S1-E03: Decoying Great Plains Whitetails

Can the Great Bear Survive Today’s Great Plains?

Encountering a grizzly bear has long been a potential happenstance on Montana’s mountain trails. But an expanding population of grizzlies in the Big Sky prairies have created a new kind of encounter, such as “the Bear in the Barn.” This summer, 50-year-old farmer Shannun Rammell got word from a neighbor that grizzly bear tracks had been found near his farm east of Choteau, Montana. Rammell drove to a pond to investigate, and figured he would...

How to Chum Whitetails

It's hot, the mosquitos and deer flies are out for blood, and velvet racks are packing on inches by the day. If you're a whitetail fanatic itching for fall, it's an exciting time of year. Of course, nothing replaces real-time, in-season intel, but gathering inventory on big bucks that may be around in a couple months should start now. We can learn a lot about what bucks are in the area and how their summer patterns transition into fall the better...

Can Whitetails and Windmills Coexist?

I was confused when I first saw the roads carved into the bean fields, perturbed when I heard the extra-long flatbeds hauling down the road, and downright bummed when I witnessed the previously undisturbed agricultural lands being swarmed by packs of orange vested workers. As windmills were erected throughout my hunting neighborhood, I couldn’t help but feel like a squadron of alien spaceships had descended from space to occupy my once pastoral...