Deer Management Archives - Page 32 of 53

29 02, 2016

Deer How-To: Late-Winter Buck Scout

admin2020-06-10T09:16:59-04:00February 29th, 2016|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Shed Hunting|Comments Off on Deer How-To: Late-Winter Buck Scout

It was a gray, bone-chilling evening, one of the last of the New York muzzleloader season. Craig Dougherty was fixing to climb down from his stand and call it a year when he looked up and saw a 150-inch brute standing in a plot of brassica greens. Boom! Craig’s .50-caliber roared and he tagged the biggest buck he’d ever seen on his farm. The more Craig pondered his good fortune that night a few years ago, the more curious he became. That was the first time he’d ever seen the big buck on his land. Where had he come from? How had the deer approached the plot? Where had he been living, eating and bedding all those years? The next [...]

15 02, 2016

After Season Report: Is World Record Buck Still Walking In Wisconsin?

admin2020-06-10T09:16:59-04:00February 15th, 2016|Big Deer Stories, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management|8 Comments

Last October I posted this amazing photo and asked this question: Is this the new world record walking in Wisconsin? Rumors were flying that this massive 8x8 might gross 220. Obviously nobody got him last season—the story and pictures would have blown up the Interweb and rocked the hunting world. I wondered if anybody had seen him or possibly had an encounter with him, so I asked the fellow who got this photo for an after the season update. I had no idea it would turn out to be such a fascinating story. Hi Mike: Unfortunately my only sighting of “Ghost” on stand last season was on opening day and he was a little too far and in too much brush [...]

3 12, 2015

Hard Work, Good Management Pay Off For Virginia Hunters

admin2020-06-10T09:17:01-04:00December 3rd, 2015|Big Deer Stories, BigDeer, Deer Management|8 Comments

From our friend KClap in southern Virginia: Hello Mike: Awhile back you posted our story of the 6 of us, all still-hunters, and our food plot strategies. Well, we had an awesome year! Happy to share I caught up with this 10-pointer named "Zeus.” Shot him with my Remington .270 as he chased does hard opening morning. My wife, who just started hunting last year, took this nice buck with a muzzleloader the day before. So proud of her! While I'm grateful for what came my way, I was most happy when I heard her shoot! Her smile says it all. She worked her tail off all summer, planting food plots, cutting trails, fighting chiggers, ticks and poison ivy, all [...]

18 09, 2015

BIG DEER Moon & Rut Hunting Guide 2015

admin2020-06-10T09:17:03-04:00September 18th, 2015|Big Deer TV, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Deer Science|3 Comments

From Kansas to Virginia to Canada, 95 percent of adult does will come into estrous and be bred from roughly November 5-20, regardless of moon phase, or weather for that matter. That is the case every year. So take off anytime from Halloween though Thanksgiving, and you’ll hunt deer in some throes of the rut. And anytime you hunt rutting deer you have the potential to shoot a good buck. But I do believe that some days and weeks are better than others to take your hunt vacation according to the various phases of the “rutting moon” in late October and November. A lot of people are moon skeptics, but not me. There are a lot of variables to moon phase [...]

4 09, 2015

Early-Season Bowhunting: 4 Top Spots for Trail Cameras

admin2020-06-10T09:17:03-04:00September 4th, 2015|Bowhunting, Deer Management|Comments Off on Early-Season Bowhunting: 4 Top Spots for Trail Cameras

If you’ll be setting out or moving cameras this weekend, try: A small clearing in the woods 50 to 75 yards off an alfalfa, soybean or clover field. Mature bucks like to hang up in these areas in late afternoon before moving out to a field at dark. Any bottleneck of thick cover on a deer trail that leads to or from a feed field. Back in the woods toward a bed area where two or more drainages with thick cover come together. Oak trees dropping acorns nearby make the set even better. Having spotted or photographed a big buck in a field or food plot, sneak in and set a camera on the nearest creek crossing, swamp edge, pond edge, etc. [...]