Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2025 i Deer & Deer Hunting

AUSTIN HANKS NORTH CAROLINA During the 2023 season, Austin Hanks saw a big deer he’d seen the season before. Then, incredibly, the deer didn’t return until mid-November. On November 13, 2023, they crossed paths again. “I was adjusting my platform and just happened to look up,” Hanks said. “He was standing about 100 yards away with a doe. I didn’t have my gun loaded or scope covers off yet.” Five minutes into the hunt, he scrambled to chamber a round and settle in for the shot. He breathed in, breathed out, and took the 100-yard shot opportunity. It connected, and the buck bolted. The buck’s rack scored 174 inches. HUNTERS IN THE CROWD IS A NEW COLUMN IN DEER & DEER HUNTING THAT HIGHLIGHTS WHITETAILS FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY. IF…

To say I knew what would happen is a reach, but I knew I’d put my money on tagging the brute before November 5 th, if I just played my cards right. It was still late September, and this wasn’t the first set of pics I’d gotten of him. Each set was right around first or last light. Add in that the cell cam was under 200 yards from a consistently prime, mature buck bedding hot spot, and I was already confident he was bedding in that location, at least most days. I was going to get a friend on him that had helped me a bunch, as they’d earned it many times over. Come the predawn hours of Halloween, Craig Schuh was headed to the stand I believed the…

With all the publicity that food plots are getting nowadays, one might think that a whitetail’s yearround food requirements can be met by simply planting a variety of forages. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case, at least for most deer hunting locales. In many ways, whitetails are like people when it comes to their nutrition requirements and food choices. For both people and deer to thrive, a proper balance of minerals and vitamins is required. In a whitetail’s case, its mineral and vitamin requirements come from a variety of food sources (both grown and natural) that are preferred at specific times of the year. Depending on region, there are about 500 natural food sources and many agricultural foods that whitetails will eat throughout the year. A whitetail’s preference for these foods…

Catching a flicker of movement to the east, I spotted the doe with a dandy buck in tow. Angling down the ridge, the doe wasn’t going to come close enough on her own, and any attempt on my part to bring her in would undoubtedly send her running away. That’s when Mr. Big decided to take matters into his own hands. Hooking around in front of the doe, he encouraged her to change course with a not-so-light nudge from his tines to her ribs. The buck wanted a drink and wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Luckily for me, that pool of water was located in the bend of the otherwise dry creek I had walked in to get to the stand, and it was within chip-shot shooting…

The act of handloading is often prefaced with the idea of recouping the initial investment that is required to get started. Although, in most cases, getting to that point involves loading and firing several hundred rounds. To the deer hunter, we may never achieve this in a lifetime. Therefore, most of us whose sole shooting hobby is chasing whitetail typically just buy our ammo. However, money aside, there are several other great reasons to consider rolling your own, and many sports folk have already found this out. In an interesting turn of events, hunters who have recently started reloading are doing so for the same reason as our great-grandparents—availability. In those days, getting nearly anything to rural areas was a challenge, so the idea of making ammunition yourself caught on…

I’ve been to a couple of county fairs and a goatroping or two. Over the years, I’ve shot my share of whitetails with gun and bow, plus other North American big game and half a dozen species of African trophies. But these days, when I read an outdoor or hunting magazine, it seems like almost everyone knows more about the game animals and how and where and when to hunt them than I do. And they are perfectly willing to tell me about it – sometimes in detail, and sometimes without a sales pitch stated or implied. That’s when I often think of a friend who mentioned to me several years ago, “You know, I think when I didn’t know so much theory about where and when and how to…

He wasn’t quite sure how it happened, but the young whitetail fanatic was about to learn how to kill a deer while bowhunting. He had tried — my goodness, how he tried — over the past 10 years, but there’s was always a catch. The wind betrayed him. He moved too quickly. He was too noisy. He didn’t have enough patience. And … sigh … the shots he did manage to get ended in a few muddied broadheads. Not bloodied. That would all change in 1995, he vowed. This was the year he’d get his first bow deer, maybe even a racked buck. To that end, he started practicing in March — right about the same time he landed that job he had dreamed of since eighth grade. Those Easton…

Ever seen a buck that looks like this? DDH fan Thomas Welter shared these photos with us of the buck he tagged two years ago with a deformed hoof. Welter shot the buck after noticing him limping, initially believing he was missing a leg. After speaking with Welter, we learned the buck had a broken leg and therefore couldn’t walk on the hoof to wear it down, thus causing the deformity. If you ever come across a deer with one or multiple deformed hooves, you could also have a deer with “slipper foot” which has a similar appearance to Welter’s buck. First described in popular press by former D&DH contributing editor Dr. Leonard Lee Rue III more than 50 years ago, laminitis, or “slipper foot” and also “foundering disease” is…

Crossbows have come a long way in recent years. In today’s archery market, choosing a crossbow isn’t about identifying the duds; it’s more about fine-tuning a decision between several outstanding options. With nearly every modern crossbow boasting high speeds, impressive accuracy, quiet shots, and intuitive design, the real question becomes: Which one is right for you? To know and understand the current market, I put together a diverse team of veteran archers and fresheyed newcomers who gathered for an exhaustive, sideby-side test of eleven of the latest crossbows on the market. TenPoint, Ravin, Killer Instinct, CenterPoint, Excalibur, Wicked Ridge, Barnett, and FeraDyne Outdoors Axe were all in the lineup. Over 40 hours of crossbow assembly, range time, and careful observation produced some surprising insights. The bottom line is that there…

As the sun dipped below the mesquite-lined horizon and a brilliant orange glow radiated skyward, I watched two yearling bucks sparring while a heavybeamed 20-inch-wide 8-pointer worked over a scrape under a glossy, white-barked persimmon tree only a short distance from my elevated blind located in the middle of a South Texas oat patch. I enjoyed a great evening hunt, but the buck I was after failed to show up. Actually, I had never seen the buck I was hunting, but one of my friends had, and after describing it to me, I knew I had to get a look at the brute. More importantly, my friend actually witnessed the animal work over the same scrape that the big 8-pointer had just visited. It is common knowledge today, but back…

Many stories shared around the campfire at deer camp include close calls with deer, “just out of range.” We hear them lingering in nearby thickets or see them in plain sight off in the distance. Sometimes they respond to grunting and rattling sequences, but they often hang up. In those moments, I’ve thought to myself, “I need something special to make them commit.” Turns out, the solution might be as simple as a mysterious, alluring deer decoy. Decoys are most used to hunt turkeys, elk and waterfowl, but they can be effective when pursuing whitetails, especially during the rut. CJ Davis, co-owner of Montana Decoy, assumes most whitetail hunters shy away from deer decoys because they grew up seeing people hunt without them. “That’s how we’re indoctrinated,” he said. “When…

Regardless of if one is using cell or traditional scouting cams, replacing batteries wastes time, energies, money and the data not captured. Today, we’ll cover the biggies that help minimize those wastes. THE ULTIMATE For saving energies, the ultimate is a quality cell cam, placed where it receives good service and can be matched with a solar panel receiving ample light. When that’s the case, battery and chip swaps are virtually nonexistent and the cam data is coming to you directly. There’s two situations where that setup isn’t great. From my experience, I’m not sure anything drains cam power faster than the cell cams searching for service. I’ve had a dozen lithiums drain in a couple weeks, when in cell cams in spotty coverage areas. Next, if a solar panel…

September is a magical time in the whitetail’s world, but things change rapidly as the month gives way to October. This is the time of the year bucks’ personalities rapidly change, and they become much less cautious. It was amazing to witness because mature bucks will go from being calm, cool and collected to off-the-wall-stupid at certain times. Every buck is different. Their level of foolishness has much to do with their personality and the situation in which they place themselves. By the time November and the breeding phase of the rut is about to explode, bucks are on the prowl all hours of the day. They sleep very little, and their food intake drops off drastically. They pick a fight with nearly every buck they encounter and aggressively pursue…

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ALL PHOTOS COURTESY HONEYCUTT CREATIVE Ethics are found at the center of many aspects of life. No matter the culture, or the subject matter, ethics fit into the discussion one way or another. The same is true for deer hunting, and we should have a healthy conversation about that. Without question, hunters care about animals. The vast majority of outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen hold deep regard for deer and other game. Assuredly, a staggering low percentage don’t take ethics seriously. Here, we’ll define deer hunting ethics. Then, we’ll go over key elements of being an ethical deer hunter, with specific examples. THE LAYERS OF DEER HUNTING ETHICS Deer hunting ethics are multifaceted. These come in multiple layers. Of course, it starts with mandated ethics, which many people refer to as game…

The quick lethality of a sharp broadhead-tipped arrow never ceases to amaze me. When the arrow slices through only soft tissue, hitting neither bone nor cartilage, the targeted animal may not know it has been shot. It simply and quietly – and very soon – falls over and dies. I’ve hunted with a rifle longer than I have with a bow and taken a good number of big game with a rifle. But the almost instant lethality of a properly spined, well balanced, smoothly released, sharp arrow is almost magical. This is true with any good hit, but especially so when the arrow is shot at a relatively relaxed, unalarmed animal and when a breeze is moving from the target animal to you, keeping your scent from it and covering…

The hormonal status of animals, including deer, during the biochemical events that transform muscles into edible meat has been clearly shown to affect the eating quality of meat. While several hormones are secreted during this period, there are two that have been most frequently linked to the major biochemical changes that can occur in muscles. These two hormones are adrenaline (aka epinephrine) and cortisol, both of which are known as “stress hormones”. Both hormones are secreted in live animals as a result of exposure to stress that occurs prior to death, and which continue to affect muscle biochemistry after death and during the conversion of muscle to meat. Both play a role in the adaptation of animals to stress but the biochemical changes that occur in response to stress are…

The whitetailʼs range continually spreads across North America, and deer now inhabit virtually every type of terrain from north to south. Some areas are obviously preferred over others, but the white-tailed deer is the master at adaptation. If youʼre a buck-hunter, itʼs important to find a good spot to kill a deer — not merely a spot to see deer — because where you hunt dictates your odds for success. Thatʼs why serious deer hunters need to be topographical students. The more you know the lay of the land, the better your chances of fooling an ultra-wary whitetail. Precise scouting, aided by topographic and aerial maps, can help you identify potential hotspots. However, these tools are much more important in helping you pinpoint a seasonʼs worth of stand sites. Any…

MAKING YOUR OWN JERKY One of the greatest things about making jerky yourself is that you can make it any way you like it – any flavor, any thickness, any cut of meat you want to use. Homemade jerky is fun and simple to make. It is flavorful, easy chewing, a treat for everyone in the family. And it is free of chemical preservatives (other than salt) when you make it yourself. There’s a lot you can do with jerky made from the flavorful recipes here: There is much more to jerky than the traditional rock-hard, thin style. • Snacks • Trail food • Lunch pail additions • Garnishes for salads • Cocktail party hors d’oeuvres • Emergency food • Flavoring for vegetable hot dishes Much of this welcome variety…

One of the most important, and least understood, issues with perfectly tuning a dual cam compound bow is that of cam timing. Simply stated, this refers to how the two cams rotate, rolling and moving in sync with one another. If they don’t, one will stop before the other, which can lead to consistent accuracy issues – and that isn’t good. A related issue is cam lean, which is when one or both cams are at a different angle from the plane of the cam to the vertical plane of the bow. When that happens, as the bow is drawn the bow’s strings and cables end up pulling differently from each other, which again can cause torque at the shot – and make shooting those pretty bullet holes through paper…

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA! FACEBOOK.COM/THEPURSUITCHANNEL INSTAGRAM.COM/PURSUITCHANNEL X.COM/@PURSUITCHANNEL HERE’S JUST A HANDFUL OF SHOWS SET TO AIR BRAND-NEW EPISODES FOR 2025 PURSUIT DELIVERS DEER SHOWS! Since 2008 Pursuit Channel has been delivering extensive high-quality outdoor content to millions of viewers unserved by any other full-time outdoor network. The unique basic tier package delivery with the major satellite distributors provided access to an audience that was ripe with outdoorsmen and women and jump-started the fastest-growing outdoor network in history. Today, the continued growth of Pursuit’s linear distribution now married with an industry-leading OTT distribution platform makes Pursuit the industry leader in total home and user delivery. GO TO PURSUITCHANNEL.COM for more information on all of the great shows and schedules, and how to get Pursuit Channel from your TV service provider…

1 BURRIS FULLFIELD 2.5-10X42MM RIFLESCOPE The Burris Fullfield 2.5-10x42mm riflescope is designed for no-nonsense deer hunters who demand adaptability and precision. Its versatile 2.5-10x magnification range offers a wide field of view for close-range tracking and sharp detail for distant targets. Highperformance glass paired with multi-coated lenses delivers bright, crisp images and excellent low-light performance, ensuring clarity from dawn to dusk. Constructed from a single piece of durable aluminum and featuring a double spring turret system, the Fullfield 2.5-10x42mm is built to handle tough environments and heavy recoil. Burris Knob Synergy® provides smooth elevation adjustments with the option for custom ballistic knobs, allowing shooters to fine-tune their setup for ultimate accuracy. With illuminated and non-illuminated reticle options, this scope delivers quick target acquisition o in any lighting condition. The Fullfield…