Instagram post/message from Brendan Whelan, who shot this beauty earlier this month in southern New York: I shot at my biggest buck last year, hitting him in the shoulder and not recovering him, only to see him a week later chasing does. Having a 4-year history with that deer and only 2 encounters total made it that much harder to swallow that I messed up my one opportunity I had worked so hard for. Well, this year he never did show back up, but this guy did! I watched him grow all summer as he transitioned over into my food plot in early September, all the while keeping tabs on his movements with trail cameras. Opening week we had a [...]

Friend and long-time Big Deer blogger Dean Weimer filed this field report: "Trace Koble started his 2020-21 Indiana deer season within the Allen County Deer Reduction Zone (DRZ) by killing the requisite doe on Sept. 15, which is the traditional beginning of the annual reduction hunts statewide. "Koble was happy to kill his "earn-a-buck” doe so that he could then focus on the mega-buck he’d been patterning in the days leading up to Friday, Oct. 2. This is a first-look at Koble’s big non-typical. The official Big Deer story is coming soon. Stay Tuned!" As Weimer was filing that report, another archery giant hit the ground in Indiana. Dean says: “Mike, check out Bradley Noll’s archery brute below! Man, the [...]

From our friend and Indiana hunter John Deem: “Weather conditions have been perfect in the Midwest. I rarely even hunt this early, but killed this old 13 pt. first night out. Biggest bodied buck I’ve ever seen. Field dressed 232lbs.” What a tank, congrats John!  

One summer the talk of Waupaca County, Wisconsin, was a ginormous buck on the prowl. The giant was feeding in beans and alfalfa on a farmer’s property just ½ mile from Paul Keller’s 80- acre hunting spot. Through observation and low-impact scouting, Paul confirmed that the buck was walking a timbered ridge on his property to get to a patch of standing corn, also on Paul’s land. Paul hung a few tree stands on and near the ridge, and one day in September he killed one of the top bow bucks of 2012—the massive 27-pointer grossed 244! The buck was walking a timbered ridge within ½-mile of the fields… A spot like that is one of the best for early-season bow [...]

Here’s your 6-step plan: Stay sharp: It’s tough to keep your edge for hours when you haven’t seen a buck for a while. But do it. The minute you drop your guard and start daydreaming a monster will pop up within 50 yards. You never want that. When a big deer surprises you, you tend to get rattled, make a foolish move and spook him. So concentrate as much as you can. Scan the woods and try to pick up the flash of antlers or hide as far out you as can. That way you’ll have time to calm your nerves, stand up, shift into position and plan your draw and shot. Read A Buck: You glimpse a stud 120 [...]