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.
Just today I received a pamphlet by mail from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission regarding new regulations for the 2025-26 hunting season related to Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). Here in my home state, we have two CWD surveillance areas, in which regulations for transporting, testing and baiting deer are impacted. As I always do, I took a few minutes to flip through the pamphlet and read to see if any game laws had changed — just to make sure I was aware of proper procedures for taking and checking deer here in my home county. Admittedly, before I even opened the pamphlet I assumed I’d be reading about more regulations and more steps I needed to take to stay legal and safe. Afterall, that’s usually the case . .…
ON EACH SEASON of NAW TV, Editor in Chief Haynes Shelton profiles 13 giant whitetail bucks from all across the continent for our Big Buck Profile segment. This segment is extremely popular, largely because of the seemingly endless stream of iconic whitetails that are featured in each episode. Once again, we filmed all the Big Buck Profiles for this season at the Iowa Deer Classic. Thanks to generous hunters, the team at the North American Shed Hunter’s Club, and collector Jamie Martin, we produced some of our best profiles yet. Well-known giants like the Butcher buck and Joey Fountain’s staggering 5x5 from Iowa were featured, and we even had some under-the-radar bucks to showcase. One non-typical that stands out is the David Dull buck from Ohio. Originally featured in a…
Long ago, I divided deer management into three categories: population management, habitat management and people management. To illustrate the concept, I used an image of a three-legged stool, each leg representing one of these categories. Why did I choose a three-legged stool? If you remove one of the legs, you fall on your behind. It is the same when managing white-tailed deer. Too often folks place too much emphasis on one leg (usually population management), neglecting or ignoring the other two legs! Each of these have their unique challenges and misconceptions, but I found that habitat has the lion’s share. We can begin with the official definition of habitat: “The natural home or environment of a plant, animal, or other organism. It provides the organisms that live there with food,…
Modern whitetail hunters demand smarter scouting tools — devices that not only capture images but also deliver actionable data, reduce false triggers, and integrate seamlessly with mobile apps. Enter the Moultrie Edge 3 Pro, the latest flagship cellular trail camera from Moultrie, designed to give serious deer hunters an edge in the field. KEEPING THE EDGE NAME ALIVE The Edge 3 Pro builds on the solid foundation of the Edge series, now it’s third generation. Moultrie’s Edge 3 Pro cams push performance to new heights with a suite of advanced features tailored for smart scouting. At the heart of the camera is a blazing-fast 0.3-second trigger speed, ensuring you never miss a moment — even when that mature buck slips through a narrow funnel at dusk or runs by chasing…
Joseph Brown was excited. It was the opening day of the 2021 rifle season in northern Kentucky, and he had a great buck standing within easy range. However, instead of aiming his rifle toward the deer, Joseph raised a phone scope and shot several pictures and videos of the buck. “This was the first I had seen this deer, and he immediately impressed me,” Joseph recalls. “He was a little 5x5 with a short sticker on his G-2. That buck was the best-looking 2-year-old I had ever seen. He looked like he had great potential, so I started keeping notes on him. I was excited to see what he might mature into.” Joseph also noticed that the young buck seemed to prefer a 30-acre grove, which he was often seen…
When you think of Halloween and Trick-or-treat, you are usually thinking about all the candy your kids will get. Halloween 2024 proved that a different kind of trick sometimes works. Justin Frankford has been bowhunting for 22 years and is a dedicated deer hunter. He loves to shed hunt and deer hunt, and he loves spending time in the woods. Based on the bucks he has taken, he has been very successful. During the winter of 2023, a close friend and farmer in the area, Blake Leefers, got permission to access a new property. The 260-acre farm had not been deer hunted in 40 years. Justin and Blake obtained permission to hunt and fish the property in exchange for work and mowing the grass. They put out some trail cameras,…
