Jesse T. sent this picture of the velvet buck he shot during the 2014 rifle season on a small farm in northern Missouri. “I have both sheds from the previous year and haven't a clue why he never shed in 2014,” Jesse said. “The buck didn't get injured, but his testicles were pea sized.” I have posted often on stag bucks over the years, but this one is different. According to the QDMA, a birth defect known as cryptorchidism causes a buck to carry velvet antlers beyond the normal velvet-shedding date of late August to early September. In extreme cases both testicles remain in the abdominal cavity and never descend into the scrotum. The normal production of testosterone is diminished, and the [...]

A team of British medical researchers says that people who drink moderately, exercise, quit smoking and eat 5 servings of fruit and vegetables each day live on average 14 years longer than people who adopt none of these behaviors. Hmm, I figure that would give me a good 12 years to try to kill that elusive drop-club giant. While I got one with a drop-tine in Kansas two years ago, I still long for a big drop-club buck. Not a bad if belated resolution for 2016: Clean up your act and shape up so you can live and hunt longer.

Last December 5 Jeff Burgess overslept. His dad came and rousted him out of bed, and when they got into the woods daylight was breaking. The story goes that Jeff was pretty upset with himself, until about 10 a.m., when this 18-pointer came cruising by. The Rutherford County buck scored 151¼, a brute for Carolina. I would argue that Jeff had nothing to be upset about, and that arriving at his stand at daybreak actually worked to his advantage. Many if not most hunters I know hunters want to get to their stands super early each morning, an hour or more before daybreak, so they can set up and “let the woods settle down.” I have hunted with friends and guides who want [...]