sportsman channel Archives

5 11, 2025

8 Muzzleloader Hunting Tips

Clay Hanback2025-10-26T10:16:40-04:00November 5th, 2025|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Guns & Loads, Deer Hunting, sportsman channel, whitetail deer|0 Comments

I’m hunting the early muzzleloader season in Virginia right now, which reminds me of these tips: Drop two 50-grain pellets of Triple Seven (or even three if you use a Remington Ultimate Muzzleloader like I do). Most modern muzzleloaders will shoot just fine with 100 grains. Insert your saboted bullet of choice at the muzzle, and start it down the bore with a short starter. With your ramrod, seat the bullet firmly all way down and on top of the powder, but don’t tamp it or beat it hard. You just want a good, firm seat. Once fully loaded, leave the ramrod in the barrel and mark it with a Sharpie. Check the “fully loaded” reference mark each time you [...]

28 10, 2025

3 Stands for Hunting Thick Cover in the Deer Rut

Clay Hanback2025-10-26T09:45:08-04:00October 28th, 2025|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Bowhunting, Deer Hunting, Deer Rut, sportsman channel, whitetail deer|0 Comments

Three days or so before the peak of the rut, many does pile into stands of thick cedars or pines. They’re tired of being chased over hill and dale by horny bucks, so they try to hide out in the thickets. Of course, the boys pitch in there and keep harassing them. Check an aerial photograph for a small clearing in the greens, like a third-row thinning in planted pines. Sneak in there (great quiet walking) and set up in a ground blind on the downwind side of the opening. A doe might pop out to browse with a buck on her heels, or more likely she’ll flash across, still trying to dump a rowdy 8-pointer. An old buck is [...]

26 10, 2025

4 Rut Stands For Farm Country Bucks

Clay Hanback2025-10-26T09:33:13-04:00October 26th, 2025|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Rut, sportsman channel, trijicon, whitetail deer|0 Comments

Where are the best spots in farm country to ambush a rut-wired buck? The first week of November bucks love to troll nose down across an old pasture or weed field from one point of woods to the next. It’s a natural pinch point. Hang a tree stand in the downwind point of timber where you can see and shoot far out into the cover with a firearm. If bowhunting, move a stand more toward the middle of the patch of woods and set up on the downwind side of the heaviest doe trail in the vicinity. Let’s say that later in November you see a big 8-pointer chase a doe out of the far point of woods and toward [...]

11 09, 2025

Big Deer’s 2025 Moon and Rut Hunting Guide

Clay Hanback2025-09-11T13:56:03-04:00September 11th, 2025|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Bowhunting, Deer Hunting, sportsman channel, trijicon, whitetail deer|0 Comments

2025 ruting moon phases: Full November 5…last quarter November 11…new November 19…first quarter November 27 As I have said time and again on the blog and on BIG DEER TV, I am neither a scientist nor an astronomer. But I am a whitetail hunter and have been doing it for 50 years, more than 30 of those professionally. I’m also a moon fanatic. Over the years I figure I’ve spent more than 1,000 days in a deer stand in November, during every imaginable moon phase, and all the waxing and waning days. My journal notes and personal and observations indicate there is something to the November moon and how it impacts the movements of rutting whitetails. My 2025 predictions: I [...]

7 05, 2025

3 Things to Do Now Before Next Deer Season

Clay Hanback2025-05-07T09:35:14-04:00May 7th, 2025|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, sportsman channel, whitetail deer|Comments Off on 3 Things to Do Now Before Next Deer Season

The 2024 deer season ended a few months ago, guess what? Time to start the initial prep for next fall! Initiate these 3 things now and carry on throughout the summer, and you’ll be ahead of the game when archery season rolls around in September. Reevaluate Your Hunting Land If you’re satisfied with the public or private ground you hunted last year, great. But did you lose permission to a farm, or lose a lease, or just get tired of the pressure on a WMA near home? If so, start looking for new ground. I could write a book on how to search for good hunting opportunities on the vast array of public lands across the U.S., but here I [...]