Trail-Cam Velvet: How to Pattern Summer Bucks for the 2026 Whitetail Season
Summer velvet bucks pattern on food, water, and bachelor groups. Here’s the trail-camera strategy that turns June images into October stand sites.
Deer Hunting
-
-
Field Dressing 101: Knowing When It’s Their Turn
Mentoring New Hunters Through Field Dressing The first time I ever watched a deer being field dressed, I was thirteen. My uncle had dropped a nice eight-pointer, and as we huddled around, I was half excited and half trying not to breathe too deeply. I remember him pausing halfway through, looking at me, and saying:…
-
How Can You Tell If a Deer Has Chronic Wasting Disease?
Depending on where you live in the country, Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is either something you’ve just read about, or it’s something you try not to think too hard about while you’re sending in your harvest for mandatory testing. What’s scary about CWD is that it’s basically like Mad Cow Disease, only for deer. It’s…
-
Where the Bucks Are: Hunting Suburban Deer
How Kendall Golightly got started, triumphs, Doe-maggedon, charity work, & future hunts. If you’re serious about bowhunting and monitor social media at all, you are likely familiar with SEEK ONE, a group of hunters who have brought suburban and urban hunters together, shared tactics and tips, and popularized the idea that sometimes the best place to…
-
BOO! What Spooks Deer Most: Coyotes, Wolves, Cougars … or You?
What do deer fear the most? If you’re a deer hunter, many’s the time you’ve heard the sounds of other predators in the woods, and cursed them. Deer are easily spooked … but what spooks them the most? What natural predator is most likely to spoil your hunt (or get to the biggest buck on…
-
How to Field-Judge Whitetails By Age
The National Deer Association is pleased to announce the premiere of a new educational video project, “Aging Deer in the Field,” produced in partnership with The Bearded Buck. The 31-minute video uses footage of dozens of live, wild whitetail bucks to teach the aging technique, followed by a test using 20 additional bucks. “The team…
-
COVID-19 Found in Utah Mule Deer
While COVID-19 was confirmed in white-tailed deer in parts of the U.S. last year, the virus was recently confirmed in Utah mule deer for the first time after the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources submitted samples taken from deer during winter health assessments. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has been collaborating…
-
WATCH: Turn Clear-Cuts Into Deer Heaven
So the loggers have been through your lease, and left clear-cuts behind. That’s actually a good thing for many game species, because deer and most other wild animals crave the food and cover that shoot up in the wake of a timber harvest. (This is the same reason that forest fires can be good for…
-
Holy Buck! See a $5Mil Whitetail
We all know that, as much fun as outdoor television can be, many of the exciting scenes that we’re watching are really only exciting because of the editing. That doesn’t make them any less fun to watch, but it does mean that we have to suspend a little disbelief … unless, of course, you’re a…
-
3 Whitetail Deer That Kinda Scare Me
Whitetail deer: gentle, shy, and not at all dangerous. Or are they…? “Nature, red in tooth and claw.” The saying’s meant to remind us that wild animals can be dangerous to human beings, but it’s easy to forget that when the animal in question doesn’t have claws, canines, or carnassials. It’s even easier to forget it…
-
First-Time Deer Hunting Guide for Beginners
Are you a first-time hunter? If you are new to deer hunting, there’s a lot you need to learn. It is not wise to start hunting for a deer if you do not know the “ABCs” of first-time deer hunting. Going into the forest without any prior training is a threat to not only you,…
-
Bow Hunting Tips and Tactics
The first few weeks in the month of October are always some of the best days when it comes to bow hunting or they can be the toughest hunting experience you can have. Whether you are out there hunting your best stands immediately or you are saving up the best so that you do not…
