Innholdsfortegnelse for February - Spring 2017 i North American Whitetail

There’s a certain mystique associated with the whitetail, and for many hunters it outweighs that of any other game animal. The species has demanded the attention, admiration and infatuation of millions of people across the continent for centuries. From providing natives and early settlers with food to offering modern sportsmen both venison and recreation, the whitetail has interwoven human history with its own. Since the early days, North America’s most recognizable and pursued big-game animal has only grown in popularity. So quite naturally, the elite bucks that have rewritten the record books hold special places in the halls of hunting history. Their stories deserve to be told. And so it is with northern Tennessee’s Stephen Tucker buck, which just emerged as a contender for the coveted title of world record…

I still remember my early years of deer hunting with the family here in Virginia. There was talk of big bucks taken, as well as those only seen. And of course, it seemed there was always talk of some special buck being “the one.” As a young girl, I’d never hunt alone. Rather, I’d go with my grandfather or brother. Sometimes we’d sit in the woods and see nothing, but it still was fun. And whenever someone would make a kill, I’d be excited — whether it was my deer or not. Growing older, I still enjoyed hunting. However, after high school I learned working and paying bills come before hunting. Still, when I did get to go, it was just as fun as it had ever been. Then life…

Feeling a bit unsure of what I might see on this hunt, I quietly slipped into my stand in the old hack-berry tree. I’d placed the observation stand in this location to observe the farm I was working to turn into a whitetail hunter’s paradise. From this high vantage point, I could gather information on which bucks were present and how they were using and traversing the property. The tree I was sitting in stood in the corner of an 8-acre field of native warm-season grasses (NWSG) I’d planted in April, only six months earlier. Thanks to ideal summer growing conditions and a fair dose of luck, the grasses were now over 6 feet tall. While they’d grow even taller and thicker in subsequent years, they already offered good bedding…

For working deer land, you need equipment necessary to put groceries on your herd’s table. We found that in the Firminator G-3 by Ranews Outdoor Equipment. Designed as a 3-in-1 disk, seeder and cultipacker, the G-3 is available in 4-, 5- and 6-foot widths. We needed a unit heavy enough to handle tough soil conditions but small enough to access honeyhole food plots requiring a tight turning radius. Firminator’s 860-pound UTV model fit the bill. Its adjustability is handy. The disk arms afford four angle options (5, 10, 15 and 20 degrees) and easy adjustment. A main pitch adjustment feature located on the top link of the 3-point connection allows the user to choose from three options for altering the lean of the entire implement. The first option leans the…

Nearing the Pacific Ocean in 1805, members of Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery saw dainty deer that were neither mule deer nor blacktails. These “common longtailed fallow” deer, as Meriwether Lewis referred to them in his journal, were more reminiscent of whitetails back East. Indeed, they were of the same species, but slightly different. And in 1829, the Columbian whitetail was recognized by science as our westernmost subspecies: Odocoileus virginianus leucurus. Overhunting and habitat conversion soon took their toll. From an original range of 13 million acres, from Washington’s Puget Sound region into southern Oregon, the subspecies eventually was reduced to just two small pockets. One was along the lower Columbia River, which separates western Washington from Oregon; the other was 200 miles south, along the Umpqua River near…

At this writing the Tucker buck awaits the end of the mandatory 60-day drying period, at which time the rack can be officially measured for entry into the Boone & Crockett Club record book. But even that won’t be the end of the scoring story; the deer is nearly certain to be entered as a potential all-time Top 10 trophy, and all such entries must be verified by a judges panel. The next of those will be convened in 2019. So what can we now reasonably claim about this Tennessee beast from a historical perspective? In the strictest sense, perhaps, not much. But here’s what seems likely, or at least quite possible: (1) He’ll crush the state record by a mile. Well, more like five feet. The mark now is…

Northern Minnesota has long been known as a producer of large-antlered whitetails. The heavy spruce forests and tag alder bogs provide perfect cover for reclusive bucks to grow old and die of natural causes. It’s little wonder these northern forests have been home to some of history’s best bucks. Itasca County lies in the north-central part of the state and is considered by many to be a sportsman’s paradise. With more than 1,400 lakes and six state and national forest tracts within its borders, Itasca has always been a draw for fishermen and hunters alike. The county seat of Grand Rapids is known for its nearby paper mill, its proximity to Lake Pokegama and its position as a major northern railroad hub. Unknown to most whitetail enthusiasts, this railroad line…

In most places, food plotters need to raise the pH of soils by adding lime. Unfortunately, this takes not only specialized equipment but also months of waiting for the lime to have its full effect. But now DeerGro’s liquid PlotStart, normally applied at 2 1/2 gallons per acre with any spraying device, shortcuts the labor and time required. According to the company’s website, “PlotStart works in a matter of weeks. Liquid lime is an alternative but must be added every growing season. PlotStart has been shown to continue to contribute year after year.” While I can’t yet comment on the impact to soil pH in years following first application (2016 was my first year to use PlotStart in central Illinois), I can tell you I saw vigorous bean and corn…

For whatever reason, it took me too long to figure out why the area in which I’d been getting photo after photo of big bucks seemed to be cold every time I sent someone in to hunt it. It took me half a season to realize the problem: Bucks were literally watching hunters access the stands I’d so craftily placed in that bottom. This realization offered me a large slice of humble pie. But I ate it eagerly, because I knew exactly how to fix what was wrong. It would take investing some serious sweat equity, but I was sure going in during the off-season and clearing an access route from the opposite direction would be well worth the effort. And it was. The next fall, I arrowed the buck…

I can think of several reasons why deer hunting with a handgun is enjoyable. For starters, it’s something different. If your hunting regimen seems monotonous and you’re thinking of trying something new, little else will wake you up in the morning quite like the roar of a hand cannon. It’s hard to emphasize roar enough here. Plus, as we see more wildlife agencies allowing the use of straight-walled cartridges during firearms seasons that were previously shotgun and/or muzzleloader only, handguns have emerged as viable tools for long-range deer hunting. I can’t tell you how many big bucks I’ve heard of being harvested this year with straight-walled cartridges, but it’s enough to get me excited. Plus, several of the hunters who’ve shared their stories with me are novices to handgunning. That…

Even a few years ago, putting in the smallest of food plots was no small project. It generally took hooking up a farm tractor to whatever oversized implement you had on hand, then hoping you could get the whole rig to work within the limited space available. But fortunately, times have changed. And with them, so have our equipment options. Last fall, the staff here at North American Whitetail decided to build out a rig that would serve us well all year long. We wanted a tough, efficient, powerful side-by-side UTV that could fill the dual role of getting us into and out of the roughest country we could find and perform as a workhorse to put in food plots, haul equipment or pull a neighbor’s lesser UTV out of…

The attraction of traveling to hunt whitetails in new places burns hot in many of us. For some, it’s a chance to shoot a mature, big-racked buck when the opportunity to do so where we live is slim. For others, the appeal lies in seeing new country and experiencing new challenges. For yet others, it’s the camaraderie that comes from doing something new with a few friends. For me the appeal includes bits of all three of those, but the second is the strongest. I hunt alone most of the time, and I love a big rack in the back of the truck as much as the next guy. But if my goal were purely to shoot a big buck, I’d keep going back to the same places that offer…