Sweltering heat waves, devastating droughts, extreme flooding, and destructive wildfires throughout the country could point to a brutal hunting forecast this fall. Mule deer, elk, wild turkey, and waterfowl hunters specifically could feel the impact ...
Whitetail
Rifles Allowed for Illinois Deer Hunting, With a Catch
After decades of limiting Illinois whitetail hunters to shotguns and muzzleloaders, the state is finally catching up with the rest of the country, save for a handful of other states. Well, sort of. Single-shot rifles will now be allowed for Illinois ...
A Big Buck Expert On Deer Hunting in the Rain
It was the second Saturday of the Minnesota archery deer season, September 2019, and I was settled into my hunting saddle long before first light on a piece of public land. This property receives plenty of archery and duck hunting pressure, and for ...
Be Ready to Strike During the Whitetail Deer Rut
I love the rut. If you're a whitetail fanatic, how can you not? North winds blow, and heavy antlers abuse trees. Pawed earth can be found under licking branches, and leaves stained yellow, red, orange, and purple cling desperately to every ...
Field Dressing a Deer: A Step-By-Step Guide for New Hunters
Before we get started, allow me to preempt any comments about how I don’t know what I’m doing by saying there’s more than one way to skin a cat (or in this case field dressing a deer). The method I describe here is one of many ways you can field ...
Roadkill Rules: 30 States That Let You Keep Dead Deer
Until recently, an affinity for picking up roadkill wasn’t something you’d discuss in polite barbecue company. But salvaging the good meat from a dead deer — especially one that died after meeting your front bumper — is becoming more acceptable in ...
Swamp Bucks: Plan to Bowhunt Deer in Florida This Summer
When the sun started to peek over the horizon and rays of light teased the land to life, I found myself sitting in a treestand anchored to a palm tree. The heat mixed with over 90% humidity was already too much, and as I wiped the sweat away from my ...
Got a Few Million to Blow? Check Out These 7 Dream Hunting Properties
If you do any sort of hunting, the dream of owning a patch of wild game heaven has absolutely crossed your mind. Whether you’re a diehard whitetail hunter in the East or Midwest, if you chase elk and muleys in the West, or if you haunt cut corn and ...
A Stick-To-Your-Ribs Wild Game Shepherd’s Pie Recipe
Difficulty: EasyPrep Time: 30 minutesCook Time: 45 minutesServes: 2 – 4 Shepherd's pie is one of those dishes that’s worth more than the sum of its parts. Sure, ground meat, mixed vegetables, and mashed potatoes are great on their own, but ...
Tex-Mex Venison Stuffed Peppers: Not Your Mama’s Thursday Night Staple
Stuffed peppers rank up there with meatloaf, spaghetti, and chicken pot pie as staples of the American dinner table. Many of us grew up eating stuffed bell peppers on an almost weekly basis as a cheap, quick, and filling meal to feed a family. But ...
Whitetail Property Tweaks: Low-Effort Improvements That Yield Big Results
I cut my bowhunting teeth chasing plains muleys. In my tiny slice of southeastern Colorado heaven, you'd be a fool not to. Then, in 2012, I went to Illinois on a whitetail hunt. I was blessed to bowhunt a fantastic piece of dirt and the whitetail rut ...
Ban on Sunday Hunting in Maine Could be Trumped by Right-to-Food Law
Maine passed a constitutional right-to-food amendment last November, which guarantees the state’s residents the right to grow and harvest food for personal consumption. Thanks to an interesting interpretation of the amendment, a recent lawsuit is ...
A Venison Kebab Recipe That Will Impress Everyone
To most Americans, the word kebab, or kabob, simply means skewered chunks of marinated meat and vegetables. But in the rest of the world, kebab is a widely popular dish, and there are many kebab recipe variations beyond the cubed style we are ...
Shed Hunting Tips From the Nebraska Whitetail Master
Diehard whitetail hunters eat, breathe, and sleep all things deer hunting, 24/7/365. In many locales across North America, deer seasons are over; and hunters in places where there are still a few more days on the deer-hunting calendar are burning the ...
Venison Ragu: A Classic Wild Game Recipe
“Ragu” is one of those words we see on menus and hear in conversation all the time, but most of us have no idea what it actually is. As if things weren't confusing enough, sometimes you see it spelled “ragú,” and sometimes “ragout.” There’s even a ...
Shed Hunting Tips From Connor Clark: How to Rule the West
The annual antler drop — a remarkable few months when antlered critters drop their headgear — is a time period that’s as eagerly anticipated as the mule deer and elk ruts. For many shed hunters, the time of year is all about family and friends; large ...
Wildlife Scientists Lead the Charge in Montana’s CWD ‘Zombie Deer’ Fight
Most sportsmen who travel to Montana head almost immediately for its wilds to fish and hunt. On this trip to Big Sky Country, the mission is whitetails — chronic wasting disease–infected “zombie deer” specifically, but our first stop is a veterinary ...
Hunter Ed: Piebald Deer and Other Whitetail Genetic Anomalies
Any whitetail hunter knows that deer can move through the thickest brush or crunchiest leaves without making a sound, appearing or disappearing like smoke. Stealth is what helps that wobbly fawn eventually become a 4 1/2-year-old stud. Not so for ...
How to Make Country-Fried Deer Heart
Country- or chicken-fried steak is one of those things I can’t pass up if it’s on the menu. If you can deny yourself a tender slab of fried beef, then you’re a better person than I am. I don’t care if it comes on a sandwich or with a side of mashed ...
How a Pennsylvania Whitetail Hunter Arrowed a Public Land Booner
As a Pennsylvania whitetail hunter, you just don’t expect to shoot a Boone and Crockett deer. Pennsylvania is far from both Iowa and Wisconsin, but since the state implemented an antler point restriction in 2002, it feels like that distance has ...
Hunter Tags Two ‘Albino’ Deer with One Arrow in Texas
When David Santini spotted the doe from his stand, he knew immediately that it was the “albino” deer the property owners had seen numerous times on the adjacent lot. The rare blond-colored doe had successfully eluded hunters on this Texas ...
Get a Little Classy With This Venison Wellington Recipe
Beef Wellington is an iconic British dish that lends itself well to a wild game adaptation. In fact, plenty of you will probably prefer the venison Wellington you're about to learn how to make, and that's a good thing. In the traditional recipe, a ...
Montana Deer Season Extended to Combat CWD, Booming Population
Whitetail hunters in the Big Sky Country have received an early Christmas present: the Montana deer season has been extended through Feb. 15, 2022, in several southwestern districts. This is good news for hunters who ate tag soup during the ...
Police Officer, 3 Civilians Busted for Spotlighting Deer From Patrol Vehicle
An off-duty Louisiana police officer and three buddies picked the wrong night for some after-hours illegal deer-slaying. Officials said today that the four men were busted with a spike, an 8-point deer, and three rifles — one with night vision ...
Rare Deer Shot In West Texas Is Headed for the Record Books
Cibolo Creek Ranch in West Texas was established in the mid-1800s by Milton Faver. Legend has it that Faver fled Missouri for Texas after gunning a man down in a duel. Only 45 miles north of the Mexican border and an hour south of Marfa, the ...
Antlered Doe: Missouri Hunter Shoots Huge, Rare 16-Pointer
Shooting a 16-point buck isn’t exactly an everyday occurrence, but it’s not exactly unusual either. It is decidedly rarer to encounter a whitetail doe sporting 16-point headgear. That’s precisely what Missouri hunter Samuel Perotti shot just before ...
Idaho To Hold CWD Deer Hunt, Joins 26 States Battling Disease
In late November, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game reported the discovery of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in two mule deer that were killed in October by hunters in the Slate Creek drainage near Lucile in Idaho County. Now, wildlife officials ...
Buck Turns to Prayer, Busts Into Church on Michigan Deer Season Opener
Millions of parishioners gather in fellowship on Sunday mornings, turning to prayer for their salvation. Fortunately, the Grace Sturgis non-denominational church was mostly empty the morning of the Michigan deer season opener. It seems that one ...
COVID Deer Update: Wisconsin Tells Hunters to Mask Up
In true, mountain-out-of-a-mole-hill government fashion, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services recently released updated COVID-19 guidance, urging hunters to wear a mask when field dressing any whitetail they’ve killed. Wisconsin deer hunting ...
Chronic Wasting Disease Outbreak: Wyoming Collects 1,000s of Samples
A year after approving a new chronic wasting disease (CWD) management plan, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) is on track to collect the most lymph node samples ever in a single year. Since identifying its first cases of CWD in captive ...
