Deer Rifle Sight-In Tips
Big Deer Blog
by Clay Hanback
22h ago
Don’t get so wrapped up in shooting and practicing with your bow this spring and summer that you put off sighting-in and shooting your rifle and muzzleloader. A few random thoughts on that: I think the old-school way is still the best way. Sight your .270, 6.5, .30-06 or whatever to print the target’s bulls-eye two inches high at 100 yards, which will put you dead-on or thereabouts out to 200 to 250 yards, depending on caliber and load. You’ll shoot 95% of your bucks inside that range anyhow. Sight-in your rifle/scope/load for the tightest 3-shot groups you can get, but if you get 2-inch group ..read more
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Pee Sport for Deer Hunters
Big Deer Blog
by Clay Hanback
6d ago
  We have all climbed into a tree stand (or ground blind) for an all-day sit and struggled with the dilemma, especially when bowhunting a big buck: Do I let fly right off the stand, or pee in a bottle? If you’re in the bottle camp, there’s a new product you need to take a look at. Says the makers of Pee Sport, “It’s the highest-class pee bottle on the market. It’s a premium product for a premium price ($39.99). Sounds a bit high for a pee trap, but the manufacturer insists this is a quality product. “We chose the highest-grade, degradation-resistant, odor-free silicone we could. Unlike th ..read more
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5 Shooting Tips for Deer Hunters
Big Deer Blog
by Clay Hanback
1w ago
If you’re lucky you’ll fire one bullet at a mature buck this fall. Sight-in and fine-tune your rifle/scope/load this summer, and practice until you are efficient and confident out to 250 yards. Then remember these tips that will help you make that one shot count in the woods. Think out a shot before it happens. Say you’re climbing a hillside or stalking on a ridge. What if a buck jumps out of that draw? Which way will he run? Is it 100 or 200 yards across that canyon? Anticipate and be ready for a quick shot as best you can. One November day I crawled up on a buck browsing in the shade, zappe ..read more
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Deer Season is Over: Learn from Last Year’s Mistakes
Big Deer Blog
by Clay Hanback
1w ago
I am sitting here thinking back about what went right and what went wrong last season. The best memories are of the few days when I shot a buck on TV, but I will learn the most by replaying and analyzing all those tough and lean days and weeks when I didn’t get a deer. How did I mess up? What could I have done differently? Map and Scout   A buddy called last October and said, “Hey man, I got permission to hunt a new farm, you in?” “Let’s go!”  I roared and off we went for a week. We hunted like mad, had fun, saw some deer but came home empty-handed. We should have slowed down and sco ..read more
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Here’s Why You Need to Go Over and Hunt Africa
Big Deer Blog
by Clay Hanback
2w ago
First read this blog that I wrote and published 20 years ago: I was talking with a colleague the other day and he asked, “So Hanback, when’s your next trip over my man?” “Over where?” “To Africa man!” he roared. I explained that I had never been to Africa, and had never really wanted to go all that much. He looked at me like I was the village idiot. “Ah, there is nothing like it,” he opined, a touch of British high-brow creeping into his Yankee voice. “I was bitten by the bug several years ago and I hardly want to hunt anywhere else.” I was talking with another man who went over and shot his f ..read more
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Big Deer Archives: 4-Year Ouest for a Nebraska Archery Giant
Big Deer Blog
by Clay Hanback
3w ago
Writing script for a new Nebraska television show about my hunt out on the North Platte River last fall. You don’t hear that much about Nebraska, but it’s a sleeper state for big whitetails. Got me to thinking of a great story a passionate bowhunter named Nick sent me 8 years ago: Mike: My journey for a Nebraska public-land buck started back in 2012 when I was notified, I was getting stationed at Offutt Air Force Base, which is located about 15 miles south of Omaha. I am a 15-year active-duty Air Force Security Forces (military police) member. I arrived to Offutt in the beginning of July. Righ ..read more
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Jordan’s Giant South Carolina Buck
Big Deer Blog
by Clay Hanback
3w ago
I wrote this here the BIG DEER blog one September day 9 years ago. Posting with updates: Let me introduce you to my new hunting buddy, 15-year-old Jordan Beri. Last Friday evening Jordan, who was born with spina bifida and is paralyzed from the chest down, shot this 200-pound, low-fence giant in South Carolina. Shaking and nervous as I have ever been in a hunting situation, I held the rifle and scope steady as I could on the buck’s shoulder. We had a special contraption attached to the rifle so that all Jordan had to do was suck on a tube to activate and pull the trigger. When I whispered “Now ..read more
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Social Media and Deer Poaching
Big Deer Blog
by Clay Hanback
3w ago
A Virginia man was arrested and charged with illegally killing three deer last fall, including a renowned buck called “Hollywood.” For years the 29-point non-typical lived in and around Hollywood Cemetery in the city limits of Richmond, and was watched and enjoyed by many people. “The Hollywood Buck was well-known for its large and distinctive antlers, making it easily identifiable,” the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources said in a press release. Last October in western New York, a man created a fake Facebook profile and posed as a female wildlife photographer. He contacted other outdoo ..read more
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First Case Of CWD in Indiana Whitetail
Big Deer Blog
by Clay Hanback
1M ago
The Indiana DNR has confirmed the state’s first positive case of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in an adult white-tailed buck that was harvested in LaGrange County in fall 2023. CWD is a fatal infectious disease, caused by a misfolded protein called a prion, that affects the nervous system in white-tailed deer. It can spread from deer-to-deer contact, bodily fluids, or through contaminated environments and remains in the soil for many years. The sample for this case was collected by a licensed taxidermist through DNR’s CWD Taxidermist Incentive Program. CWD has previously been detected in the f ..read more
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Miracle in the Michigan Deer Woods
Big Deer Blog
by Clay Hanback
1M ago
A man hunting in the U. P. one day last season made a miraculous recovery after a tree fell on him, likely due to high winds in the area. Two officers with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources received a call and were dispatched to the scene. The helped get the hunter out of the woods and to a local emergency room, where he was reportedly in critical condition. According to reports, doctors told the family the man may not walk again after he underwent surgery on his head and vertebrae. But according to an update in January, the hunter regained movement in his limbs and has stood up for ..read more
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