First photo I got from a fellow on Twitter, a real nice 8-point shaping up somewhere in southern Missouri. Last 2 are living and growing on public land in the East; both photos (pics from computer screen) from early May. “One has stuck around and is looking good, and the other is hard to get pictures of,” says Stewart. Send me your buck images anytime (mikehanback@yahoo.com), the more we look at the better as we get hopped up for the 2015 season.
First cam picture of the year from our friend Danny. Send me your pictures (mikehanback@yahoo.com) as you get them so that we can watch the bucks grow along with you! I’ll keep the locations of the deer top secret if you wish: Had the trail cams up for about a week. Got this guy to watch this year. Didn't get any good front pics of him. But, for early June he's showing potential. Imagine if those brows keep growing. Absolutely love this time of year. Had over 300 pics in 6 days. 13 different bucks. My family's property has always been the summer range for bucks. Wish they'd stick around all season! When my daughter saw the first pic of this guy [...]
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources did a report on how climate change will impact wildlife. As temperatures warm and winters moderate, the report says there will be "winners and losers" among the state’s mammals, reptiles and birds. How will Wisconsin’s state animal, the whitetail deer, be affected? Good news: Warmer winters will mean less winter kill and higher reproductive rates for deer in following springs, so herds will build back up and be stable. More deer would mean more tags for hunters. Not so good news: Climate change is predicted to result in warmer summers, longer dry spells, and more intense rain events: the perfect environment for the midge that transmits epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD). The theory is that as this disease moves [...]
Some years ago when I was writing a lot for Outdoor Life (I created their Big Buck Zone blog and wrote it exclusively for several years before I moved on to Big Deer) I received a packet of stories from somebody at the "Muzzy 200 Club" (author unknown, but as I recall, an employee of the club at the time). This club, which now appears to be inactive, was made up of an elite group of bowhunters who had killed 200-inch whitetails with Muzzy broadheads. This is one of those stories that I found in my archives, and the first of several that I’ll reprint in coming weeks. We can never get enough classic stories of how 200-inch bucks were [...]
Last weekend I had the pleasure of traveling across eastern Iowa with our TV crew, and meeting and filming local 3 hunters who shot giant bucks that, combined, have more than 725 inches of non-typical antler. First stop Muscatine County, where Paul Hein has taught welding at the high school for 34 years. Paul, who loves his job and the kids, also loves to bowhunt in the afternoons when school lets out. One November day in 2011, he hurried to his tree stand and shot a freakish buck with double main beams that scored 219 (above). Next it was on to Jackson County, where we met the Simmons boys. In this job I enjoy nothing more than to meet families with [...]