Deer & Deer Hunting September 2025

Visit us online: WWW.DEERANDDEERHUNTING.COM • Sign up for our free newsletter. • Watch D&DH videos and TV episodes. • Listen to Deer Talk Now podcasts. • Read breaking-news updates. • Renew your magazine subscription. • Shop for D&DH-branded apparel, Whitetail Rut Prediction® calendars, and more. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES: Visit us on the web at www.deeranddeerhunting.com, or call (386) 246-3414 Deer & Deer Hunting Magazine publishes 10 issues per year, which may include an occasional special, combined or expanded issue that may count as two issues toward your subscription. ADVERTISING: Call Brad Rucks at (920) 284-8732 or send an email to him at brad.rucks@media360llc.com. For a media kit write to: Deer & Deer Hunting, P.O. Box 548, Waupaca, WI 54981. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Send letters to Daniel E. Schmidt, D&DH, P.O.…

When D&DH cofounder Jack Brauer hired a one-person advertising coordinator in 1980, little did he know he had tapped a 25-year-old game-changer. Her name was Deborah Knauer. “Debbie had a vision — and a work ethic — like no other,” Brauer said in an interview the early 2000s. “She knew that we had something special here, and she was hell-bent on letting the world know about.” He was right. Within just two years, D&DH expanded its national reach, and subscriptions doubled. Readers were flocking to Editor Al Hofacker’s cutting-edge content. “Debbie kept telling me that we really wouldn’t know if the public would accept our magazine unless it was on newsstands,” Brauer said. “So, I went and talked to our local magazine distributor, and worked out an arrangement whereby they…

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 NEVER TOO OLD TO HUNT! Ed Nowicki is an avid bowhunter and is 84 years young. He still climbs a tree. He and his son, Tom, have been hunting partners for the last 51 years — since Tom was 8 years old. They have enjoyed many seasons together and experienced highs and lows, like all hunters throughout the years. Ed has taken some beautiful deer over this time. Last season on Oct. 16, 2024,…

Some hunters think chronic wasting disease is a deadly pathogen that has the potential to wipe out deer herds and destroy the quality of deer hunting across the country. For example, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, calls CWD, “The biggest threat to the future of deer hunting.” Other hunters think it’s, as Bill Shakespeare said, “Much ado about nothing.” They believe that state officials have exaggerated the effects of CWD on deer herds to encourage hunter buy-in of CWD management strategies – and to garner millions in funding to support CWD studies. Since 2016, researchers at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the University of Wisconsin – Madison, the Montana Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other agencies have been conducting a longitudinal study of…

There’s a shoulder mount of a 140-class 8-pointer that occupies a place of honor on the wall of Don (Doc) Brugman’s home in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The head mount of that special whitetail represents three years of deer hunting memories that reflect the ups and downs so common during the hunt for North America’s premier big game animal. Part of the memories that mount conjures up in Brugman’s mind is how resilient mature bucks can be. When Don killed that buck, he thought it had died the year before. Tagging that ghost was important in helping solve the mystery of what happened the year before. Don had opportunities to kill that buck each of those three years, but failed the first and second times. When he was finally successful in…

BRYAN LEMKE MINNESOTA On October 27, 2023, Bryan Lemke passed a big, wide 9-pointer. His mind was set on the buck he calls “Sticker 10.” He had three years of history with the latter, and he hoped to get a crack at the huge 5 ½-year-old deer. The next morning brought cool, crisp air and partly cloudy skies. His spot was along the edge of a cut cornfield and a large stretch of timber. A doe and fawn entered the open. Then, the big buck followed suit. He checked the doe and then started feeding in the cut corn. Lemke settled in and waited for his shot. The buck turned broadside and offered an opportunity. Lemke drew back, released the arrow, and made the 38-yard shot. The buck ran and crashed.…