There are plenty of great hunters who have made a name for themselves by targeting buck beds. They’ve proven this deadly tactic can help you sneak tight to a buck’s bedroom and a… Read More

Scroll through Instagram or head on over to YouTube, and you won’t have to try too hard to find a video of an arrow arcing through the air for ¾ of a second before it enters an… Read More

In his memoir, A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway discusses his writing process and experience as an American expat in Paris, France. While writing and dining in Parisian cafes, Hemingway wo… Read More

A few years ago, I found myself saddled up over an interesting deer spot in southwestern Wisconsin. Twenty yards below and to the left of my setup was a well-used trail. It was pockmarked no… Read More

I have a long history of not being into crossbows. They don’t appeal to me in the least. Sure, if I suffered a random tiger attack or some other injury that kept me from drawing a vert… Read More

In a past life, while working as an associate editor for a bowhunting magazine, I had to call up one of our columnists to clear something up. He had written about his preferred sight choice… Read More

Quite a few years ago, I passed on one of my older bows to a friend of mine. He had expressed an interest in bowhunting and had already killed a few deer with a rifle, so it seemed like a go… Read More

Deer camps embody some of the best things about hunting, especially community. Some of my favorite hunting memories include my grandfather’s hunting camp, where I rabbit hunted, learne… Read More

I dread the first few weeks after I set up a new bow. It’s a first-world problem, I know, but it’s also true. While this might be considered simply a break-in period with the ide… Read More

I was minutes away from leaving. I’d had enough. More than enough, actually. Enough staring into an incessant bitter wind at a whole lot of nothing. Enough driving and scouting my way… Read More

There comes a point every deer season, typically during the “lockdown” phase of the rut, when my dad and I start working through the long list of terrible excuses contributing to… Read More

As bowhunters, we strive to be ethical, lethal, and humane. To accomplish this, our bows need to be tuned to ensure accurate and repeatable arrow flight. Unfortunately, this tends to be an i… Read More

In high school, I had hunting access to a decent-sized (80-acre) family property. I can count on both hands how many sits didn’t involve deer. My dad, grandfather, and I all killed mul… Read More

My world in bowhunting began from a humble ground-swatting position. It wasn't until I turned fourteen that my dad gave me a clunky climbing stand, the kind that's built to last. This was a… Read More

Humans have a problem with defaulting to certain beliefs that allow us to give up and not try. Currently, a lot of these have to do with finances. If you believe that you’ll be living… Read More

Last deer season, I saddled up for the first sit of the season. That morning was unseasonably cool. I was riding the high of opening day and felt zero fatigue, despite my 2:30 alarm. I settl… Read More

After driving throughout the night, the sun illuminated a landscape that I'd seen only on a computer screen. The digital images of Google Earth displayed an open prairie laced with thin ribb… Read More

When Wisconsin dropped its minimum deer hunting age to zero, a whole new world opened up for my family. My twin daughters were quickly approaching the age where I felt they could hunt whitet… Read More

Last October, I had the opportunity to hunt and harvest my second melanistic white-tailed deer on our family ranch in Central Texas. Our tracking and census process on the ranch is a meticul… Read More

I recently mentioned to a hunting buddy of mine that I already have some cameras out, along with one really good rut setup ready to go. He was a little surprised since our conversation happe… Read More

Manicured food plots and tractor work still have their place in the deer hunting community. But clear-cuts are a mecca for concentrated deer populations in the big woods. These areas can be… Read More

Some folks enjoy the journey—the small towns that don’t show up on maps and the dives they hold—more than the location they’re headed. Others just want a one-way flig… Read More

A week ago, a buddy of mine sent me a picture of twin fawns lying on the forest floor. While scouring the woods for morels, he stumbled onto the pair. They couldn’t have been more than… Read More

Long before the first rays from the October sunrise slanted their way through the forest, I knew there were turkeys roosted all around me. That was exciting, because in addition to a couple… Read More

Christopher “CJ” Alexander, whose name graced headlines in December after photos of him posing with an 18-point buck he harvested drew skepticism, has officially been indicted on… Read More

Hunters tend to view deer as we think of them now, which is understandable. It’s also a mostly distilled and distorted look at the most popular game animal. We can’t really help… Read More

I hate talking about the first time I experimented with a tree saddle. It reminds me that I'm not exactly young anymore. The first time I dove into the world of saddle hunting was when readi… Read More

There are two times in my life when I expect to find deadheads. Shed hunting is the first, which should come as no surprise to anyone who has dedicated some time to scooping up antlers in th… Read More

Within the next couple months bucks will start growing their new antlers. By mid-summer, social media feeds will fill up with trail camera images of velvet-antlered hitlisters. Quite a few o… Read More

I’m all too familiar with frustrating trail camera experiences. Ending up with poor-quality images or no pictures at all feels like a waste of time. If you're new to using trail camera… Read More

The Working for Wildlife Tour is back for 2024, and we want you to join us! If you’re not familiar with the Tour, here’s the deal. The Working for Wildlife Tour launched in 2023… Read More

Any time spent in the woods is valuable, but let's talk about the target goal of shed antlers. Days filled with work meetings aren't always a lost cause. A few short minutes could be all you… Read More

I grew up thinking that big bucks were almost unkillable. While I was surrounded by people who hunted, almost no one ever killed a deer that was even 3.5 or older. When someone did, it was a… Read More

Fail upward? What kind of corporate jargon is that? How could this possibly help me become a better hunter? Hear me out. Every hunter that I know with at least a dozen seasons under their be… Read More

In the whitetail-sphere, it’s common for hunters to proclaim that their deer are harder to kill than the deer found in other places. It’s kind of like bitching about local weathe… Read More

It was early October 1992, and I was sitting in a wooden treestand overlooking an oak-lined ridgetop. I wanted my first deer in the worst way, and she was heading in my direction. The young… Read More

On a brisk weekend in October, I had an epiphany. After three seasons of shivering, sweating, waiting, watching, and throwing the occasional hissyfit—I was standing over a mature, nine… Read More

It’s a rare day that I focus my hunting efforts on individual bucks. It’s just not my style, and I don’t have much ground to work with where it’s a feasible strategy… Read More

Hunters have an undeniable fascination with giant antlered, big-bodied bucks. If you've decided to take on the challenge of understanding mature bucks, you're in danger of becoming addicted… Read More

There’s a saying for folks who work in marketing that goes something like this: the minute you sign a new client is the minute you start to lose them. This general rule applies to hunt… Read More

Too much hunting media preaches a conservative approach to whitetail hunting that just doesn’t work for most hunters. This message has largely dominated the conversation around hunting… Read More

Growing up in southeastern Minnesota, I thought we had the laziest hunters. During gun season, the amount of trucks creeping along gravel roads with the windows down was a sure sign of a roa… Read More

I've spent a substantial amount of time hunting whitetails in the big woods. Understanding scrapes has, without a doubt, led me to more consistent encounters than any other hunting tactic. T… Read More

A few years ago, we redid our basement floor. According to my wife, since there were new floors going in, we also needed new furniture and a fresh coat of paint on the walls. While she was r… Read More

Hunting is a sport of continually changing variables, with every decision you make compounding on the next and altering the outcome of the day. The uncertainty is what makes hunting so excit… Read More

Yes, I know. Hunter success rates depend on filled tags, but I’m not simply reducing success to dead deer. The playing field is anything but level for deer hunters. From weekend warrio… Read More

This time of year should be a time of reflection on last deer season. While you might turn your attention to shed hunting and winter scouting, it’s reality check time for those lofty g… Read More

When it comes to buyer’s remorse, we tend to think of junk. Like paying good money for something that just doesn’t deliver on its marketing promise or maybe breaks right out of t… Read More

Aside from in-season scouting, if I could only scout once per year, you can bet it’d be during the month of February. In fact, the weekend after my state’s deer season closes for… Read More

It wasn’t that long ago when you never really heard about mature bucks the way you do now. Sure, maturity made it into the conversation sometimes when people talking about big bucks, b… Read More

The term “cull buck” used to be pretty common in deer hunting circles. Two types of hunters used it the most. In the first group, we had the aspiring land managers who truly beli… Read More

I have a poor memory for a lot of reasons, but one recollection I have that is almost as crisp as the day it happened involves a pair of forky antlers lying in a buck bed. I’d been fig… Read More

Jason Thomas thought he’d killed a near-world record whitetail. His 2023 Ohio crossbow-killed deer was scored right after the hunt at 211 4/8 typical inches. The official score from Bu… Read More

A couple of years ago, two buddies and I met up to chase cottontail rabbits around on a mild February weekend. It was mostly an effort to stave off cabin fever after a long Minnesota winter… Read More

Winter scouting is like a free play. You get to go walk anywhere and everywhere you damn well please, knowing that your intrusion won’t affect your hunting. Nothing is off-limits. You… Read More

There are a lot of times in hunting when our eyes are a bit bigger than our stomachs. Just like when you overload your plate on Thanksgiving by stacking up every delicious side dish until yo… Read More

Have you ever stumbled upon a new deer hunting spot completely riddled with intersecting trails, rubs, and scrapes, yet despite many hunts, you’ve never been able to take a deer in tha… Read More

Hunters can always find an excuse not to go hunting. Waking up too late, not knowing where to go, or having to do something lame like go to work, some hunters will always find a reason not t… Read More

Forky sheds are cool to find, but spotting the wall of tines of an 80-inch side is something else. Monster sheds, just like the mature bucks that drop them, are rare (obviously). That doesn… Read More

Does this sound familiar? It’s November 10th—the rut is in full swing—excitement and anticipation are through the roof. You’ve hunted hard all season and have had far… Read More

If you don’t hunt primo ground, then your biggest challenge as a whitetail hunter might just be getting an arrow into a buck after the gun season. The general consensus from the huntin… Read More

If you live and hunt whitetails in the deep South, you’re familiar with the excess amount of bedding. On one hand, it provides plenty of cover and food for dense deer populations. On t… Read More

One of the best things about tracking a buck is that it’s done solo. You’re out in the deep woods, just you and the buck, in a mano-a-mano duel of predator and prey. To be succes… Read More

A couple of weeks ago I sat on a hill in western Minnesota as the sun just started to breach the eastern horizon. Below me lay a sprawling piece of public land, which contains a mix of catta… Read More

As a teenage bowhunter growing up in Minnesota, there was nothing I dreaded more than the general gun season. The woods that I haunted all season long became someone else’s, which both… Read More

Of the controversial and divisive topics in the hunting world, deer hunting with dogs sits near the top. For hunters, specifically in the South where deer-dog hunting is limited, the sound o… Read More

“Tracking a big buck is the most frustrating thing on the planet. You’ll walk your legs off, lose the track, find the track, get lost, and a lot of times you’ll never even… Read More

I’ve killed exactly two does and one whitetail buck with my bow. I’ve killed a few more with rifle and shotgun, but honestly, I’m still a novice. And I love it! It’s… Read More

Just a shade over thirty years ago, I started bowhunting whitetails as a clueless 12-year-old. We didn’t have youth seasons then. Or pop-up blinds. Or, trail cameras of any style, let… Read More

At one point in my life, I spent quite a bit of time around a few people who were either actively pursuing an archery Super Slam or had already completed it. Bow-killing all 29 North America… Read More

Saddle Hunting has become all the rage these days. There’s an overabundance of info on the interwebs on how-to, which is better, and why you should. But should you really be saddle hun… Read More

As I write this, my truck is still covered in North Dakota mud, and my tailgate still has frozen blood on it. I’ve just returned from a public land bowhunt out there, where a hunting r… Read More

The rut is here, and the hopes of notching your tag on a heavy-horned buck have never been higher. And while you might have a Pope & Young cruise by your setup in spitting distance, thos… Read More

There has been a pile of conception studies conducted on deer throughout the whitetail’s range. If you geek out and look through a few of them, you’ll see consistent conclusions… Read More

These days it seems like you shouldn’t show your face at the local archery shop or 3D range if you’re not hunting whitetails from a tree saddle. This lightweight, mobile strategy… Read More

Without a doubt, oaks are the most coveted species of tree in the whitetail woods. Furthermore, they produce some of the most powerful food sources available to deer. But getting oaks to the… Read More

Hunting whitetails in the big woods is like a long, intense workout. It sucks when you’re in the thick of it, but the payoff (when you’re lying on your back after it’s over… Read More

Every successful hunt has one thing in common, time. The more time you spend perfecting your craft, the more successful your outcome is likely to be. The whitetail rut is no different. Time… Read More

The first couple weeks of November coincide with dreamy fall temps, long sits in the stand, and big rutting bucks. Unless you live and hunt in the deep South. In that case, the first week of… Read More

The rut gets all of the love. Everyone wants to be in a tree when a hot doe could bring all of the neighborhood bucks into their lap. The truth is, that hot doe can just as easily pull all o… Read More

For a lot of hunters, rifle season conjures up early memories of deer camps, first kills, or family traditions. And it probably still revolves largely revolves around these things. While it… Read More

A typical blind-calling strategy for most hunters involves trying to make something happen during downtime. This might be a few hours into a morning sit, or during that lull time during an a… Read More

As autumn arrives and preparations continue for this year's hunting season, many land managers will look to plant fall food plots. These fall plots will not only help the overall herd of dee… Read More

Whitetail hunters—including myself—like comfort. Sure, we might brave frigid temps or hike miles in the dark through a swamp, but not after spending thousands on hunting clothing… Read More

I don’t really believe in the “October Lull.” I think there are a host of factors that come into play during mid-October, and most of them just work to keep us from seeing… Read More

In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, things can change in the blink of an eye. Sometimes we don’t even notice the change until it’s too late, even if all the signs are ther… Read More

The people have spoken. According to the MeatEater audience, the .30-06 Springfield is the Greatest Whitetail Cartridge of All Time. The ‘06 spanked the .243 Winchester in the champion… Read More

If you’re living vicariously through hunting industry folks to get your deer info, you’re in trouble. I know that probably sounds crazy coming from a guy who is in the hunting in… Read More

Editor’s note: For more on this topic, tune into Eps. 690, 693, 696, and 699 of the Wired to Hunt Podcast. I’m fascinated by old whitetail bucks. If you’re reading this, yo… Read More

During the first week of the Minnesota season, I managed to arrow a decent ten-pointer. A good friend of mine also filled his tag on a really solid nine-pointer. He and I, along with two oth… Read More

For Whitetail Week this year, we’re picking the best whitetail cartridge… ever. And by “we,” we mean “you.” Vote for your favorite cartridge by commentin… Read More

Whitetail guru Jeff Sturgis helps First Fite’s Gregg Farrell form a habitat improvement plan for his buddy's southwestern Wisconsin family farm. This video is all about making a detail… Read More

As a born-and-raised whitetail hunter, I couldn’t believe it when I first traveled west to hunt antelope. The Red Hills of Wyoming were like a moonscape compared to the deciduous fores… Read More

Other than those states with early velvet seasons, most of us are on the cusp of opening day. The sins of last season are all but absolved, and every new season presents a blank slate. Unfor… Read More

In this video, whitetail guru Jeff Sturgis helps First Fite’s Gregg Farrell form a habitat improvement plan for his buddy's southwestern Wisconsin family farm. When forming a plan, the… Read More

For Whitetail Week this year, we’re picking the best whitetail cartridge of all time. And by “we,” we mean “you.” Vote for your favorite cartridge by commenting… Read More

For Whitetail Week this year, we’re picking the best whitetail cartridge of all time. And by “we,” we mean “you.” Vote for your favorite cartridge by commenting… Read More

Hunting trends are cyclical. For the youngsters out there, it might come as a surprise that this current tree saddle craze isn’t the first tree saddle craze. Or that sweet, retro-looki… Read More

It can feel like a curse when you first start whitetail hunting. The does and young bucks are challenging enough, and the mature deer are just something else. They almost seem mythical, and… Read More

Think you can score a buck just by looking at it? During Whitetail Week, we’re giving away stellar prizes every day to folks who can most closely correctly score deer that were shot by… Read More