3 03, 2014

Thanking Rand Paul

2020-06-10T09:23:04-04:00March 3rd, 2014|BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Hunting News|4 Comments

We all need to stand up and thank Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) for putting a hold on Dr. Vivek Murthy, President Obama’s pick for Surgeon General of the United States. A hold is a parliamentary procedure that allows a Senator to prevent a motion (Murthy’s nomination) from reaching a vote on the Senate floor. As this article points out, Paul wrote in a letter to Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nevada): “Historically, the Surgeon General of the United States has been a position with the purpose of educating Americans so that they may lead healthier lives, rather than advancing a political agenda.” Murthy’s agenda? Very anti-gun. Wrote Sen. Paul: “The primary policy goals of Dr. Murthy’s organization (Doctors for America) have been [...]

24 02, 2014

Big-Buck Tip: Tweak Your Deer Stands

2020-06-10T09:23:04-04:00February 24th, 2014|BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Deer Science|2 Comments

Another finding reported at the Southeast Deer Study Group 2014: Researchers say adult bucks traveled 55 yards farther away from hunting stands on average at the end of the season vs. the beginning of the season. This further confirms something I have been blogging about and saying on TV for years: Mature bucks can learn your habits and pattern you. As the season progresses they see, smell and hear where you walk into the woods…where you climb into trees…where you walk out at midmorning or after dark… Then they skirt those stand locations to avoid you. I did a “Top 10 Tactics” episode of BIG DEER TV on Sportsman last year, and this strategy was #6: Change It Up. Say [...]

13 11, 2013

Buck Movement & Barometric Pressure

2020-06-10T09:23:20-04:00November 13th, 2013|BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Deer Science|4 Comments

Mike: I‘ve heard that bucks move better when the barometer is moving, either rising or falling. Is that right?—Joe from Indiana Joe: For decades, biologists have been trying to pattern deer activity as related to changes in barometric pressure. To date, nobody has been able to pin it down. Dr. Grant Woods, one of the top whitetail scientists in America, puts it this way: “I’m confident that deer move before and after significant changes in weather. However, since such changes can’t be predicted more than a few days in advance, there’s no way to plan hunting dates weeks ahead of time.  After years of trying to find a pattern, the best I can offer is hunt when you can!” My personal [...]

8 11, 2013

Money Stand for the Rut

2020-06-10T09:23:20-04:00November 8th, 2013|BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management|1 Comment

Whitetails love to roam the points and strips of trees and brush that border rivers and streams and grain and hay fields nearby. One November long bow hunter Luke Strommen scouted such a series of points on his Montana ranch and found them torn up with buck sign. Major doe trails wended into the woods from fields to the west and south. The timber patches were littered with rubs and scrapes. Strommen could have hung a stand in any tree and seen deer, but he’s better than that. And he knows he has to be for 15-yard shots at bucks with his stick bow. He poked around and found the perfect ash tree near the nexus of the trails and [...]

22 10, 2013

BIG DEER Report: Best Moon & Rut Days 2013

2020-06-10T09:23:21-04:00October 22nd, 2013|BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Deer Science|6 Comments

Mark Drury and I compared notes again and came up with our 5th annual prediction of the best days to shoot a monster in the 2013 rut. Any year, the first week of November, when bucks rub and scrape like fiends and troll for the first receptive does, is a great time to hunt for a big deer. If you take off this week, you ought to hunt all day every day, because you never know when you might see a shooter. But with the moon new and dark this November 3 and then waxing crescent, bucks should be most active at daylight. Get on stand extra early and hunt the mornings extra hard. The first week of November “will [...]

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