Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2024 i Deer & Deer Hunting

It’s hard to imagine when American hunters weren’t completely obsessed with whitetails. Deer hunting took off in the 1950s, but it wasn’t until the early 1970s when it started taking shape as a national pastime. There were outlets for hunters in the 1950s and ’60s, but most of them — Outdoor Life, Field & Stream and Sports Afield — were generalist sources of all things hunting and fishing. That changed in 1973 when Jack Brauer and Al Hofacker of northeast Wisconsin took the name of their 1960s deer camp, The Stump Sitters, and turned it into a study group that wanted to unearth practical and comprehensive information on nothing but white-tailed deer. The photo here shows the early progression of the Stump Sitters, who begot Deer & Deer Hunting Magazine,…

Sixty years after one of the biggest typical whitetails in the world was harvested, the buck has finally earned its rightful place in the record books. Frederick Kyress bagged the buck on his farm in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, in the late 1950s and kept the antlers in a barn for 40 years. A collector bought them, and they sat in an antique shop for another 20 years. They were bought and sold a few times until they finally found a home at the King of Bucks collection at Johnny Morris’ Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium in Springfield, Missouri. THE BUCK SCORED 204-6/8 B&C POINTS AND IS THE SIXTH LARGEST TYPICAL WHITETAIL EVER IN THE BOONE AND CROCKETT WORLD-RECORD BOOK. Another recent entry was a mammoth nontypical from Tennessee.…

Going in for morning hunts can be the toughest time to safely access many areas of your hunting grounds. In many situations, you simply can’t go the extra mile to avoid crossing primary food sources on these predawn trips to stands. Cross that food source before first light and odds are very high you will send deer running in all directions, likely ruining that sit and doing long-term harm to your hunting efforts. So the solution is to skip morning hunts, right? Not necessarily. Instead, try slipping in after first light. One way is waiting until an hour after shooting light, when most deer have cleared the food sources. Just because they aren’t in the open doesn’t mean they aren’t still moving around in the cover. The other is to…

Long before food plots, GPS mapping systems or rack measurements. Before ATV travel, clothes that actually kept you warm or the plethora of high-tech rifles capable of 1,000-yard accuracy, deer hunting came down to one thing. Making meat. A PEEK AT THE PAST Making meat was foremost in the old-time hunters’ minds, and a farmer or rancher back 120 years ago had plenty to consider. How much meat could a carcass provide? Venison would allow you to sell off extra livestock to add dollars to offset the ever-pressing mercantile bill. Any wild game you could put away made sense then — and still does in a modern homestead. My wife’s great grandfather was a typical famer with more kids than fingers and put stew meat on the table with little…

Most white-tailed bucks reach their maximum body size when 5.5 or 6.5 years old; maximum antler size is normally achieved when bucks are between 6.5 and 8.5 years old. Although I’ve seen some bucks grow their largest antlers late in life, in the wild, most old bucks show some degree of antler regression. Typically, the mature buck grows antlers that are remarkably similar each year. However, at old age, he might revert to growing only forked or spike antlers. In a sense, he goes back to growing antlers more characteristic of immature bucks, which forecasts his impending demise. In his excellent book entitled “Deer Antlers — Regeneration, Function, and Evolution,” Dr. Richard J. Goss states, “Whether the stunted antlers of elderly deer are explained in terms of decreased sex hormone…

Deer steaks are delicious, and smoked backstraps are hard to beat. But when it comes to my favorite flavors of venison, I long for sausage. All types of sausage, too — from a thick slab of summer sausage on crackers to a bratwurst poached and grilled with a pile of kraut. There’s also fresh breakfast sausage and dried salami and the classic American hot dog — all easily made with those bonus chunks of deer meat after the “good” steaks are cut and wrapped. While there is an art to sausage making, it’s really not that difficult and shouldn’t be intimidating. There is some work involved, and clean-up can be a pain, but at its most basic form, sausage is simply meat, which includes some type of fat, along with…

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PURSUIT ACHIEVES MAJOR MILESTONES: INDUSTRY LEADING POSITION Pursuit Media TV, LLC, is pleased to announce major achievements in all areas of its business. Celebrating 16 years of broadcast with Pursuit Channel, and six years of live streaming and VOD distribution with Pursuit UP, Pursuit Media has recently propelled itself to an industry-leading position in total audience delivery. Pursuit pioneered true multi-platform distribution for outdoors content by identifying new and emerging trends in the media space and evolved like no other company in the outdoors industry. The vision and unprecedented approach to reach viewers on any device and at any time without additional subscriptions being required was an industry first. Today, that vision, along with heavy investments into key areas of distribution, research, the addition of media-experienced staff and partners, mixed…

CONNECT & WATCH OUR 4 SHOWS WWW.DEERANDDEERHUNTING.COM DEER & DEER HUNTING MODERN HUNTER DDH PROPERTIES DEERTOPIA SOCIAL MEDIA, WEBSITES/STREAMING APPS FACEBOOK: WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/DEERHUNTINGMAG YOUTUBE: WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/DDHONLINE INSTAGRAM: WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM/DEERANDDEERHUNTING PURSUITUP: WWW.PURSUITUPTV.COM/DEER-AND-DEER-HUNTING/ WAYPOINT TV: WWW.WAYPOINTTV.COM/DEER-AND-DEER-HUNTING WILDTV: WWW.WILDTV.CA/PROGRAM/DEERDEER RUMBLE: WWW.RUMBLE.COM/C/DEERANDDEEERHUNTING TWITTER: @DEERHUNTINGMAG PINTEREST: WWW.PINTEREST.COM/DEERHUNTINGMAG/ BROADCAST TELEVISION PURSUIT CHANNEL - SATURDAY NIGHT DEER CAMP WILD TV WAYPOINT TV WHAT’S NEW ON FACEBOOK? This is how trail surveillance started! Deer & Deer Hunting cofounder Al Hofacker checks a “trail rope” as part of his Stump Sitters research in 1973. Hofacker and Jack Brauer used ropes and wires to monitor deer trails for activity during summer scouting. They eventually wired alarm clocks to stop when the wire was pulled. These ideas were later brought to market by other individuals and eventually led to trail cameras. BUCK OF THE…

If the title match for Modern Meat Maker ever comes up, the .308 could give any competition a run. This cartridge has been climbing the hardwood ridges since the 1950s and according to sales figures, is # 1 for legions of swamp sloggers. Like most excellent sporting cartridges, it started life in army fatigues and still finds itself right in the action. Offering real-world ballistics and a trajectory that can handle the silent spruces or wide-open bean fields, a .308 is all business. Add to this the fact that ammo can be purchased at any rural retailer, so you’re not in a bind should you forget the cartridges at home (which I have done). Pushing 150-grain pills with more than enough anchoring power, yet not tearing up meat, the .308…

1 CODE OF SILENCE FAREWINDS™ MERINO-LR™ EARLY SEASON AND LAYERING COLLECTION Code of Silence, a premium hunting apparel company that takes performance and functionality to an unmatched level recently launched their FareWinds™ Merino-LR™ early season and layering collection. FareWinds is available in three essential series for early season active hunting to all season layering. One of the most unique FareWinds products is the FareWinds HighLoft 1/2 Zip Sweater. This piece provides incredible mid to heavy layering performance with comfortable and simple functionality. This garment is anchored by an exclusive Merino-LR™ HighLoft Fabric with unprecedented loft, stretch, wind inhibition and breathability. The 400gsm HighLoft fabric and the sweater’s interior sherpa lining creates incredible overall thermal efficiency that will allow you to stay on-stand and comfortable in the most brutal late season hunts.…

In September 2007, Dr. Frank O. Bastian, with a team of neuropathologists specializing in Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE) diseases, published a paper in the “Journal of Medical Microbiology” demonstrating that spiroplasma bacteria were associated with TSE diseases. Chronic Wasting Disease in deer is one of several TSE diseases. Dr. Bastian first identified the novel (new and unique) spiroplasma bacteria while doing autopsies of patients who died from dementia. He found that 13% of the patients had Creutzfeldt–Jakob Disease (a human TSE disease) and that the spiroplasma was found in all of these cases. This discovery of a bacteria in patients with CJD was a challenge to the prion theory first advanced in 1982. Although prions are widely believed to cause TSE diseases, to date no one has discovered the mechanism…

Byron Ferguson, inducted into the Archery Hall of Fame in May 2024, is much more than the world’s greatest longbow barebow archer. Glenn Helgeland, who published Volume 1 and Volume 2 of Byron’s book “BECOME THE ARROW” (WWW.TARGETCOMMBOOKS.COM), has always been impressed by the fact that Byron has shot more than 300 white-tailed deer. He obviously knows — really knows — how to successfully hunt white-tailed deer. (Byron hunts somewhere close to at least 150 days a year.) Byron’s statements in both books about approaching his treestands in the morning after daylight, then “stalking” his treestands made sense. Glenn asked Byron to expand on his thoughts on those topics for this article.…

WILLIAM MALONE knew his sons probably would follow in his footsteps as a hunter, angler and lover of the outdoors. Growing up in southwest Alabama, the opportunities were vast to pursue deer, waterfowl, small game and fish, not to mention frogs, turtles, bugs, snakes and other fun things. His sons did all of these, of course, but Malone knew one thing likely would hook them hard. “Hogs, for sure,” he said. “They always did want to go with me, and tagged along even when they weren’t quite old enough to shoot. I think hog hunting, for kids, really has so many advantages. You have long seasons, pretty much year-round in most states, and in Alabama we have no closed season. You can hunt day or night, depending on the state,…

Just where to hit a deer for a full freezer has been a source of near fistfights for as long as we’ve been slinging lead. I recall evenings skinning in barn lamplight or around meat poles under the stars listening to the endless arguments. The neck shot was the choice of one camp who claimed it ruined less meat. Valid and true, but the opposite side retorted that a neck shot was risky, maybe leading to a tracking job after only stunning the deer. The lung/heart guys all claimed that was foolproof with little room for loss. Hold on there now, a solid side shot can pretty much maul the heart and some meat beyond use. Oh, but just aim a tad up and punch the lungs double time, would…

Although stand hunting is a favorite way to hunt the post-rut, silent drives during gun season can also be productive for hunting wary bucks. Most hunters are loners when it comes to hunting anything, and seldom do they venture into the woods with more than one person. However, late in the season when it appears that all bucks have left the country, it’s often effective to put on what old-timers call a “cloverleaf tactic” with another hunter. It works like this. One hunter positions himself in a treestand in the heart of a prime bedding area. Then, one lone still-hunter proceeds to make big loops from the stand hunter. The still-hunter hunts away from the stand, makes a big loop, and then comes back. The still-hunter comes back to where…

Venison is super healthy because it is practically fat-free and is low in cholesterol. Right? Well, that’s what we’ve all been telling ourselves over the years, and for the most part it’s true. But it’s not entirely true. You’ll have to trust me here. You’re talking to a guy who has eaten so much venison during the past 30 years that it’s second only to oxygen (and maybe coffee) in my daily/weekly intake. I’m no dietician, but I learned the hard way what “good red meat” can do to a body if you aren’t careful. For years, my annual physical was always pretty good. No elevated levels of this or that, and although I’ve always carried a few too many pounds on my midsection, I’ve never had to worry about…

When my Dad began deer hunting, no on broke for lunch. All of the guys in camp stuck a sandwich, an apple and a handful of peanuts in their jacket pockets and hit the woods, not to return until dark. Things had eased off a bit by the time my brothers and I came along. The guys in camp were about three decades older and had grown to like a noon break and a cup of hot coffee. To my brothers and I, of course, that was routine, par for the course; except that we preferred a bottle of pop instead of coffee, and we didn’t want to sit and rest a few minutes after lunch. We were instantly ready to hit the woods again. But not my brother Jon.…