When it comes to locating crazy whitetails, there are productive methods to the madness. Check out today's video below for a few tips you can use this season.

Hunters are a helpful lot. They volunteer during youth hunter education courses. They join in during community service projects and even help out stranded motorists on their way home after a hunt. They also occasionally help other hunters without even knowing it.

I love Halloween and I always hate to miss it due to being gone for work. In the same breath, I love the whitetail hunting opportunities that occur around Halloween. There's lots of pre-rut action because does are still approximately 2 weeks from coming into estrus and bucks are raging with testosterone. Scrapes begin smoking, rubs look like wood chipper sites and car/deer collisions spike because of rambunctious bucks searching for daylong flings.

The rut is creeping up on you like a trick-or-treater sneaking up on your porch for a candy bar. Are you ready? The first inklings of the rut are beginning to appear in the woods around you right now. Scrapes are showing up along field edges and trails. Rubs are starting to line travel routes, and last week I watched a 3 1/2-year-old buck hounding a doe just for fun.

If you’re looking for more education on the whitetail rut, then I have a deal for you. I'm being featured as a guest speaker in Rut Summit 2. It's a webinar series dedicated to helping serious deer hunters like you take advantage of the rut and improve your odds of killing a mature buck this fall.

Last week was a whirlwind of glassing fields, setting treestands, trapping mice and, of course, little sleep. I was in western South Dakota hunting a drought-stricken ranch and trying to place myself within striking range to put my new Mathews Heli-M to good use. I lost count of how many treestands I hung, adjusted and moved, but suffice to say I could have outfitted a small camp with my efforts.

We still have a few weeks to go until deer patterns become more hunter-friendly. Last week I shared some strategies for hunting October whitetails, but are you still struggling to get a close encounter?

Love or hate them, October whitetails are here. I admit that I’d rather skip hunting whitetails in October because they tend to break tradition and become antisocial. But you can absolutely be successful during the "October Lull"—you need to tailor your tactics.

Who doesn’t like comfort food? You know the type I’m talking about. How about a big chunk of chicken fried chicken smothered in chicken gravy with dressing and mashed potatoes corralling the gravy. Another one of my favorites is a Chicago-style pizza with lots and lots of mozzarella cheese. Yea, after a big hunt I love a good helping of comfort food.

I also love comfort clothes, and I had the opportunity to test a new series of comfort clothes this past week. Perhaps you've heard of them: Cabela's Heated Performance Camo Gloves. They were featured in Gordy Krahn's blog, and one lucky NAHC member scored a pair for free.

When it comes to burning boot leather in the backcountry, it's important to be very particular about what gear you carry. Today I'll share some of the key ingredients that I typically include in my daypack when I'm pursuing elk in the mountains.