Each issue of North American Whitetail brings you effective techniques for outsmarting monster bucks. You'll learn the success secrets of North America's most accomplished, most knowledgeable whitetail hunters - riflemen and bowhunters alike.
WEEK OF AUG. 7–13: “Made for the Muzzleloader”: Laden Force heads to Nebraska on a late-season muzzleloader hunt with the folks at Hornady, and Dale Evans chases whitetails and mule deer in Montana. In Build Your Own Deer Factory, we discuss the importance of access trails. Haynes Shelton profiles a giant velvet buck found dead by Hayden Jeffers. WEEK OF AUG. 14–20: “Once A Deer Hunter…”: Haynes Shelton teams up with Intrepid Warrior Hunts and Veteran Anthony Villarreal to chase big Texas bucks. In Build Your Own Deer Factory, Dr. James Kroll talks the importance of mobile food plot equipment. Finally, Haynes Shelton showcases Mark Luster’s giant typical from the Iowa Deer Classic for our Big Buck Profile. WEEK OF AUG. 21–27: “Texas, Like It’s Supposed to Be”: Blake Garlock…
It’s the middle of summer as I write. There are lots of signs this is so. For starters, it’s as “hot as Hades” here in North Carolina, a phrase you’d almost certainly hear from locals if you stopped at a gas station or barbeque joint and asked someone about the weather. Right on cue for this time of year, once every three days or so a thunderstorm breaks out in the evening time. One recently left my pickup truck dented with hail damage from 2-inch-diameter “dingers” coming down at 30 miles per hour! The summer flowers are on full display, and as usually happens, the deer in our backyard have eaten the vast majority of my wife’s hosta plants — and just before they could bloom. Speaking of deer, bucks…
One of the greatest tools in deer population management has been the trail camera. In this month’s column, I’ll explain how my colleagues and I use trail cameras to determine the following: fawn crop, true recruitment, buck:doe ratio and buck age structure. At the Institute for White-tailed Deer Management & Research at Stephen F. Austin State University, we were instrumental in the development of this technology. In the early 1970s, we were investigating a nat ural mineral lick on the North Boggy S lough Hunting & Fishing Club, belongin g to Temple-Inland, Inc. (the largest ti mber company in Texas). At the same ti me, the Wilderness Act was pass ed, and the U.S. Forest Service was b usy converting managed forests to wild erness. The National Forests o f…
I like to think I am a fair deer hunter. I feel like my skillset learned from nearly 30 years of Midwest whitetail hunting is formidable enough to harvest at least one mature buck each season. I come to expect it as a yearly marker for success, but I also realize that my skillset is far from perfect! Of all my strengths, I have one glaring, pitiful, and often embarrassing Achilles’ heel: blood trailing. Over the history of mankind, of all the hunters to chase whitetails, I am unquestionably in the bottom 5 percent of the blood-trailing talent pool. And no matter how hard I try to improve, I never will; because I can’t. I am a genetic fraud! I have a form of red-green color blindness that makes red…
Wisconsin hunter Kevin McClain took a shot at this incredible whitetail during the 2017 hunting season. Unfortunately, high winds interfered with his shot and the hunter’s arrow never struck the buck. Months later, Kevin’s friend Doug Sinniger found both shed antlers lying atop a snowy field. A replica of the sheds is shown on the mount at left. When panel scored for the North American Shed Hunters Club, the gigantic antlers scored 95 2/8 (right side) and 95 5/8 (left). Photo by Shane Indrebo I enjoy all aspects of large-antlered bucks, from hunting them on the hoof to hunting for their shed antlers. I also like the big buck chatter; whether through social media or friends in the outdoor industry, it’s always fun to hear stories and see photos of…
Deer hunters aren’t far and few between, even those that only chase trophy whitetails. Every season, millions of deer hunters take to the woods for a chance to harvest one. If you’ve spoken to a deer hunter, you’re also aware that almost all of them have their own methods, tricks, and tactics that they believe are the key to success. What’s rare in the deer hunting community is coming across a deer hunter who constantly harvests mature, trophy-class whitetails. Darin Williams of Waverly, Kansas is one of those hunters. Darin has a dozen or more deer mounts and racks hanging in his house, all between 150 and 170 inches. He’s no novice in chasing, and more importantly harvesting, mature trophy-class whitetails. Darin started hunting when he was a sophomore in…
