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.
One thing I find myself doing every summer, during the “dog days” when last deer season feels long-gone and next season long-to-come, is ponder my whitetail hunting bucket list. I guess I’ve always had one, though my bucket list isn’t anything tangible that’s written or typed out. Rather, mine’s comprised of ideas floating around in my head for cool hunting experiences, destinations unknown, unusual or old-school tactics, and the like. My list overflows with to-do’s like: kill a buck with a lever-action rifle with iron sights; arrow a giant buck off the ground with a vertical bow; hunt Old Mexico. All that stuff excites me! There might be a hundred or more items on my bucket list at any given time. Some I think of often, while other ideas just…
Every August, we review the industry’s best gun hunting gear for whitetail hunters. This month is no different, as you’ll find our What’s New section full of the latest rifles, ammo and optics available to gun-toting whitetailers. To continue the firearms theme, we’d like to share with you some of our successful rifle hunts currently airing on Sportsman Channel for NAW TV. Shown above, Managing Editor Blake Garlock punched his Texas tag in early December while hunting with TC Outfitters in the southwest part of the state. Although the rut was kicking off in the area, this mature 10-pointer was still on a regular feeding pattern. Blake used a Browning X-bolt 2 chambered in 6.5 PRC to shoot the buck shortly after legal shooting hours began in the morning. MOTV…
EDITOR'S NOTE: A legitimate whitetail herd survey begins with a legitimate and dependable trail camera. You’ll need a weatherproof camera with long-lasting battery life, long-range detection, quick trigger speeds and hefty memory capacity for large amounts of image storage. Moultrie is among the most trusted brands of trail camera manufacturers, with a storied history of reliability and high-resolution image quality (essential for identifying and distinguishing whitetails during a herd census). Moultrie’s suite of products includes an array of trail cameras, including the Edge 2 and Edge 2 Pro (shown here). This compact cellular camera features lightning-fast 0.30-second trigger speed, 40MP images and 1440p videos with sound. You can even set and tweak your camera setup instantly with the cameras intuitive “Live Aim” feature. The Edge 2 Pro’s Built-In Memory feature…
Over decades of whitetail research, my team at the Institute for White-tailed Deer Management and Research in Nacogdoches, Texas, has simplified our techniques for trail cameras for whitetail census work! So, using our methods, you can easily conduct a trail camera herd survey on your property. Here is a step-by-step tutorial on how to do it. Our research has proven you need a camera density of one to 80 acres, but the cameras must be distributed systematically to account for all your habitats. Now, I know full well that everyone reading this has at least 80 acres, and all land is square, right? Nope! You must adjust the census to fit your property. If you have less than 80 acres, one or two cameras may be all you need to…
When I think of Barnes ammunition, I can’t help but think of the immense praise my family has for the legendary Barnes X bullets. We’ve always liked them for their incredible weight retention and penetrative abilities on big game. My dad in particular is a Barnes X fan, having used them for years in his Weatherby Magnum rifles. Dad is a Weatherby collector, and the historic Barnes X line of ammunition has long been his go-to because he always gets pass-throughs and devastating wound channels. The Barnes X, and its evolutions like the TSX and TTSX bullets, are known for their all-copper construction and reliable X-shaped expansion characteristics, which deliver maximum penetration, even on big animals at long ranges. These top-end bullets have cult followings and serve very specific purposes…
Throughout the years, Lebanon, Indiana’s Wes Nicley (pronounced: nicely) has been a fairly casual whitetail hunter. While he and his brother, Caleb, grew up hunting on their family’s farm, Wes wasn’t a particularly obsessive whitetailer like so many folks. Sure, he’s killed a few nice bucks over the years, but he has been more of a casual shotgun hunter. For years, the only option allowed during Indiana’s November firearms season were shotguns; and to this day plenty of Hoosier hunters refer to the general firearms season as the “shotgun season.” Wes had never taken up bowhunting in all those years. In fact, up until this past season, he hadn’t even taken part in the previous few gun seasons. As so often happens, life seemed to get in the way of…
