Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2017 i Deer & Deer Hunting

They say the best-laid plans often go awry. Hey, it happens, and usually when we least expect it. The same holds true in deer hunting when our shot misses its mark and (gasp) hits the deer a bit farther back than expected. It’s known as the dreaded “gut shot.” What some hunters don’t realize is that not all gut shots are the same. The rumen (stomach) shot is most common because it’s located directly behind the thoracic cavity that holds the heart and lungs. The intestines (the real guts), however, are even farther back — located in the stomach cavity just ahead of the hips. A deer’s reaction to a bullet or arrow through the rumen is characterized by the animal humping up and walking or trotting slowly from the…

@DEERHUNTINGMAG D&DH Poll! What is your favorite way to eat deer meat? 400 votes! 29% Burgers (ground meat) 33% Chili 31% Slow-Cooked Roasts 7% Soup or Stew facebook.com/deerhuntingmag Follow Deer & Deer Hunting on social media: Facebook — Facebook.com/deerhuntingmag Twitter — @deerhuntingmag Pinterist — Pinterist.com/deerhuntingmag Deer & Deer Hunting: Should all states allow lighted nocks? 2,000 likes, 112 shares, 189,880 people reached Jessie Kucharski: Just mind blowing that it’s even an issue. Lighted nocks make it easier to see if a hit was well-placed on an animal, retrieving an arrow either in ground or in a downed animal, and leading to fewer wounded animals and less debris left in the field. Matt Gunsolus: What is the big deal…

After reading the title, some of you might have thought: When it comes to coyotes, the only thing I want to slow down is my breathing as I squeeze the trigger. While I’ve had similar thoughts in the past, and have taken a number of coyotes from the deer stand and on the trapline, allow me to explain.“Thinking, Fast and Slow” is a best-selling book by Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman. In his book, he explains the human tendency to use our instincts, past experiences, personal bias and emotions to make most decisions. He considers this thinking fast. On the other hand, we have the ability to slow our thinking and approach the same topics from a more deliberate, logical perspective. Like many of you, I used to think fast…

1 Halon 32, Avail, Stoke Mathews introduced three new bows for 2017 loaded with all of the features you’d expect from the legendary company. The Halon 32 is a longer version of the popular Halon, with 5-, 6-, and 7-inch brace heights and the Mathews Crosscentric cam pushing speeds to 350 fps. For youth hunters, the compact Stoke is just 27 inches long and hits 314 fps with an 80 percent let-off. For women, the Avail measures 30 inches and weighs less than 4 pounds, with draw weights to 60 pounds. All have numerous features and camo options, too. MSRP $999 and up. Info: www.MathewsInc.com 2 Pelican Rifle Case Long known for its rugged cases for camera and video gear, Pelican’s Rifle Case will protect your hunting rifle and accessories…

White-tailed deer populations are on the decline nationwide. Although the reasons no doubt vary regionally, some experts suggest diseases such as chronic wasting disease (CWD) are a contributing factor — at least in specific areas. Currently, there is no treatment for CWD, and no sure way of diagnosing it based on appearance or observable behavior in live animals during early stages of infection. And there seems to be little agreement among the experts regarding how to control the disease. Or, for that matter, if it can be controlled at all. As noted by University of Wyoming researchers, led by David Edmunds, most CWD studies to date have dealt with recently infected deer populations. Few have investigated the long-term effects of the disease where the problem has persisted for lengthy periods…

According to nearly every bowhunting safety study conducted in recent times, most accidents involve the use of treestands. I have hunted from treestands longer than I care to remember, and can recall a couple of hairy instances when I saw my life flash before my eyes, reminding me to be extra cautious when hunting from high places. Knock on wood, nothing serious ever resulted, but when those mishaps occurred, the thoughts of what could have happened made me slow down, think things through and take every precaution to do things right. The advantages of treestands are well founded, which is why so many hunters are found perched 15 feet or so above the ground each fall. And as states relaxed restrictive regulations and crossbows have become more widely accepted and…

Gary Barenz isn’t a trophy buck hunter, despite living in one of the best areas of the country to see and kill giant whitetails. Central Wisconsin is known for healthy, huge bucks. Barenz has seen them in his 40-odd years of hunting, but he’s never really dialed into the trophy mentality. He just enjoys hunting. So when Barenz decided to go out for an afternoon hunt on October 25, 2016, he had no illusions of grandeur. It was just another great autumn afternoon and he had a few hours to hunt. What happened next, and pretty quickly at that, blew him away. “I’ve been hunting this property since 1998 and only have gotten one out of there earlier that was better,” he said. “That was a 138-inch 8-pointer back in…

Since childhood, Horace had played among the mossy limestone outcrops that were scattered throughout the area and along the nearby creek. Stories about the place spoke of an old mill that used to operate nearby, where people brought corn and wheat to be ground into meal and flour respectively. Yet no one actually knew where the name Mink Hollow originated. Horace claimed to have done a little trapping there as a youth, but about the only thing anybody ever saw him bring out of the woods was a three-legged possum, and it escaped after playing dead for a few minutes when he laid it on the front porch to go inside for something. Still, for Horace and some of his fellow camp members, the name always conjured up mink more…

Deer & Deer Hunting-TV, America’s original, categorically exclusive media authority dedicated to white-tailed deer and hunting them, can now be found on Pursuit Channel. The iconic show, in its 13th season, will be joined by Destination Whitetail and Land of Whitetail, two of hunting’s most popular series also produced by F+W Outdoors, parent company of Deer & Deer Hunting. D&DH-TV will be the anchor show for “Deer & Deer Hunting Saturday Night Deer Camp,” a two-hour selected block of the best whitetail hunting shows. Come along on exciting hunts with hosts Dan Schmidt, Gordy Krahn, Steve Bartylla and Mark Kayser. Learn about deer biology, hunting strategies, new gear and more. Check your local listings on Pursuit Channel. SHOPDEERHUNTING.COM When you’re using a ThermaCell mosquito repeller while hunting, at some point…

It was one of those picture-perfect southwest Colorado mornings — no wind, a cobalt sky and the sun just painting the oak brush a fiery red on the ridgetop in front of me. I had a bull elk tag in my pocket, my beloved .300 Magnum in my hands and you couldn’t have lured me away from that place at that moment with a thousand-dollar bill. It was my first elk hunt, and brother I was ready. The brush started quaking to my left down the ridge and suddenly at 40 yards a cow elk hobbled into view; I say hobbled because her right front leg was shot nearly in two, just at the brisket, and there was a huge, gaping and bloody wound across the bottom of her chest.…

Sweat dripped from my forehead as I climbed a 10-foot ladder leading to a well-position box blind. The mercury was pushing 80 degrees on this late October afternoon. “Whoa!” I exclaimed while opening the door and noticing a half-dozen or so yellow jackets flee the blind. “Nope. This is not happening,” I told D&DH-TV cameraman Jay Ellioff as I retreated to the ground. “I’m allergic to bee stings, and we’re a long way from town.” Thankfully, we had cell service. I texted our guide, Jon Heaton, and asked if he could put us in a different spot for the afternoon. “No problem,” Jon replied. “Be right there.” As we walked back to a trail head to meet Heaton, Ellioff offered some sage advice. “You know,” he said. “It seems like…

For each of the three bowhunting books my son Chris and I co-authored, we researched many statistics and one has remained consistent throughout the years. Nearly 60 percent of all Pope & Young entries are taken during the three-week period encompassing the pre-rut and main rut. With that high of a success rate during a short portion of the season, hunters should focus most of their scouting efforts on finding and setting up locations specifically for the rut phases. The question then becomes: When is the most opportune time to scout for rut phase locations? There’s no question that the vast majority of bowhunters scout for and prepare locations during the pre-season. But the downside is that during preseason scouting ventures they’re looking at summertime sign in the form of…

I remember my first batch of venison summer sausage. This was back in the “olden days” of the early 1980s, when I was fresh out of college and poorer than when I was in it. But true to form for a young hunter with boundless energy, I had a good autumn of deer hunting between bow and slug gun seasons, and managed to turn a collection of antlerless tags into a trio of good white-tailed does on the ground — and a nice batch of trim meat even after grinding up enough burger for a year for myself and my new wife, and after making chops, steaks and roasts. So what to do with all of that extra trim meat? There was no money in the family budget for professional…