield Animal Hospital. They stabilized the bird and arranged to transport it to the Wildlife Center of [...]