A hunter from somewhere in the Midwest has this great buck on camera. Mike: We were calling him the Big 9 (his picture from 2013 below) but I think he needs a new name now. I'll take name suggestions from the BIG DEER bloggers. History is, the buck showed up in 2013 and appeared on only one camera 2 different days in late July--then we never saw him again. This year he's been on 2 cameras every couple days since June when we able to identify him (we run cameras year-around). Any guesses on potential score (and age) based on his pics from 2013 to this year? Again, what’s a good new name for this buck?

Adam at Hickory Creek in Kansas got some video of this cool buck with his DLC Covert Scouting Camera. This is a still image from that footage. I’ll name that giant for them right now: “High & Tight.” Love the look of that rack!  

This group of bucks is hanging in a woods somewhere here in Virginia. I know the area, that right buck is going to be a shooter come bow season in October. Good lesson here: As you watch and study trail-camera images of a buck group in late summer, study the makeup of that group (in this case a 6-point, a small 8-point and the larger 8-point shooter) because it is very likely that those bucks will keep traveling together throughout September into early October. Then say you're on stand on the bow opener. If you see one of those little bucks coming through the woods, stand up, grab your bow and get ready. All the bucks and the shooter are probably following, and hopefully the big boy will pass within shooting range.

Remember this image of "The Beast" from yesterday? I said the gentleman who has the net Booner on his camera has hit the mother lode. Well, I was wrong. Now that guy has hit the rich lode. He posted this last night: NEW BUCK ALERT (below)... Lol... I think I will call him "Mini-Beast" since he lives on the same farm as "The Beast." Cool. From what I'm seeing early, this is going to be a good rack year, certainly better than 2013 I hope. Send me your trail-camera images to fire us up. You have my word I'll never divulge your name or the location of the buck you'll be hunting.