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.
When Gordon Whittington retired from North American Whitetail magazine in December 2020, after his legendary 36 years at the helm, I was honored to take his place as Editor in Chief in February of the following year. Prior to Gordon’s stepping down, I’d served the brand as Associate Editor since 2015 — an apprenticeship as No. 2 man on the NAW totem pole which my early-20-something-self enjoyed every second of, all while the ink dried on my college diploma! When Gordon departed, just as NAW’s office in Kennesaw, Georgia, permanently closed amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, I wondered how things would change for NAW in our new work-from-home world. And what was my plan for running a national magazine at just 25 years of age? Before I could tackle those questions,…
This March magazine is our special Game Plan issue. From food plot prep to analyzing last season’s trail cam photos, we’re covering everything that goes into planning your hunt. So, there is no better time to highlight how we game plan on NAW TV than right now! Two fan-favorite pieces of our show are the Build Your Own Deer Factory (BYODF) and Dr. Deer segments. In both these series, Editor in Chief Haynes Shelton and Dr. James C. Kroll team up to discuss hunting and land management strategies. Essentially, both segments involve forming a unique game plan. In May 2024, we filmed Dr. Deer and BYODF on a property in Kentucky. For BYODF, we focused on using a compact tractor and small implements to accomplish various tasks on the property.…
The first question I ask a landowner who wants to plant food plots is: Why do you want to plant them? There are three possible reasons to plant food plots: No. 1. to improve existing deer nutrition; No 2. to improve deer harvest; or No. 3. to improve both. So, the first step in developing a nutrition management plan is to assess the quality of the natural deer forage on your property. The term “deer forage” represents these kinds of plants — browse, forbs (weeds), grasses and mushrooms. In addition, deer rely on fruits and nuts, primarily for added energy. With only a few exceptions, the white-tailed deer relies primarily on browse for its nutritional needs. Collectively, browse is the leaves and twigs of woody plants, including shrubs, young trees…
I didn’t think. That’s one thing I’m very good at. Having the latest and greatest short-action, short-barrel caliber in my scabbard made me ride a little higher in the saddle. I’d read the specs and was thrilled with the caliber’s sizzling speed. But, as I mentioned, I don’t always think. The ballistic data branded on the bullet’s box was from a 26-inch barrel. My saddle gun wore a 22-inch barrel. I failed to do a speed test, ring steel at long range or do any serious ballistic testing. The shot was 476 yards. Shots can be long out West, especially when chasing open-country whitetails. There was no chance to get closer. I missed that buck three times; the sight of his 160-plus-inch rack still haunts me. This was early in…
If there’s anything I’ve learned from years of keeping informal big buck harvest data, it is this: considering regional allowances, we are now killing more bucks with larger-than-average antlers than possibly at any other time in history. Today’s social media pages are filled with photos of trophy-quality bucks, proudly posted by hunters from nearly every region of North America that holds whitetail deer. This trend reflects quality management practices, better land management practices, and better-educated hunters. Finally, the above produced a growing and expanding deer herd. There may be fewer whitetails in some areas, but significantly more whitetails are currently distributed in more areas than ever. Take Canada as an example. Not long ago, whitetail deer were few and far between in the western provinces. However, for approximately the past…
Iowa bowhunter Matt Mogensen had been pursuing a large buck during the 2023 deer season. The property he hunts is nearly a mile-long stretch of land that parallels a river where the buck called home. “I ran trail cameras most of the summer and had gotten multiple daylight photos of the 160-class deer,” Matt explains. Though he was actively hunting the deer, Matt didn’t catch up to the buck during the 2023 season. However, Matt did end up going to another part of the state and tagging a nice buck there. With the 160 still on his mind, Matt wondered if the deer had made it through the 2023 season unscathed. A day after hunting season closed, he got the answer when he received a trail camera picture confirming the…
