Featured Gear

Sanctuary 2.0 Insulated Jacket
Save this product
Shop Now
Alpha Pro Grunt Call
Save this product
Shop Now
Transfer Pack
Save this product
First Lite
$325.00
Shop Now
DOA Doe Bleat
Save this product
Phelps
$39.99
Shop Now

Early Season

How to Deer Hunt a Staging Area

Hunt

How to Deer Hunt a Staging Area

If there is a month to consider hunting staging areas, it’s October. That is, at least, if you’re the kind of hunter who spends time on public land, or just generally around pressured deer. In either case, the field-edge pattern has probably died a quick death, and the dreaded reality of educated...
Tony J. Peterson Sep 30, 2021
Read More
3 Places to Kill a Buck During the October Lull

Hunt

3 Places to Kill a Buck During the October Lull

The first few weeks of October are almost a season on their own. Everything changes, leaves are turning, farmers are harvesting crops, weather fronts are fluctuating, and bucks are easing into their fall patterns and ranges. It’s also the period known as the infamous October lull. Spending most of...
Alex Gyllstrom Oct 1, 2021
Read More
How to Kill a Whitetail Buck on Opening Day

Hunt

How to Kill a Whitetail Buck on Opening Day

September is a celebrated month among the hunting community. While some hunters focus on bugling bulls or rutting antelope, September is equally tantalizing for whitetail hunters. While keeping areas fresh for the November rut can be a sage strategy for whitetailers, you might be missing out on some...
Dylan Tramp Aug 23, 2021
Read More
How to Deer Hunt Standing Corn

Hunt

How to Deer Hunt Standing Corn

While many hunters value agricultural fields as reliable food sources for deer, one negative aspect of standing cornfields is that mature bucks rarely leave them. Standing corn makes for secure bedding, feeding, and breeding. These reasons give bucks little reason to stray very far. Rather than...
John Eberhart Sep 20, 2021
Read More
Why September is the Best Month to Hunt Scrapes

Hunt

Why September is the Best Month to Hunt Scrapes

Hunt with me just once, and you’ll know at least one thing about me: I focus a lot of my whitetail attention on scrapes. Even in September, which goes against conventional whitetail wisdom. I think I make a sound argument that September and early October is the best time to target a mature whitetail...
Tony Hansen Sep 16, 2021
Read More
How to Find Bucks After They Shed Velvet

Hunt

How to Find Bucks After They Shed Velvet

If you’re fortunate enough to hunt whitetails in early September, you know how effective it can be to pattern bucks on their summer feeding routine. Factors like hunting pressure vary a bit from state to state, but this summer feeding pattern will soon come to an end, which often happens in...
Dylan Tramp Sep 7, 2021
Read More
How to Kill a Buck at Midday in October

Hunt

How to Kill a Buck at Midday in October

In deer hunting (and life), it’s the false things we think are true that hold us back the most. While I could list a pile of these beliefs as they relate to deer hunting, a glaring example is the myth that there’s no reason to be on the stand during the midday hours before Halloween. We all know...
Tony J. Peterson Oct 11, 2022
Read More

The Rut

How to Rattle in a Buck on Public Land

Hunt

How to Rattle in a Buck on Public Land

On managed properties, hunter interactions with bucks are considered non-life-threatening until the bucks reach the trophy antler or age kill criteria. After they reach such benchmarks, they have a high tolerance for human intrusions and are very responsive to hunter tactics—they’ve responded...
John Eberhart Oct 18, 2021
Read More
3 Unconventional Whitetail Rut Hunting Tactics

Hunt

3 Unconventional Whitetail Rut Hunting Tactics

We’ve all been there: The rut is in full swing, yet mature buck encounters are slim to none. You’ve sat your best bedding areas, transition zones, and destination food sources, but the woods have been quiet. If this sounds all too familiar, it might be time to think outside the box and leave no...
Dylan Tramp Oct 29, 2021
Read More
How to Hunt the Whitetail Rut in Big Woods

Hunt

How to Hunt the Whitetail Rut in Big Woods

The rut is simultaneously the most exhilarating and frustrating time to be in the whitetail woods. That being said, your odds of finding a big-woods buck have never been higher than during this time of year. Hunting the big woods has its own set of challenges including unforgiving terrain, thick...
Beau Martonik Nov 1, 2021
Read More
Can You Burn Out a Rut Stand?

Hunt

Can You Burn Out a Rut Stand?

It’s easy to think that once the rut is in full swing you ought to be spending every possible waking moment on stand. While this certainly may be a valid argument, does it mean that you should sit your best stand day in and day out? Some believe it’s impossible to burn out a rut stand simply because...
Dylan Tramp Nov 5, 2021
Read More
How to Kill a Pressured Buck During the Rut

Hunt

How to Kill a Pressured Buck During the Rut

Whitetailers tend to think of the rut as a magical time when the season starts anew and success is all but guaranteed. As I discussed in a previous article on why so many hunters fail during the rut, that’s simply not the case. Iowa’s harvest rates speak to this point. There is no state that offers...
Tony J. Peterson Nov 11, 2020
Read More
What is the Best Day of the Whitetail Rut?

Hunt

What is the Best Day of the Whitetail Rut?

I’d wager to say that bowhunters burn up a majority of their vacation time in the first half of November. It’s for good reason, as most whitetail enthusiasts agree there’s no better time to be in the woods. I reached out to 10 big buck experts to take a closer look at that part of the season. They...
Spencer Neuharth Oct 16, 2019
Read More

Late Season

3 Natural Food Sources To Hunt Late Season

Scout

3 Natural Food Sources To Hunt Late Season

Ask anyone what is the key to late-season whitetail success, and I can almost guarantee you the first word out of their mouth will be “food.” Food is the name of the game when we get late into the year, and the reasons for that are clear. Deer are now almost entirely focused on recovering from the...
Mark Kenyon Dec 10, 2021
Read More
The Ideal Conditions for Late-Season Deer Hunts

Scout

The Ideal Conditions for Late-Season Deer Hunts

It was the last day of muzzleloader season in Michigan and it was time. A cold front pushed through, the rain faded, and temperatures were nearly 30 degrees lower than they were just 24 hours prior. Best of all, my target buck was caught on trail cam during daylight the night before. Conditions were...
Mark Kenyon Dec 31, 2021
Read More
3 Best Late-Season Whitetail Hunting Spots in the Big Woods

Hunt

3 Best Late-Season Whitetail Hunting Spots in the Big Woods

I used to think the late season was a very difficult time to kill a nice mountain buck. In Pennsylvania, rifle season kicks off during the first few weeks of December, and although some great bucks get killed every season, few hunters are consistent from year to year. In most states, hunting...
Beau Martonik Dec 13, 2021
Read More
How Neil Dougherty Kills Big Late-Season Bucks

Hunt

How Neil Dougherty Kills Big Late-Season Bucks

Most hunters live for the rut and invest the bulk of their vacation days in this unpredictable yet exciting time of year in the whitetail woods. But Neil Dougherty isn’t most hunters. A wildlife habitat consultant with decades of land management and whitetail success under his belt, Dougherty would...
Emily Kantner Dec 17, 2021
Read More
3 Places to Find a Post-Rut Buck

Hunt

3 Places to Find a Post-Rut Buck

The peak of the whitetail rut is now behind us in most parts of the country. I hate to say that, but it’s true. If you’re still holding on to a buck tag this fact might be causing you some stress, but don’t despair. The post-rut can be just as promising as the peak if you know where to look. Here...
Mark Kenyon Nov 27, 2020
Read More
How To Kill a Late-Season Buck On Public Land

Hunt

How To Kill a Late-Season Buck On Public Land

If you want one of the biggest challenges in whitetail hunting, set your sights on a mature buck in December. If that’s not enough, commit to doing it on public land. After general gun season resets the deer herd to survival mode and the rut winds down to nothing, it becomes challenging just to see...
Tony J. Peterson Dec 11, 2020
Read More
3 Overlooked Deer Hunting Tactics for Late Season

Hunt

3 Overlooked Deer Hunting Tactics for Late Season

Many hunters claim that December is often the best time to kill a mature buck. After all, the rigors of the rut caused them to drop 25% of weight, and packing on pounds is of utmost importance. So, simply hop on your side-by-side and drive out to your favorite box blind to shoot a hitlister over...
Tony J. Peterson Dec 16, 2020
Read More