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A Buck for Grandpa
By Danny Senic
The 1976 Virginia firearms season was soon to open and, for the first time, Grandpa wasn’t going hunting with us. He was dying of black lung disease. Grandpa had worked in the coal mines for years, but now they were working on him. Grandpa had been an avid hunter for as long as I could remember. He had taken 39 deer, several of them nice buck... READ MORE
How To Approach Downed Game
By Russell Thornberry
In spite of what you might see on hunting shows, there are some very serious dos and don’ts when it comes to approaching a deer, or any wild animal, that you presume to be dead.
The first rule is to approach the deer from downwind. If it is still alive and it smells you, it will panic and try to get on its feet to flee. Approach the animal q... READ MORE
Everybody Loves a Nut
By Tom Fegely
The arrival of fall brings some welcome entrées for residents of the deer woods. That’s when acorns, beechnuts and other mast, hard and soft, mature and eventually drop to the ground, providing a nutritious change of diet for deer about to enter their energy-intensive rut. The availability of acorns in particular changes both feeding a... READ MORE
King of the Hill
By Tim King
Last September, my wife changed my computer screensaver to read, “Tim, you are awesome and I hope you score big on your hunt this year! Love you, SK.” So when the alarm buzzed at 4:30 a.m. on the cool, crisp morning of Oct. 28, 2005, I was confident in her message.
Rising early to fill my backpack and pack a lunch is just one of the ta... READ MORE
Tricks of the Trade
By Dale R. Larson
There’s nothing magical about being a successful whitetail bowhunter. Like everything else in life, there is no shortcut to success. The individual who applies himself will be the most successful. Learning the tricks of the trade is a process that never ends. Just when you think you know everything, you will discover something new.
The first... READ MORE
Breakfast with Whitetails
By Tom Fegely
One of the benefits of being an outdoors writer is the bonus of hunting and wildlife photography – deer in particular – as part of the job. Most of my whitetail encounters are made from fall into spring, which is why I decided to have breakfast with the whitetails one August morning. My alfresco dining spot was a large high-fenced field... READ MORE
Mapping Trophy Bucks
By Steve Bartylla
The contour map revealed a long ridge slicing through the big timber, eventually splitting into a “Y.” Fifty yards before the split, a dip in the ridge formed a saddle. As a bonus, a deep erosion cut ran from the valley all the way up to just short of the saddle. The combination of features formed a great location for intercepting roami... READ MORE
Tinkle Up A Buck
By Harvey Bauer
During several years of hunting in West Virginia, I had the great pleasure of getting to know an elderly mountain man who has harvested more than his share of trophy bucks.I arrived at his secluded farm for one of my visits while he was working in his barn. The big doors stood open and an astonishing number of big whitetail racks were tacked inside... READ MORE