Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2022 i Deer & Deer Hunting

With deer season upon us, it’s the perfect time to brush up on perhaps the most important skill you can develop as a hunter: shot placement. Articles and posters help us learn more about physiology, but real-time video is another good tool. If you want to learn from the best, I would suggest jumping on YouTube and watching videos of successful hunts from the following five men. Not too many do it better. They’ve perfected shot placement. 1. PAT REEVE, MN I can never speak highly enough of the former taxidermist turned TV star. He is the real deal through and through. He cut his bowhunting teeth while hunting the big bucks of Buffalo County, Wisconsin, and eastern Minnesota. If you really want to see some incredible, spot-on shot placements,…

New Record Blacktail Pope and Young, North America’s leading bowhunting conservation organization, is pleased to announce the recipient of the coveted Glenn St. Charles award. The award is reserved for exceptional bowhunting entries within the Boone and Crockett record books. This year’s award went to Tavis Rogers for his impressive 175 0/8-inch Non-Typical Columbia Blacktail. The presentation was made at the annual Boone and Crockett big-game awards banquet held this past weekend in Springfield, Missouri. “It’s just humbling to even see an animal in this class, of any species,” stated Tavis Rogers. “It’s a deer of many lifetimes and it was a real blessing to get the chance to spend time hunting him, much less get an arrow in him. My sincere thanks go to Boone and Crockett and Pope…

As a diehard bowhunter, I’ve cherished every rut-time hunt I’ve experienced for the past five-plus decades. Last year was no different … with one exception. You see, last year’s rut found me in the woods toting a crossbow for the first time. Due to arm surgery and consistent physical therapy shortly before the deer hunting season, I quickly discovered that hunting with a crossbow was the only way I would get back into the woods during bow season. My home state of Illinois had just passed a law that allowed those 62 years old and older to hunt with a crossbow. Talk about perfect timing. I had just turned 62. I was back in the game! SIMILAR ROUTINE I knew bucks would be most vulnerable during late October and early…

It was one of the more surreal experiences I’ve had. Just a couple days before, I’d set a stand for the opening day of Illinois’ firearm season. I had three different bucks I knew I’d be interested in and had gotten all of their pictures at that spot, more than once, the week leading up to the opener, each in daylight. I couldn’t imagine a better place to meet one of them. That made the argument I had in my head, walking in the predawn dark to my stand for opening a.m. a bit odder. I had just started the walk, when I started arguing in my mind that I should veer left at the fork, instead of heading for the freshly hung stand. I’ll spare the details, but I…

To this day, it’s one of the most foolish, short sighted, arrogant choices I’ve ever made. Growing up doing legal deer drives with close family during Wisconsin’s firearms season, I loved the camaraderie, but found little personal joy in hooting as I walked through the woods or trying to shoot deer tearing across the open ground to the next closest cover. No judgement on others that enjoy it, but deer drives just weren’t for me, and I LOVED bowhunting. Long story short, I quit firearms hunting for a stretch of more than 15 years, as I was just too cool to pick up a gun. In reality, I was a short-sighted, couldn’t-see-beyond-the-blinders-I’d-built, idiot. With firearms season about to get cracking in many areas, let me try to help you all…

On more than one occasion, while sitting around a campfire or philosophizing over a beer, Aaron Opsteen and I have pondered, “How have we lived this long when we’re this dumb?” Surely, by now, given the stupid things we do, we should have been long since weeded out of the gene pool. It would seem the day God handed out common sense, “Opie” and I were probably giggling at some fart joke, showing each other funny Facebook memes or trying to come up with a burn so ruthless it would forever silence the other guy. You ever see “Dumb and Dumber”? Stick Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels in the woods and that’s us. For all his idiocy, I actually have to give Opie some credit (although it pains me to…

Find us on Facebook FACEBOOK/DEERHUNTINGMAG Archery season is almost upon us! These are the biggest bowhunting states in America. Did your state make the list? GLEN PERKOLA: I’ll be out there October 1st SEAN ACRI: Maryland starting September 9th can’t wait OWEN BURDICK: NY starts Oct. 1 NELSON CHANDLER: September 10 here in Georgia AL KAECHELE: Craig Case — we’re top of the list! Social Snapshot *MONTHLY AVERAGES FOR JAN./FEB. 2021 DEER & DEER HUNTING FACEBOOK • PINTEREST • INSTAGRAM • TWITTER • YOUTUBE FOLLOWERS: 1.01 MILLION REACH: 7.6 MILLION VIDEO VIEWS: 1.93 MILLION SUPER FANS CONGRATS TO ALL OF THE D&DH READERS THAT GOT A BUCK LAST SEASON! THANKS FOR SHARING YOUR PHOTOS! 1. CRAIG HUGHES, OHIO 2. RICHARD BANDY, TENNESSEE 3. JAMIE KUEHL, MINNESOTA 4. ZANE CARLSON, PENNSYLVANIA…

Deer have the uncanny ability to source the highest protein feed in the country and use it for as long as possible. Agricultural crops adjacent to large blocks of native habitat can create the perfect storm for a deer hunter looking for a mature buck. While hunting in Oklahoma last fall, I was allowed to hunt a big winter wheat field. The lush, green leaves of the wheat were the best groceries in the country, and the deer traveled from miles around to get a taste. Large fields attract lots of deer. The green wheat fields attracted dozens of does and fawns, bringing the big bucks out of hiding. The problem is that big fields can have deer in every corner, so setting up in the right spot is paramount…

On this still, cold November morning, the clashing of the heavy antlers clenched in your fists sounds incredibly loud and out of place — like a baby crying in church. But as you grind and twist the discarded bone, trying at the same time to look in all directions, you know you have to work the AT&T plan — reach out, that is — because a buck will be able to hear the noise a long way off. The buck that lumbers over the ridge a few minutes later looks like he has made a long, arduous trip. Breathing hard, he gasps for air. The brute is coming in so fast you forget to breathe, like you always do when a big one first appears. Everything looks perfect. The familiar…

Anticipation builds with each passing moment. A buck you recognize from trail cameras passes through, but nothing of interest walks into view. The remainder of the sit is slow. Leaves periodically rustle in the wind. The occasional squirrel searches for acorns. Otherwise, all is still. The deer woods feel dead, and you can’t seem to shake the feeling that you won’t get a shot at a mature buck this season. At least, not one you’re aware of. While trail cameras are likely the best and most impactful invention in modern deer hunting, they do come with a drawback. Because of these tools, most deer on the landscape are known. Used efficiently, a hunter can capture the bulk of deer that are on their land. Obviously, that’s a good thing for…

Although die-hard deer hunters enjoy observing and experiencing all whitetail behavior, few things get them as excited as witnessing a good chase during the rut. The sight of a buck chasing a doe at full speed really gets the hunting juices flowing. How far a buck will chase a doe during the rut? It all depends on the animals and what phase of the rut we are talking about. THE PARTICIPANTS When it comes to chasing behavior during the rut, what takes place hinges on the buck’s personality and whether the doe is in estrus. No two bucks have the same personality or sex drive, so every encounter between a buck and a doe is a little different. By the time November arrives in the North, a buck’s testosterone has…

One of the most important considerations in setting up a bowhunting rig is deciding on how heavy of an arrow you want to shoot. Basically, arrow weight falls into three categories — light, medium and heavy. The one you choose is based on several factors, including the game to be hunted, the conditions you expect to encounter on the hunt, and, just as important, your own personal preferences. Many elements go into determining an arrow shaft’s final overall weight. When I build a hunting arrow, I calculate how much my finished arrow weight will be before I get started, which lets me decide what’s right for a particular situation. These factors are: 1) GRAINS PER INCH: Arrow, and arrow point, weight is measured in grains. As a point of reference, 437.5…

Whitetail bucks sometimes do stupid things during the rut, and I got proof of that during the 2021 firearms deer season in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on November 20. One buck’s strange behavior made it possible for me to fill a tag in the most unusual fashion that I’ve experienced during more than 50 years of deer hunting in Michigan. After spending more than five hours on stand during the morning without seeing a single deer, I went to a different stand site to change the batteries in a trail camera monitoring deer activity. Weather had been cold and the last time I checked the camera, battery power was below 20%. I knew the camera could malfunction with battery power that low, so I brought eight AA batteries with…

Each year since 1992, Deer & Deer Hunting has provided both Southern and Northern readers with the “Whitetail Rut-Predictor.” This system has been featured in several D&DH articles by late contributing editor Charles J. Alsheimer. The Whitetail Rut-Predictor is also included in our annual wall calendar, which still features Alsheimer’s photography. The predictor lets you plan when, where and how to hunt. The rut follows predictable stages of deer behavior. These changes dictate the effectiveness of hunting strategies. Scrape-hunting, for example, might be effective when bucks seek does, but it won’t work later in the rut when most does are already bred or being tended. Not every buck exhibits the predicted primary behavior on a given date. Several factors, including age, nutrition, health and genetics, can affect the time and…

Deer hunting is full of old wives’ tales, myths and legends lasting generations with no real basis in fact. And while, like most old guys, I spend a fair amount of time living in my own little fantasy world, when it comes to punching deer tags, there’s no doubt a reality check is often required. One myth is that gnarly-antlered older bucks that have become vampires, only occasionally seen on midnight scouting camera pictures and never showing themselves during daylight hours, suddenly forget all about their survival instincts during the rut and commit literal suicide by running headlong into the free-fire zone created by camoclad archers and orange-jacketed riflemen when their testosterone levels are elevated. No doubt, that happens — once in a blue moon. But if you base your…

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Meatloaf is the ultimate comfort food and a staple in any serious country cook’s repertoire. Just by mentioning the word “meatloaf,” I bet I helped you conjure up memories of some incredible meatloaf, and some very terrible meatloafs you’ve had to choke down. This one, of course, incorporates venison and country pork, which is basically just ground pork shoulder. If you already have ground venison you want to use, just buy ground country pork to mix in for this recipe. Likely the main mistake casual cookers make when it comes meatloaf is not properly mixing meats prior to cooking. Here, with the steps below, the methods are very similar to sausage mixing, as you want to properly extract proteins and form a proper bond between protein and fat molecules. Otherwise,…