I once had an old Alabama redneck (term used fondly) tell me, “Boy, our deer walk around with their heads craned back, looking up into the trees cause so many of their brothers and sisters and cousins have had an arrow through ‘em.” If you have hunted pressured, spooky Southern bucks you know what my redneck friend is talking about. I recall that because I read an article in which a biologist said a deer’s eyes are oriented to pick up predator movement at or just below the horizon. He said a deer is much less adept at picking up movement above the horizon, so you can get away with more movement in a tree stand than on the ground. [...]

Hey Mike: I sent you a photo of this buck last summer. The first picture is another one of the buck from last year, at the beginning of September. The black and white picture is the buck this summer. I’ve been watching this deer going on 5 years now, and I’m pretty sure he’s pushing 7 years of age. He’s not an absolute monster, but it would be nice, and bitter sweet, to finally catch up with this “ghost buck.” I’d say he’s probably going downhill. He’s on the hit list for sure. A 7-year-old wild buck is the pinnacle in our world. Once a buck survives past 4½ on hunted land, he morphs into an entirely different animal…super sensitive to the [...]