There are two times in my life when I expect to find deadheads. Shed hunting is the first, which should come as no surprise to anyone who has dedicated some time to scooping up antlers in the winter and spring. The second is while trout fishing. I don’t know how many times I’ve been slipping along the bank of some stream tucked deep into a valley when I’ve noticed a rack poking up out of the grass. The biggest was a 182-inch typical. That deadhead made news through the local deer scene and ended up with me eventually giving it to the kid who had shoulder-shot the buck the previous season. Dead ..read more

Within the next couple months bucks will start growing their new antlers. By mid-summer, social media feeds will fill up with trail camera images of velvet-antlered hitlisters. Quite a few of these deer will be given names if they don’t have one already. This will happen with hunters ranging from celebrity power couples to random dudes scattered across the country who spend their whole season on grandma’s 40 acres. The one-buck hunt is all the rage right now, which is great for some people. The challenge of letting one go for a few years before targeting him is something that a lot of whitetai ..read more

I’m all too familiar with frustrating trail camera experiences. Ending up with poor-quality images or no pictures at all feels like a waste of time. If you're new to using trail cameras, you can avoid this mistake and learn from my experience. You could be happy just to know there are deer in the area. Or you may be frustrated with camera performance and want to learn more about capturing usable trail cam pictures. However, a blurry image of a deer will not help narrow your efforts of getting a whitetail inside bow range. Running cameras teaches a few lessons. Most importantly, it teaches you ..read more

Any time spent in the woods is valuable, but let's talk about the target goal of shed antlers. Days filled with work meetings aren't always a lost cause. A few short minutes could be all you need to grab a few antlers this spring. Shed hunting doesn't always need to take place where you want to hunt. It's beneficial to zero in on areas known for wintering bucks. A little map reading and an evening drive to learn local buck habits will go far. Remember your goal in these places; you don't need to worry about finding a tree to climb. Or whether there is enough deer sign in the area to make it a ..read more

Fail upward? What kind of corporate jargon is that? How could this possibly help me become a better hunter? Hear me out. Every hunter that I know with at least a dozen seasons under their belt goes through a natural evolution. That evolutionary path is different for everyone because everyone has a slightly different situation and different personal goals. For example, you might come to a fork in the road after having some success here and there, but never consistently filling your tag. You might shoot a nice buck every single year, but there’s a burning desire deep in your gut telling you to c ..read more

I grew up thinking that big bucks were almost unkillable. While I was surrounded by people who hunted, almost no one ever killed a deer that was even 3.5 or older. When someone did, it was a big deal. Our lived reality was in stark contrast to the hunting videos and magazine articles we consumed. It didn’t make sense, and for years, I struggled with that disconnect. How could some people consistently kill big deer? I couldn’t even find one most summer evenings while running around with an old pair of binoculars. Let alone ever shoot one. It took a lot of seasons of hard bowhunting and enough e ..read more

In the whitetail-sphere, it’s common for hunters to proclaim that their deer are harder to kill than the deer found in other places. It’s kind of like bitching about local weather. We all like to present a life of struggle and, of course, perseverance. With whitetails, no one region or state can claim its deer are the toughest to kill. The truth is deer that don’t suffer hunter mistakes live all over, and they share a few things in common. The first is that there usually aren’t very many of them. Low-Density Deer If you walked up to the edge of a four-acre farm pond with the goal of catching a ..read more

It was early October 1992, and I was sitting in a wooden treestand overlooking an oak-lined ridgetop. I wanted my first deer in the worst way, and she was heading in my direction. The young doe was on the hunt for a few acorns, and when she posed up at 10 yards, I drew and shot. What I didn’t do, was aim. When my arrow passed over her back, my rising panic hit a fever pitch. Another arrow sailed high and buried into the dirt. With a 0 and 2 count, I stepped up to the plate one more time and prayed to the deer gods to let me get this one right. They didn’t listen. My third and last arrow follow ..read more

On a brisk weekend in October, I had an epiphany. After three seasons of shivering, sweating, waiting, watching, and throwing the occasional hissyfit—I was standing over a mature, nine-point deer. Was it a record-breaker? No. Did it come at a high price? Yes and no. This particular instance worked like perfection. The arrow hit right where I wanted it, from about 25 yards. It was a quick, clean kill. I even had the self-control to resist shooting a doe moments before so I could hold out for what I hoped was a buck behind it. This was more than a buck; it was me growing up as a hunter. Of cours ..read more

Hunters have an undeniable fascination with giant antlered, big-bodied bucks. If you've decided to take on the challenge of understanding mature bucks, you're in danger of becoming addicted and obsessed. However, studying mature bucks can also increase your fun in the woods. Mature bucks are king in the big woods. They live in constant survival mode due to hunting pressure, predators, and the drive to carry on their bloodline. It's no wonder that they are rare creatures. Young bucks or does have basic survival instincts, but a few years of experience make a seasoned buck's senses sharper than ..read more