Innholdsfortegnelse for February - Spring 2021 i North American Whitetail

Tune in every Wednesday at 8:00 PM ET on Sportsman Channel and Thursday at 8:00 AM ET on Outdoor Channel to catch episodes of NAW TV presented by Wildtree Nursery. This month, we’re excited to present the following programs: WEEK OF FEB. 1-7 “Dakota Bucks”: Greg Miller and Laden Force flock to the drainages of South Dakota in pursuit of open-country bucks. In “From the Stand” we give tips for hunting western deer in vast terrain. Dr. James Kroll explains unique whitetail color phases, markings and other oddities. Finally, Gordon Whittington chats with Saskatchewan hunter Brennan Huard about his monster 7x7 buck from 2019. WEEK OF FEB. 8-14 “Birthday Buck”: Haynes Shelton bow-hunts a giant velvet buck in northeastern Wyoming with Trophy Ridge Outfitters. In “From the Stand” we discuss…

Its ability to provide real-time information on wildlife and trespassers has popularized the cellular-enabled trail camera. But in terms of the record books, one question has persisted: Is this technology consistent with “fair chase” in hunting? Recent announcements by the Boone & Crockett Club and the Pope & Young Club North America’s primary keepers of big-game records show the answer is It can be The clubs decided to adopt identical language on the matter. B&C has long defined fair chase as the ethical sportsmanlike and lawful pursuit and taking of any free ranging wild native North American big game animal in a manner that does not give the hunter an improper advantage over such animals The rules preclude use of cameras/timers/motion tracking devices that transmit images and other info to…

Implementing new food plots into your whitetail landscape takes studying the area from a bird’s-eye view and critically analyzing what each area already provides. Once this has been done, strategically locate plots where deer really need them — even if those spots aren’t convenient to you. Using the methods we’ve developed and tested over the last 50 years will help reduce the distance deer have to travel on a daily basis and will result in their spending more time on your property. In the long run, that can only help.…

On June 4, 1984, I pulled into a business park northwest of Atlanta and walked into the lobby of Game & Fish Publications. Minutes later, I was being led down the hall to a small office whose main furnishings were a desk, a chair and an IBM typewriter. I was literally the new kid in town, a 28-year-old Texas rancher’s son with a journalism degree behind me and what I hoped were many years of publishing ahead of me. It was my first day on the job. To call that the start of a journey into the unknown would be accurate. I’d never resided outside Texas, and no one else in my family even lived east of the Mississippi River. I had some experience as a writer and editor, but…

I know. I hate to see deer season end, too. The thought of going months without climbing into a tree stand or riding out a biting north wind sickens me. Of course, I realize the whitetail game is a 365-day-a-year obsession. There’s always work to do, but I must admit the pursuit is my favorite piece of the puzzle. However, offseason work is essential. While tending to food plots, improving deer habitat, performing post-season herd surveys and the like rank high on my annual to-do list, I’ll argue another task is equally important. I’m talking about gear cleaning and storage. It’s something every serious hunter should do shortly after the season ends. RIFLE WORK Cleaning your trusty deer rifle postseason is a no-brainer, right? One would think. However, over the…

1 Stone Force downed this fine 8-pointer on Nov. 18, 2020, while hunting with his father, Laden, in Shelby Co., Missouri. Stone made the shot with a Browning X-Bolt in 6.5 Creedmoor. 2 Rich Mosko tagged this outstanding 16-pointer, complete with drop tines, while crossbow hunting in Venango Co., Pennsylvania, on Oct. 14, 2020. 3 Keith Myers put his Weatherby Vanguard rifle in .30-06 Springfield to work on this great 10-pointer while hunting in Greenville Co., South Carolina. 4 After earning his hunter safety certification in September, Jack Holzman of DeForest, Wisconsin, tagged this dandy buck during the state’s firearm season. Jack’s father and grandfather were there for the special moment. 5 Lexi Simms, 12 years old, scored on her first deer while hunting in Oklahoma. After downing the big…

As intensive agriculture pushed across North America following European settlement, wild meats became increasingly scarce. In fact, by the early 20th century most people had to rely on farming and ranching for food. Such staples as wild venison gave way to farm-raised beef, lamb and pork produced under confined conditions. Forests were indiscriminately replaced by croplands and managed pastures. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 200 years ago there were great bottomland forests extending over 30 million acres in the Southeast alone. Today, only about 40 percent of this region remains in productive forest ecosystems. In fact, over 400,000 acres of wetlands were converted to cropland just from 1965-75. This largely resulted from the emergence of soybeans as a protein source, due in turn to lifestyle changes among urbanites. Vegetarianism…

Mention the draws and rolling farmland of southwestern Kansas to a hunter, and upland birds, pointing dogs and side-by-side shotguns might come to mind. But big whitetails are where you find them — and as 14-year-old Paslie Werth can confirm, that definitely includes southwestern Kansas. As last fall began to creep up on the calendar, Paslie — a serious deer hunter with several big whitetails to her credit in recent years — had a unique task on her “to do” list: to get a giant 6 1/2-year-old buck into the glass of a 3x9 Bushnell scope sitting atop her Savage .270 Win. The buck had been a topic of conversation whenever talk at the family dinner table turned to hunting. “Yes, we all kind of were crazy over this buck,”…

In our pursuit of trophy deer, time often is the real nemesis. We’d at least like to think we’d shoot a big one if we had enough hours to devote to the chase. But there never seems to be an oversupply of those, does there? So we just do our best to hunt good spots often, hoping to close the deal before season’s end. Limitations on our hunting time make it all the more appealing to be able to crack the code of natural buck movement. However, as we’ve all learned over the years, it’s an uphill battle. We know not all days are equal for hunting, but it’s frustrating that we can only label them as good or bad after the fact. In Part 1, we discussed some general…

It was Thursday of the first week of buck season in Pennsylvania, and opening day’s sea of orange had long since vanished. The woods felt empty, though I knew two of my campmates were still roaming somewhere. It was a cold, crisp, blustery day with temperatures in the mid-30s and unsettled skies. There would be a 10-minute snow squall followed by crystal-clear skies, then squalls again. Hearing the faint honking of Canada geese, I gazed upward in search of the southbound travelers. I first saw the small, white “V” as it cleared the crest of the mountain to the north. The birds were actually moving sideways as they fought the air currents, but their general direction was steadily to the south. “Somehow I likened that goose’s lonely quest for its…