whitetail deer Archives - Page 39 of 98

1 02, 2023

9 Best States For Big Whitetail Bucks

Clay Hanback2023-01-25T08:55:24-05:00February 1st, 2023|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, whitetail deer|Comments Off on 9 Best States For Big Whitetail Bucks

I’ve been researching and writing/blogging about whitetail deer for more than 30 years and one thing has remained amazingly constant. If you want to kill a big buck, a really big buck and maybe even a Booner, hunt in one of these 9 states. Wisconsin Illinois Iowa Minnesota Kentucky Ohio Kansas Indiana Check a 2000 version of the Pope & Young or Boone & Crockett record book, and you’ll find those states at or near the top for buck entries. Look into the future and read a 2030 version of a record book and the data will remain similar. The top states have agriculture, edge and cover; rich soils; and well-established buck genetics. Most have a one buck per year [...]

19 01, 2023

Meat Pole Deer Mount

Clay Hanback2023-01-19T10:07:01-05:00January 19th, 2023|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, whitetail deer|Comments Off on Meat Pole Deer Mount

Matt send me this picture and asked, "Mike, what do you think?" I replied, "Not for me, but got to admit it's different and actually pretty cool!" What do you think, like the meat pole mount or not?

19 01, 2023

20 Tips For Late-Season Deer Hunters

Clay Hanback2023-01-17T14:37:50-05:00January 19th, 2023|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, whitetail deer|Comments Off on 20 Tips For Late-Season Deer Hunters

If you haven’t tagged out by now it’s gonna be tough. The first and second ruts are history. Other hunters have killed the easy bucks and spooked the survivors into hiding. You’ve got 2 options. Eat tag soup and pack it in until next fall, or bundle up, hang in the woods and try to pull an 8-pointer out of your stocking cap on one of the last days of the season. I reckon you’ll go for the latter, so I pulled together these tips to help you score at the tag-end of the season. Hunt Grains and Greens Thin and weary after weeks of rutting, does and bucks have got to eat, especially when it’s cold and snowy. Corn [...]

9 01, 2023

Sheds Dropping Early: ID A Doe!

Clay Hanback2023-01-09T09:44:34-05:00January 9th, 2023|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Shed Hunting, whitetail deer|Comments Off on Sheds Dropping Early: ID A Doe!

Cody emailed the other day: “Mike, haven't found any sheds yet, but a guy doing drives with us the other week shot what appeared to be a doe but when we got to the deer it was obviously a young buck that had already dropped his antlers.” This is no big deal, an honest mistake, and most state laws about late season hunting take this possibility into account. But I use the anecdote to point out that bucks seems to be dropping their antlers earlier than usual in many areas, including here in the Virginia Piedmont. Lots more bone will fall off the bucks’ heads in the more usual shedding weeks of January, which is when late antlerless seasons are [...]

5 01, 2023

January Is Best Time To Deer Hunt In Texas

Clay Hanback2023-01-03T09:52:55-05:00January 5th, 2023|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, whitetail deer|Comments Off on January Is Best Time To Deer Hunt In Texas

There are 2 reasons why I love to visit South Texas in January: the weather is wonderful, typically sunny and in the 60s or 70s, and there are plenty of bucks running around. On most ranches in Texas, those bucks are classified as either “trophy” or “management” deer. Trophies are bucks with 10- or 12-point racks that have the gaudy potential to grow and score 170 inches or more. The larger trophy bucks grow their racks, the more expensive they are to hunt. Ranchers and deer managers consider management bucks to be 4-year-old and older animals with limited antler potential. Typically, old bucks with 9 points or less that gross score less than 135 inches. These are the type of [...]