Entries for November 2011

Are you having trouble locating mature bucks? Me too. It’s lockdown time. What, you haven’t heard about the lockdown period of the whitetail rut? It’s the time of November when the majority of does come into heat in the majority of the whitetail nation.

Facebook is the ultimate resource for tracking the whitetail rut in real time.

This is my deer decoy. I love him. Why? The other day I decoyed four different white-tailed bucks within bow range within an hour’s time. Had my shooting been on, I would have been tagged out. But that’s another long, embarrassing story.

With holiday parties and family get-togethers fast approaching, here’s a great factoid to recite to that non-hunting office mate or anti-hunting auntie who dares to question the great things hunters do in the U.S.—in addition to their obvious conservation and wildlife management contributions, of course.

This season is turning into a very good year for me on the whitetail front. Buck No. 3 fell this week in the Porcupine Hills of southern Alberta, Canada.

I just finished my Minnesota firearms whitetail hunt and harvested a 3-point buck. I know some people will think I’m crazy for killing a young deer, but where I come from filling the freezer is the top priority.

You won’t believe this hunt. I’m firearm hunting in north-central South Dakota not far from the banks of the Missouri River. Good friend Levi Duncan invited me to hunt with him on his family ranch and some other neighboring property. His management has been paying off with mature bucks and great rutting action, but coyote numbers were also booming and interrupting our morning hunts.

The whitetail is a coveted creature looked upon with unequalled allure. Perhaps it's the mystique that the whitetail embodies. Maybe it's the sheer size of the animal that demands such respect among its many small game counterparts. Regardless, taking the life of a white-tailed deer is a blessing at any stage in the life of a hunter. But a hunter's first deer—to put it simply—is a big deal.

If you think Americans are more pro-firearms than 20 years ago, you’re right. And new data from one of America’s leading polling companies points to anemic support for any new gun control regulations.

If you're not hunting right now, you better have a really good excuse. The pre-rut is rolling and whitetails are on a serious hunt for the first hot does. I'm sure a few of you have already seen chasing, and possibly even a flurry of breeding. It's happening now, and there's no better time to hunt whitetails or muleys.