North American Whitetail September 2024 - Breaking News Bucks

NEW EPISODES EVERY TUESDAY AT 7:30 P.M. ET THE BIG BUCK PROFILE has long been a fan-favorite segment on North American Whitetail TV. For decades, the NAW TV team has presented some of the world’s most impressive whitetails to viewers, sharing the stories, scores and other interesting details about the deer. This special Breaking News Bucks issue of NAW is a great time to discuss the show’s Big Buck Profile segment, because of the buck on the cover of this magazine. That’s the Sam Aiuppa buck, the world’s new No. 3 typical of all time. You can read the full story on pg. 28, and you can watch the Aiuppa buck’s Big Buck Profile on the current season of NAW TV, which is airing now on Sportsman Channel. Editor in…

I’ve been reading North American Whitetail since I was a kid. I remember copies of it, Bowhunter and Petersen’s Bowhunting being omnipresent on the console of my dad’s pickup truck and on his coffee table. I still pinch myself every now and then, just to make sure it’s not a fantasy, when I realize how blessed I am to now sit at the lead editor’s desk and to assist my AMAZING team of coworkers in getting each of our eight annual issues to press! I try to be an optimistic guy and to keep as positive an attitude in life as I can. I guess that comes in handy for me, considering I’m a millennial working in the print industry — a media many naysayers claim is dead. I’ll refrain…

NESTLED SOME 93 MILLION MILES from our sun is the “Blue Planet,” called that because it is the only celestial body for billions, or even trillions, more miles covered with water! It has been estimated that water covers as much as 70 percent of Earth, and water remains the most important factor in sustaining life on Earth. It becomes an even more special place when we realize that the old sailor’s lament, “water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink” is quite true! You see, the vast majority (96.5 percent) of that 71 percent is composed of salt water, which few, if any, terrestrial animals can drink! Only about 3 percent of the Earth’s water is fresh! Yet, even with this tiny amount, an incredibly diverse assortment of terrestrial animals…

As Editor in Chief here at North American Whitetail, nearly every day I talk one-on-one with hunters across the country who’ve taken trophy bucks worthy of coverage in our magazine. During my conversations with those hunters, I’m constantly learning about the tactics, skills and gametime decisions which ultimately led to their success in the field. More often than not, gear is discussed in these talks. Afterall, hardcore whitetailers are methodical not just in their hunting tactics, but also in their equipment selection. As such, I’m kept aware of new trends in deer gear, having the luxury of hearing firsthand from real-world hunters what works. Following the cartridge’s introduction at the 2019 NSSF SHOT Show in Las Vegas, Winchester’s straight-walled .350 Legend quickly grabbed my attention as one such trend. And…

Back on Nov. 28, 1991, Sam Aiuppa entered the woods in La Salle County, Illinois. He was hunting game birds, a pastime which he dearly loved, but little did he know he would end up changing the whitetail deer world forever that day. It started out as a typical day for Sam, who was in his early 50s at the time, as he packed up and headed out the door with his Remington 870 shotgun. Sam dedicated a lot of his outdoor time to hunting birds. It was one of his favorite things to do, and he started at the very young age of 10 years old. By the time he was 16, Sam started shooting trap and skeet. Sam’s whole family enjoyed bird hunting. They would even travel to…

MATT WINTERS HAS WHITETAIL HUNTING IS HIS BLOOD. Since growing up in central Kansas, he’s always had an infatuation with hunting whitetails — a love which ultimately led him to pursue his career as the co-owner off Kansas Premier Outfitters. In the fall of 2022, Matt’s brother Adam had seen a giant buck on three separate occasions, all of which happened when he was leaving his hunting area at dark. On every occasion Adam saw the deer, Matt simply didn’t believe his younger sibling’s description of how big the deer was. After the 2022-23 Kansas deer season closed for the year on Jan. 3, Matt drove down to one of their leased properties to pull a camera. It was around 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon, so Matt didn’t really expect…