Thanks to Eric for alerting us to this monster kill: Mike: Here is the deer I was telling you about. It was scored at a place they refer to as the Dump, a bar that has a big buck contest.  I work with a guy who is an official scorer for Pope and Young who helps this bar score deer. He didn't score it, but he knows the guy that did. I was told the G-2s were around 7 inches and the 3s and 4s look to be 10 plus. I was also told that the mass measurements were between 45 and 50 inches total.  I understand the first gross score to be 202 5/8 typical. I am hoping to contact the hunter and get more info [...]

Mike: A little while back in a blog you had a picture of a buck that scored in the 120s and asking if the average hunter would kill him. Well here is my answer to that question. He's a basic 8 with a couple stickers. Here in Pa. I do not pass on a buck of this size with either bow or rifle and it doesn't matter if it is early archery season or the last day of rifle season. The fact is that here in Pa., as well as most public land anywhere in the USA, he is a shooter to 95% of the deer hunters I know. He is not my largest buck by a long shot but [...]

To monitor the upcoming rut in your area and to keep tabs on what your fellow hunters are seeing and shooting, go to the BIG DEER Rut Report, click on your region and join the conversation. Be sure to post pictures of any big rubs or scrapes or other interesting stuff you find in the woods, and for sure post pictures of the deer you shoot. Good luck! For now while you’re here, tell me what’s going on in your woods. Are they starting to rub and scrape heavy yet? What are you seeing? Is the deer movement good? Are you hunting this weekend?

A couple of weeks ago I posted a link to a story about Brad Duke, a North Carolina hunter who killed a big velvet deer one year after he fell from his tree stand while hunting that same buck. It was cool little story, but this expanded and personal version from Brad himself is way better: It all started in 2011 when, I believe, “Stickers” was a 2 1/2 year-old. He was a small 9-point, and had not earned the name Stickers quite yet. The summer of 2012 rolled around, and he was now maybe a 125ish 9-point. I had tons of history with this buck already, but by no means was he on my hit list. Then came the summer [...]