I'm a born and bred Michigan boy. But, man, it's time like these when I wish I was located just a little more west. And south.

The story on these two Kansas flippin' giants is available here.

I've got two points in Kansas. Looks like I'll be droppin' a few bills in next year's lottery.

Tony Hansen, Michigan Man

Here some video I found on the Daily Oklahoman website of a MONSTER non-typical bick taken on public land in McAlister, Oklahoma.

The hunt is primitive archery only and the buck ended up netting just over 200-inches. You can read the full story here:

The Daily Oklahoman

Labels: Videos

Here's a video from Photobucket that a friend sent my way. While I think the fight took place last year (because the SoTx rut typically doesn't start until December), it is still impressive nonetheless.

Labels: Texas, Videos

Steve from down in the Texas Hill Country told me about this big 8 he killed with a longbow.

A huge 8-point with a longbow... That's gettin' things done.

"I shot this buck on Monday evening, Oct. 13th. Bob Sarrels had invited me to hunt with him this week. He took my place on a lease I have been on with Bisch for the past 5 years. Bisch shot a really nice 8 pt. on opening day and had a few more nice bucks on his trail cam pic's.

I hunted the same stand where Bisch shot his 8 pt. On Sunday evening I saw a decent 9 pt., a decent 10 pt., a cull 6 pt. and a spike/fork (that I missed). On Monday evening I went back to that stand again. I settled in (about 30 feet up) and immediately had what I thought was the spike/fork back in there. (He ended up being a fork on both sides). As soon as he cleared the brush I shot him. He was quartered away and I hit him a bit far back. I heard him crash fairly close, though, so I was confident he was down.

I decided to sit there and see what else would come in, since the feeder hadn't even gone off yet. The 9 pt. came back in a short time before the feeder went off. A little while after the feeder went off, the cull 6 pt. came in. I decided I would shoot the 6 pt. Before he got into my shooting lane, however, I noticed another deer coming. It was a large 8 pt.

I had been told that there were no restrictions as to what I could shoot, so I began trying to judge the 8 pt. He looked like a mature deer and was certainly bigger than anything I had ever shot before. After a short time he was standing in almost the exact spot the smaller buck had been when I shot him a little while earlier. I took the shot. Again, I hit him farther back than I wanted, but it did the trick. He went about 100 yards before piling up in a thick area of cactus and underbrush.

I tracked, found, and field dressed the smaller buck and dragged him about 300 yards before deciding I couldn't wait any longer to go and look for the 8 point. He left a good blood trail and was not terribly hard to find. I dragged him about 30 yards out of the thick stuff and into an opening where I knew I would be able to find him in the dark.

I went to get Bob and found that he also had shot a buck. He had shot a 2 1/2 year old spike.
It had been raining all day and I only have a two wheeled drive pickup. We were now trying to decide how long it was going to take us to drag 3 deer the mile back to camp. We ended up calling a friend in Tilden (Scott Shallcross) who graciously came to our rescue with his 4 wheel drive pickup. Scott came out and we loaded the deer in his truck and he let us store them in a walk-in cooler he had in town.

The 8 point weighed 210 pounds on the hoof. I green scored him at 129 5/8" gross/ 127 1/8" net.

I was shooting 50# Sarrels Superstition take-down longbow, aluminum arrows, and a 140 grain Magnus 2 blade broadhead with a 100 grain steel insert."

Great job, Steve!

-Russell Graves
Texas

Labels: Texas

A good friend of mine is determined to kill a deer with his recurve this fall. About 10 a.m. each day, I get a call that goes something like this: "Dude. I missed again. Shot right over her back at 15 yards. Another muddy broadhead."

But I admire his persistance. And after reading another email about another miss last night, he informed me that he was officially starting the Muddy Broadhead Bowhunters Association. There really could be something to this. But I doubt it.

Below are the rules to the club. And the motto, well, here we go, "Accuracy by Quantity."

The Rules to Hunt by:
#1 Always hunt over soft dirt-It makes resharpening your heads easier.
#2 Upgrade to a larger pack-you aren't bogged down with trailing duties so you can carry more snacks and drinks for the long walk out.
#3 Take no shame from missing. You get all the benefits of a hunt and a shot without any of the gutting.
#4 If you're gonna miss, it might as well be with a recurve-they're a helluva lot easier to carry around in the woods.
#5 Missing high or low is way better than left or right-invites dry up after you hit and lose a few.
#6 You'll save a lot of money by not paying for taxidermy, so start shopping for that new truck.
#7 It's not the size of the rack but the number of misses you can get with one arrow that counts.

Are you a member?-Jake

Without question, hunting whitetails in the Sunflower State is what I live for. Although that may sound strange coming from a guy who lives out west and gets to hunt elk, mule deer and antelope virtually every Fall; Kansas and whitetails just do it for me. I'm sure it has something to do with the fond childhood memories I had when I hunted birds and rabbits with an old break-open .410 at the family farm. I still remember the paper shot-shells, the distinct smell of burn powder when I held them to my nose, and the soft fur from the rabbits pelt or the handsome colors of the Ringneck pheasant. I still hunt that same farm every fall, but now rabbits and pheasant have been replaced with whitetails.

I headed out to the farm this past weekend in hopes of taking a doe or two, and maybe even a buck. And although the latter didn't happen, I checked one of my trail cameras and had a wonderful surprise; the three pigs I was after last fall are still running around. The top two were bucks I actually laid eyes on last Fall--and almost killed one of them--but the third one has eluded me. Although he has been my most photogenic prize, I have yet to see him.

Anyway, this is my official "Kansas Hit-List." And although it will be hard to let a 140 inch buck walk by without a released arrow--which is what I did last Fall--I'm going to do my best and hold true to these three, that is unless a fourth stud shows up. Who knows, it's Kansas in November and anything can happen.

Brian

The weather has turned cold here in the great state of Michigan. The rut is fixing to blow soon. But it very clearly has not yet. So I thought I'd share a little advice with the guys out there who, like me, are absolutely stoked for the rut to come. Now is the time when I've made some of my biggest mistakes in the woods.

How? By trying to force the issue. In heavily-hunted, heavily-pressured areas it's my opinion (and, remember, this is just an opinion based on my personal observations) the mature bucks simply do not chase does. They tend them. They breed them. They will dog them when they're about ready to breed.

But I have never, ever seen a truly mature buck on its feet after a doe in late October or even in the first few days of November. Sure, I'll see some good bucks then. But the real bruisers -- the 4-year-olds and older -- just don't do the crazy early-rut chase thing. I believe they've simply learned that doing so gets them in big trouble. Remember, we've got 350,000 bowhunters and almost 700,000 gun hunters. Deer here know that after they've lived a year or two. The worst thing to do right now is to climb into that rut stand that you've left alone all year. It's too early. In another week, go for it.

But right now, patience is the virtue.

And, trust me, I have just as much trouble doing it as anyone. I know there are some good bucks on the ground I'm hunting. And I also know there are some nasty, thick patches where they hang out. But I must wait until the time is right before penetrating that cover. And the time, while close, is not yet at hand.
But when it is, I'll post the photos.

Good luck out there. It's about to get fun.

Tony Hansen, Michigan Man

Chances are good that you know who the Kisky's are. Don and Kandi have been slaying big bucks for years. And their son, Kaleb, is catching up with his mom and dad pretty fast as well. But Kaleb is also running a camera now. Check out the buck he filmed with his buddy, Ethan.

Below is a note from Don and Kandi about the hunt.-Jake



Our son, Kaleb, who is only 16years old decided to take our DSR 400 in the stand with his good friend Ethan Porter for their first time filming a hunt together. Kaleb has been filming for a couple of years and did a lot of velvet filming this summer. So we were confident that he would lay down a great hunt. The night started out with a 140" buck that Kaleb had told Ethan to pass. What happened next is priceless. They looked to their left and a big buck was making a scrape Calmly they waited a the buck presented Ethan with a 20yd shot. With his Mathews bow in hand Ethan smoked the buck. They called Don and I on my cell phone to tell us they shot a buck. We weren't hunting to far from them so we got out of stand jumped on our Bad Boy Buggy and headed towards them. They hadn't gone up to the buck yet so the suspence was killing all of us. The coolest part of this story is two boys growing up in Iowa shared a hunt of a lifetime and they were both pumped. We went up to the buck and Wow!! We were all excited we went back home and watched the footage and it was incredible!! Kaleb did a great job! The buck scored 176"!! I don't think they both realize what they had just done!! Kaleb is hooked to filming now. Last year he filmed his dad now this hunt. We are very proud of both of them.
Don and Kandi

Yeah, I know this has nothing to do with deer, BUT... The story is a cool one so click on the video player and look at how we roll in Tejas.

Labels: Texas, Videos

While Kansas is outside my allotted Rack Report territory, this bruiser showed up in my inbox. As is usually the case, no information is available about this buck other than it was reportedly taken around Medicine Lodge, Kansas.

Has anyone heard anything about this buck so you can fill us in on the details?

Russell from Texas, USA

Labels: Rumors

Here is a dandy buck taken in South Texas by Jared Dylla. Jared scored big on his birthday buck and you can see how proud he and his dad Tim are of the deer.

Here's the story on this great buck:

I got on a lease just outside of Floresville on Hwy 97 with a good friend who is also a co-worker about 3 months ago. It is 500 acres of heavy brush surrounded by open farm land on 3 sides, and yes it is low fenced! Across 97 is 1,300 acres that is high-fenced that was originally part of this place but was sold about 4 or 5 years ago.

This place has a creek that holds water so you can just imagine how many hogs are there considering all the groceries they have to eat surrounding it. But, my buddy had shown me a picture of a really nice 10 point scoring around 130 that another hunter had gotten last year. He looked to be about 4.5 so I figured there were some pretty good genes and potential here. I needed a place to take my son, the price was right, and it was 1 hour from the house so I signed up. I figured we'd get a doe for meat and a bunch of pork to boot.

I've had a camera set up for about a month and I've gotten over 4,000 pictures of which 3,900 had every color of pig imaginable, including some colors I didn't knew existed. I did get one picture of a buck at midnight 3 weeks ago but it was a long way off and pretty blurry to boot. But I could see the deer had a good G4 and pretty good beams and appeared tall and guessed if the other side matched he was a solid 130 class deer or better.

After hunting yesterday morning and seeing 4 does but no pigs, we got out and headed to my buddy's ranch in LaSalle county to visit with a hunter he had at the ranch whom I guided last year and wanted for me to come and look at his buck he killed and catch up on the year past. We headed back to Floresville about 3:30.

At 5:30 we climbed in the stand after corning the senderos up with the jeep feeder. About 6:00 we had 4 does and a fawn come out. They were acting pretty jittery so I told my boy to get ready as I believe we were not far away from delivering the pork. Time went by and nothing came out.

I've put up burlap curtains in all the windows to keep the deer from seeing us in the stand and had the right window one slid to the left so I could see through about a 3" opening. My son could not see as his side of the window was covered with the curtain. We sit so that he can watch two ways and me two ways without moving around to look out. Around sundown I looked out the window and saw a little buck come out. I told him to hand me the binos and he asked what it was and he wanted to see. I told him it was a little buck and to just hold on a second. By the time I looked back up his buck had stepped out. I knew instantly he was a shooter.

I looked at my son and asked if he was ready to shoot a buck. He asked if it was the big 8 point that my friend had a picture of from last year and that he had past up. I said yes, lying just a little as I saw he had 10 solid points with a possible 11th with a short G5. I got the video camera ready and he turned his chair to use the back of it for an arm rest. I slid the curtain over the other way and he watched the deer as there were now 10 in the sendero so that we wouldn't spook them. I set the stock of the rifle on the window and he took over. The buck fed facing us for an eternity and he held the rifle on him the entire time. Finally, after about 15 minutes all the other deer had left that sendero for another and the buck started to get anxious and I thought to myself, "Oh my Lord please don't let the hogs come out and run this great buck off."

I told him to get ready and then he turned quartering to us and I asked him if he was on him. He said I'm rock solid and on him. I told him to put the crosshairs on the front shoulder 4" from the front and squeeeeeeeeeeeeze the trigger. About 1 second later the 150 grain bullet out of the .308 slammed him to the ground and he never kicked. After high fives and congratulations I asked him if he knew what he had and he said yeah dad, a big 10 point. I couldn't stop laughing!

This morning I woke up with another bill from the taxidermist and he woke up a year older with an unbelievable trophy buck!

Happy 10th Birthday son, Love dad!


Final stats are:

18 6/8" IS
41 3/8"BEAMS
5 4/8" G1s
18 4/8" G2s
15 7/8" G3s
10 2/8" G4s
31 2/8" MASS

141 4/8"

Congratulations guys!

-Russell
Way Back, Texas

Labels: Texas

I was out for a few days but my e-mail box started loading up with a few reports from this weekend's youth gun season in Texas. The first one is from Brandon Driskill and the story of his daughter Kynlee's first buck.

Here's how Brandon tells it:

"As we sat in the stand, I tried to remember back if it was hard for me to sit still and quiet when I was 10 years old. I just kept telling Kynlee that she has to move slowly when her head is close to the windows. She did her best, as this was not her first hunt with me. She had already bagged a boar hog earlier in the year that went around 125 lbs. It was a lot of fun, except for the fact that she wanted it to have some "teeth" to show off to her friends and it didn't.

I had been scouting one morning when I saw a cull spike that had about 6" tines and knew this would be a great deer for Kynlee, my youngest daughter, to harvest. I called her and we talked about her coming and hunting with me that evening, and her first question was, "Does it have horns?", as she wanted something to be able to brag about.

The evening hunt came and went and the spike deer did not show up, but we enjoyed our time in the blind telling stories and watching other deer move around the feeders. She was a bit hesitant at first, but we decided to give it another try in the morning after reassuring her that our deer would show up in the morning for sure. She did not really know how I knew that he would show up for sure, but seemed to believe me.

We arrived into the tower blind and settled in as the sun began to rise. The wildlife started to awake and move, as a deer showed up at the feeder. Kynlee kept asking where our deer was and just told her that he was a late riser and didn't get an early start as the other deer did. She laughed and said he was like momma in the mornings huh? I had no response to that.

Our deer showed up and was at the feeder and after about 15 minutes of trying to get a shot on him, his vitals were always in the vicinity of the legs of the feeder or the ladder leading up to it. I talked her into to trying a neck shot, but she was not totally convinced that she could hit him at 132 yds. The deer jumped the panel at the feeder and began to leave and told Kynlee she had to get on him because he was leaving. She quickly moved around a little and said I got him as she squeezed the trigger. I watched as the buck dropped to the ground without as much as a kick at 150 yds.

We laughed and hugged in celebration of her success. She was mostly excited because her buck had 2 points and that was bigger than here older sister had shot the year before, as it was a 1 point cull buck. We took some pictures and loaded the deer and made our way to meet Tommy at the processing facility.

After hunting with both of my daughters the previous year, I could not wait for this hunting season to get here. Taking your kids hunting is possibly the greatest joy one could have, just being in the stand sharing stories, laughing, and just sitting with them. I owe a great thanks to my lifelong friend, Tommy Peebles; he is the wildlife manager on the Cook Canyon Ranch near our hometown of Ranger. I am fortunate enough to help him with hunts on the ranch and in turn get to spend some time in the blinds with my girls. So, take your kids hunting as they will hopefully someday really know what it means to be able to enjoy that time with their kids, as I do now. And if you’re able, thank the ones that took the time to introduce you to hunting…..

Thanks Dad. "

Congratulations Kynlee and Brandon!

Labels: Texas

Ben Walsvik submitted this story about his opening day hunt. Not a bad end result at all.-Jake


Morning:
My opener started normally enough. I woke a bit after 5am, got my bow ready to go, and then grabbed a quick bite to eat. When I went to get the clothes I had hung on the line, I found that we had gotten just enough rain to get them wet. So I went back into the house and got some different clothes. Being a senior in high-school, I had not had the time to scout due to school and football, this was going to be more of a scouting hunt rather than a hunting hunt, turns out this would work out very nicely. After checking out the stand I planned to hunt that night; located between a large stand of pines and a grove of oak trees. Two years ago I had seen three bucks from that stand including a nice 8 point that I never had a shot at. But this year the acorns, or at least what few there were thanks to a very dry summer, had already fallen and had been cleaned up, making this stand almost void of deer activity. So I decided to check out a stand that I have set up along the edge of a huge pine/poplar swamp that borders an about hundred acre corn field. Again two years ago, I almost had a shot at a very nice buck here, but last year had been dead. As I was easing along the side of the field, I saw what appeared to be a doe, only problem was that I was seen about the same time so she moved off. Just as I started to walk again I see another deer and, as with a last one, it turns and walks off. But as it turned I saw the sweep of antler on what looked to be a very nice buck, but since it was over 150 yards away I couldn't be sure. By then I was beginning to think that that might be a better spot to hunt that night, so a continued to slowly walk along the corn, to see if where the deer were coming out of the swamp was within range of my stand. When I had almost gotten there I hear a commotion in the brush, grass rustling, twigs snapping, and odd sounding grunts. I thought there was no way that that could be a deer, so maybe badger or woodchuck, but as the noise grew thoughts of a bear began to enter my head. There was a break in the brush about twenty yards from where I stood, so as noiselessly as possible I eased up to it. Much to my surprise when I got to the point where I could see what was making the commotion, it was not a bear but two little bucks sparing. As soon as I saw them I froze, and just watched them for a little while. Then one of them must have begun to wonder what I was, because he came over to investigate. He jumped to fence about seven yards way, took 2 steps, decided I was not worth it, jumped back and started tussling with the other buck again. After a few minutes they both walked off into the swamp, and I now knew where I would be hunting tonight.

Afternoon:
That evening I headed out around 5:30, and the ¾ mile walk to my stand didn't seem to take any time at all. When I got just past the place where I was when I saw the two little bucks, I hear movement in the corn field. I look over there a see a yearling doe eating only 20 yards away. I slowly dropped to my knee hoping that she didn't see me. She must not have because she continued to eat, after a while I began to think that I had better get to my stand just in case any other deer started to show up. I stood, took a step and the doe busted, bounding into the swamp, her warning call echoing back to me. I was thinking that that had probably just ruined hunting, but I prayed that it had not. About an hour and a half mosquito filled and deer-less hours later, I began to wish that I had stuck with my other stand. Then around 7:30, I started to hear what sounded like a deer working its way through the swamp toward me. Ten minutes later I see a basket racked 8 point browsing along. He finally emerged from the swamp about 5 minutes after I first saw him, and I was sorely tempted to shoot him. The reason for this was that last year I had seen maybe one buck (I seem to remember seeing a spike) early during the bow season, and not more than five bucks total all season. But since it was still only the first day I held off, and now I'm glad I didn't shoot. Just as the eight was coming out, I glimpsed another deer moving through the swamp and I saw antler. I didn't know how big he was until he stepped out of the tall grasses that make up the edge of the swamp, and when I did see my heart rate doubled. The 8 point had quickly bypassed the corn and was headed for the stand of pine trees near my other stand, so I figured the big buck would go by in a hurry also. He didn't. When he got about 20 yards from the swamp he stopped and started looking around and checking the wind, two or three time looking right at me from 30 yards out. The worst case of buck fever I'd ever had starts setting in, legs shaking, breath coming in short ragged bursts, trying not to look at the rack. Even without trying to look at it, I made him out to be a 5x4 and with what looked like a split brow tine on the 4 side (I stopped looking after that, as I was shaking badly enough already). The thoughts "Please don't bust me", "10 POINTER!" and "If I get a shot…" ran through my head repeatedly while I waited for him to take a step or look away so I could draw my bow. After what seemed like forever, but couldn't have been more than five minutes, he turned his head away from me to see what was coming up through the swamp and I got the full view of the width of his rack as I drew, put my pin on his rib cage and released. I watch as my arrow disappeared into his side, about 6 inches back and a bit high from where I would have liked it to be but I still felt good about the shot. After the shot, I had to sit down to keep from falling as my legs had turned to jelly. While I sat there thanking God, I could hear crashing back in the swamp, then nothing. I replayed the shot in my head, but could not seem to get the width of his rack as he turned his head out of my mind. After a bit, when I finally trusted my limbs to get me down safely again, I quietly slipped out of my stand and headed for the house. It was about ten minutes to 8:00 and, knowing the shot had been a bit far back I opted to wait until after 9:00 to look for him. When I got back I was going to call my Grandpa (he is the one who got me hooked on hunting) and tell him about it first, but my Mom was right there when I walked in the house, and there was no way I could keep it in. After I told Mom about it, I called Grandpa and told him about it, trying not to make it sound too big just in case in the heat of the moment I saw the buck a lot bigger the he really was. Then I sent an IM to my friend with whom I had a $10 bet on the biggest deer of the season with bow. I told her that I had just shot a really nice buck, almost as big as the one I had found (near the end of the '05 bow season I found a 140" 11 pointer laying dead) and asked if she wanted to come over to help me look for it. We got to where I had shot it a bit after 9:00, and found the bright-red blood covered arrow right off, and had the trail he used within a couple of minutes. As we headed into the swamp I remember saying "Boy, I hope there is not a lot of ground shrinkage", 60 yards farther along a very good blood trail (Rage broadheads are the BEST!) my fears were blotted out by the sight of a massive antler sticking up from the grass. It was wide (24" was the greatest spread) with good mass throughout, matched split brow tines and an inch long G5 on his left antler, just enough to call him a 13 point. I recall hearing "You have GOT to have him mounted!" and me saying "Well he's not quite big enough" (size had not set in yet, boy was I wrong). After pictures, the drag out was not bad at all, partly because I don't think he dressed out at more than 180 maybe 190 lbs, but mostly from the adrenalin. When we got him back to the house, I went in and grabbed the 11 point rack that I had found, and compared them. I was surprised when I found that the one I had just gotten made it look small. While I knew I had a buck that most people around here dream of seeing, it didn't really set in until I put his measurements in on the B&C score calculator and it came up with a green score of 155. And that was my season opener.

Published by The Whitetail Team on at 5:28 AM.  0 Comments

This is my daughter Katy. I have twin daughters who started going to the deer woods with me when they were around 8 years old. They are 11 now. Last year I believed it was time to allow them to start their gun training. They both did very well and after becoming confident enough to ensure they were safe, we went hunting. My father owns several acres in Oklahoma and last years hunt didn't produce a deer for them. The weekend of October 18th, 2008 is the youth gun hunt in Oklahoma. We again hit the woods in an attempt let them take their first deer. This year we split them up. One daughter (Hanna) would go with me, the other (Katy) would go with my cousin Larry. The evening was very slow and none of us saw any movement during the hunt. Hanna and I decided the light had become a little low so we loaded up and headed back to the truck. My cousin Larry and daughter Katy were having the same issues hunting only about 1/2 mile from us. As Larry was loading up to leave, he observed a nice buck enter the field. According to him the next moments went fast, very fast. Larry grabbed the .243 and handed it to Katy. As the deer stopped to feed, Larry told her to put the scope on his shoulder and "shoot it." Katy did exactly as told and with one shot, dropped the deer right were it stood. Neither, at that time, knew exactly how big this deer was. On approach to the deer, Larry knew that Katy had accomplished something that none of us adults had managed to do in the many years of hunting. The buck was a 10 pointer with a 21 and a half inch spread. Split brow tine and lots of character. Though I don't really think she understands exactly what she did, it was a moment to remember for a lifetime and we all are very proud. My dad (PaPa) has vowed to engrave the gun she shot the buck with and will allow her to keep the gun to remember her "first deer." And here we thought we were only going after does...-Mike G.

Big buck time is here. We've received several photos of big bucks taken over the last two days, so I'll do some quick posting so you can check them out.-Jake

Brittany Hinderliter arrowed this 142-inch 11 pointer in Hoosierville. The buck field dressed at 192 pounds.

Okay, so I'm busy pecking away in the office and my phone starts buzzing with the world's most annoying tone -- the one that tells me someone just cost me some cash by sending me a picturemail.

Of course, I open it. And there staring at me -- taunting even -- is another great-horned bruiser. The note said "Iowa buck -- scores 250."

That's it. That's all I've got. Anyone know the story on this one? Is it real? Is it from Iowa?

Will I ever see a buck that I'd be willing to put my tag on?

Tony Hansen, Michigan Man

This past weekend was one to remember for Tyler Jordan. As he was hunting on his home turf in Georgia, he shot a 158 7/8-inch buck on Saturday, followed by a 165-inch buck on Sunday. Not too bad.

To take this story even further, he shot both deer from the same stand. The same stand in which he shot a 165-inch deer last year. If it's not broke, don't fix it.

Hopefully you'll see some more photos of Tyler on the Rack Report, just not from Georgia. He's tagged out.-Jake

I don't even know what to say here. I am, quite literally, shaking as I type this. I have zero chance of ever seeing this deer in the wild. I probably will never see a deer within 80 inches of this deer.

Just check out the video. If you want to learn more about this video and the deer, check out the latest issue of Field and Stream.

Un-freakin'-real.

Tony Hansen, Michigan Man

This time of year is a little crazy around Realtree. Cameramen are coming and going. Bill, David and Michael are balancing work and life on the road. But one thing is pretty consistent for everyone, and that is people around here enjoy spending time in the woods.

Point in case: Stephen McNelly, one of Realtree's cameramen, just got home from a tour at the Milk River. Nineteen days to be exact. Stephen loves to hunt, but he has also gotten his girlfriend, Leah, involved. This past weekend Leah killed her first buck, a 9-pointer at 155 yards. Soon after, she shot her first doe.

The point is many people make excuses about why they don't take other people hunting. And that's not acceptable. We have to get others involved and do our part to pass on this great tradition.

Good work Leah.-Jake

One of the great facets of deer season is the storytelling. And the following is no exception. Kyle Aho just emailed the Whitetail Team the story of his first deer. Congrats to him. Below is the unedited version of Kyle's story.-Jake




Hey this is kyle Aho. I'm from Wolf lake MN and i dont have a bow but i have a rifle and last year was my first year of hunting and i nailed a doe. i was hunting with my dad and it was about 2 hours before dark when i shot it, but here's the story. My brother had gotten 2 nine pointers that morning and i went to help him hang them at my other brothers house in his shop. my brother with the shop has a nice stand and has lots of mature bucks he has (had) a nice 12 a ten and a couple eights. I live on a 1800 acre farm and me and my dad didn't see anything that morning so i wanted to hunt on my brothers property but i would have to go in a small alfalfa field that only had smaller bucks and a few does but whatever i tool the chance. my sister in law has a stand off that field with a clover plot in it. and she harvested a 8 pointer that morning. well me and my dad got settled and i was in my real tree came coveralls and a orange vest sitting in some pine trees facing the woods but most of the deer come from behind us. well we were out there for about 30 min. and 2 fawns came out with there mother in the woods and i couldn't get a good shot so i let her go. she went around through the woods and she came back through the clover plot and was heading for my brother. i grunted and had a perfect broadside shot ant about 100 yards open sights. I missed:(:) but the she turned toward my brother then back from were she came but she was running along side the woods and my dad shot at her and missed the i nailed her in the spine and dropped her. I was so excited the i jumped out of my chair. About forty five minutes later a buck came out it was a smaller buck but my dad didn't notice that he shot and missed it but boy was that but ever dumb it stood there and i shot at it but i missed it but i would of got it but there was a branch about 8 inches in diameter in my way but it finally took off running and my dad knocked it out by shooting its horn off. It was a really cool deer hunt the doe weighed about 130 it was a big one.

Okay, this is probably a tid bit premature but, well, here goes. The rut is upon us. No, I'm not saying that the full-blown breeding phase is here. It's not. But this was far and away the best weekend I've had this season so far. Ever doe I saw had a buck close behind. Of course, they were all young bucks but that's the cool thing about all this. The little guys always tend to jump the gun on the rut but they also seem to act like an indicator of what's about to happen.

I like to keep a journal of my hunts each season and it was Oct. 22 last year when I saw my first buck dogging a doe -- that yearling six-point certainly wasn't the last buck I saw looking for a little doe action. But it was the first and the action simply increased steadily from that point.

Well, this weekend I saw six different bucks dogging does around. All were young and none got within spitting distance of any does.

But, as they say, let the games begin.

Tony Hansen, Michigan Man

There's a reason why I dream of heading north of the border every year--gagger bucks. And although Alberta and Saskatchewan seem to get most of the attention, Manitoba to the east can also spit out some studs. Bowhunter Jeff Ross sent me these pics a few days ago and it got me dreaming again. He shot these pure velvet northern kings during Manitoba's early season.

The first one he killed at 10 yards as he was walking out on opening day just a few weeks ago. He said the bugs were so thick he left his blind early, and as he was leaving he ran across this bad boy. His main frame 4X4 velvety rack grossed 145 inches. The second buck was also arrowed on opening day the previous year. As luck would have it, Jeff said not 10 minutes after arriving to his ground blind this toad came wandering by at 10 yards with three other bucks. He grossed a whopping 176 inches.

Talk about great back-to-back opening days!


Dreaming from the West,
-Brian

I'm headed to Canada for ducks tomorrow morning. And, as I write this, Michelle is on her way to Kentucky for the two-day early muzzleloader season. She hasn't filled a tag yet this season and is hoping to get a big doe for the freezer.

When she began hunting with a muzzleloader a few years back, I set her up with a modestly priced inline (CVA Buckhorn Magnum, I believe) topped off with a fixed 4x Nikon. The combo has performed admirably well. Michelle shoots 100 grains of powder (Pyrodex pellets) behind a 295-grain Powerbelt hollowpoint. For a $100 gun, the accuracy has been outstanding.

I've kicked around the idea of buying an inline myself for years, but haven't done it yet. For one, I'd rather fill my buck tag with my bow, and am not terribly picky. I also love the early season. So, usually (hopefully), I'm tagged out in Kentucky by muzzleloader season. Secondly, my muzzleloader, a little sidelock carbine, was my first-ever firearm, and was what I used to take my first-ever deer. I shoot Powerbelts ahead of 90 grains of loose powder from it these days, but it does pretty well with patched round balls as well.

I've had some misfires with that old gun on rainy days. I've also had it come through in a pinch several times, and killed a 130-inch 11-pointer, one of my largest bucks to date, with it when I was a sophomore in college. I've always taken good care of it, and I've never had it drilled and tapped for a scope.

I've been shooting that gun since I was 9 years old, and I feel guilty every time I think of buying a new one. I know a scoped inline would be much more efficient, powerful, accurate, and perhaps most important, easy to clean. But, I keep hunting with the old sidelock, and pray it'll go off when I line the sights up on deer on those damp mornings. Maybe if it breaks, I'll change.

Any of you guys out there still shoot an old-school blackpowder rifle? What kind?

Will in Tennessee

Okay, I made a mistake. When I ran across this deer I thought that Justin Bone - from down in South Texas - had shot this brute this season. Turns out, it was last year. Either way it is still a stud and it deserves a mention.

Here's Justin's story:

"A couple of weeks ago my dad videoed a beautiful mainframe 12 pointer from one of the rifle blinds. The whole time I watched the video I sat in awe wondering what could possibly be going through his mind besides getting his gun out the window and shooting him. I figured if he wasn't going to shoot him then I would!

I set up a ground blind along the road that he has been frequenting and brushed it in to blend with the surroundings. That evening I sat in the rifle blind to watch the deer's reaction to the blind. Overall, The deer took to the blind very well considering he stood perfectly broadside to the new blind for thirty minutes! I had made the decision that I was ready to make the sit in the blind for the morning hunt. The next four hunts started and ended the same with the buck coming in each hunt, but would only present me with an unfavorable shot angle. Having him patterned so well, I had no reason to take a shot that wasn't in my favor. Then on Saturday evening everything all came together. At about 6:45 he came in a turned broadside as if he had rehearsed it. I let him move his front leg forward then drew my bow back. Before I knew it the arrow was on its way. I saw the arrow slam through he shoulder, and then the buck did the jump and kick routine confirming a solid hit. Now is when my nerves went into over drive! I saw the buck enter the brush the immediately heard a crash. After a few minutes I went to recover my trophy. The blood trail was poor, but the recovery was short and easy.

I took him to Los Cazadores the next morning to have him scored. He ended up grossing 166 4/8 and netting 163 even. That's only 3.5 inches of deductions on a typical 12 pointer!"

To hear Justin tell it, he's got a big non-typical he's after this year and will fill me in on the details when it goes down.

Finally, here's some video from last year's hunt...

Labels: Texas, Videos

Sorry Vikings. But this buck may be a Cheesehead.

So here's a funny story. I emailed buddy Jake, our esteemed Realtree Whitetail Team Leader and all-around good guy, about a whopper buck photo I had just received via email. A true Wisconsin giant that grossed well over 200 inches and had an incredible weight over 300 pounds.

He said "blog it man" and I did. Then I happened to check out Jake's post from earlier today. Anyone notice any similarities? My "source" claims this buck was taken in Wisconsin. But did it really come from Minnesota?

Anyone got any clues out there?

Tony Hansen, Michigan Man

As the deer season rolls on, we're going to do our best to showcase the biggest deer out there. Of course, many of the emails that roll through cyberspace could be legit or could be a masterpiece from Photoshop, so anything you know about the deer posted, please comment about them.

So here's one of the first giants of the year. Ben Spanjers killed this 23 point, 310-pound monster in Hokah, Minnesota. The reported green score is 231 5/8. What do you think about that?-Jake

Every year, we get tons of emails asking where Realtree will be filming during the fall and winter months. We get invitations to hunt with Bob in Wisconsin, Joe in Alabama and Tammy in Texas. And even though we can't possibly send a camera crew to film every opportunity, there is a process that David Blanton uses to fill out the hunting schedule: It's called hunt where big bucks are.

Monster Bucks is headed into its 17th year. And what a journey it has been. Though it will be hard to top three 200-inch kills on camera, this year looks to be a promising one. With the Midwest hunts coming soon, everyone around is excited about the possibilities ahead.

And if you're interested in learning where the Realtree cameras will be, then check out this story on Realtree.com.

I'll do my best to keep everyone here up-to-date on what's going on. Until then, send us your success story. -Jake

There was a knock on my front door a few days ago just as I was settling in for the evening after a truly uneventful evening in the treestand. Apparently, I was hunting the wrong spot.

My young neighbor, Mark Wehr, 16, was on my porch with blood on his hands and a smile on his face. "Man, I just shot a huge 8-point."

Obviously, I had to check it out and I'm glad I did. Mark's first bowkill is a dandy indeed. Just a slick, pretty 8-point with terrific main beams and long tines. A guy can't ask for much more out of his first archery smackdown. Mark said he heard the buck thrashing through some standing corn shortly after he'd blown a short series on his grunt call.

"When he came out, I couldn't believe it. I just didn't look at his rack again and focused on making the shot."

And make the shot he did. And he just happened to make his more experienced bowhunting neighbor extremely jealous in the process.

We've got one more Young Buck blog coming up. Stay tuned.

Tony Hansen, Michigan Man

I know for many of you guys, your season started just a week or so ago and you've already hit the stand with bow in hand a couple of times already. But for many of us out west, we got to start our season in September. Hunting that early does have it's good and bad points, but it's hard to beat time in the stand regardless of what month it is.

Montana is one of those early season destinations, and as my buddy Keith Miller of Montana Whitetails (www.montanawhitetails) told me the other day, their season started off with several released arrows on quality 130 to 140 inch bucks. The southwestern region of Montana he operates in is typical river bottom country that is filled with countless deer. In fact, one of his clients stopped counting deer walking by his stand at 100 one morning. I'm sure that was quite a sight.

Here are a few bucks that fell to well placed arrows just a few weeks ago. And for those of you that have not been able to hit the stand yet, this should get you pumped up!

Here is another cool study conducted some of my students.

Abstract
Hunter's Attitudes Towards Whitetail Deer Antler Size - A Two Year Study
By Wade Hardin & Lonnie Sessions, Childress FFA

In Texas, white-tailed deer hunting is a multi-million dollar industry. In order to educate land managers and hunters and to further the hunting economy of Childress County, we have developed research that we believe will help out hunters and landowners alike.

For nearly two months we conducted an on-line Internet poll asking hunters what they believed contributed most to the overall score of a set of antlers. Based on the information from our poll we found that 45% of the hunters that voted thought that the inside spread of the main beam made up most of the score. 26% thought tine length was most important, 14% thought that main beam length was most important, 10% thought circumference was most important, and 2% said that non-typical points were most important.

We then analyzed 258 Texas deer that were scored according to the universally accepted Boone and Crocket scoring system.

Based on the information we collected from the score sheets over the past two years, we broke down into percentages, we found that the inside spread makes up only 12.64% of the total score. The main beam length makes up 28.59%, the tine lengths make up 37.18%, and the circumferences make up 21.2%.

The reason our research is important is that if we can educate hunters to recognize what properties of the antler actually brings a higher score, then deer management practices can be optimized so that higher scoring bucks are taken. This research is important for landowners as well. They need to know this information so as they can develop high scoring bucks on their land. With high scoring bucks on the land that hunter's lease, the hunter's are willing to pay premium dollars for the right to hunt on the land.

Labels: Texas

If you read much of anything about hunting these days, you've undoubtedly heard about the impending death of our hunting heritage due to a lack of recruitment of young hunters into the mix.

Well, I'd like to write something different about that. And it starts today. Over the next week or so, you're going to want to check The Rack Report often because I have some pretty interesting stories and photos to share -- capped off by enough bone to tally nearly 150 inches. With just eight points. Interested?

Well, you're going to have to wait for that one. But, I promise, it will be the best sort of wait. Because in the meantime I'm going to share the tale of a few solid bucks that have fallen already this season here in my home state of Michigan. And I'm betting it won't take long for you to realize the theme of the week.

Let's start with this dandy eight-pointer taken by Adam Lefler of Reese, MI.
Adam whacked the buck during the state's youth season with a Thompson-Center Encore.
Adam was hunting with his dad, Pat Lefler, who also happens to head up the Reese Out-of-Doors Club, a 120-member student organization that brings the outdoors to school. The group has an archery league in the school gym, mentors elementary students and hosts a student game dinner each year.

Now how cool is that? Certainly not too cool for Reese Schools. With mentors and programs like that, our outdoors future is assured.

Tony Hansen, Michigan Man