Author: Darron McDougal
Darron McDougal
Darron McDougal, a full-time freelance outdoor writer, has resided in central Wisconsin for his entire life, except for a 2-year jaunt during which he and his wife, Becca, traveled and lived in a fifth-wheel camper. Becca often hunts with Darron and is an integral part of his publishing success, capturing professional-grade photography that often accompanies his articles. The McDougals do minimal deer hunting around their home. Instead, they love to hunt DIY-style, primarily on public lands, out west. Hunting unfamiliar territory has its thrills and challenges, and it truly tests a hunter's prowess. Despite the low success odds of this hunting style, Darron has done very well, and he accredits his success and accomplishments to God. So far, he's hunted whitetails in 11 states and harvested deer in nine. He enjoys hunting all sorts of wild game from turkeys to hogs to elk. He also occasionally mentors youth or beginner hunters. While bowhunting is his preferred method, he doesn't think twice when a rifle, shotgun or muzzleloader hunt fits his schedule. He's been shooting archery for nearly three decades and has 20 years of hunting experience.
If your go-to strategy is no longer fun or isn’t producing success, make a change! When it comes to whitetail hunting, the debate between tree stand vs. ground blind setups has been ongoing for generations. Both have distinct advantages that can complement different hunting styles and environments. Your choice between a ground blind or tree stand might just be the deciding factor in your hunting success this season. My Hunting Evolution: Finding What Works I grew up hunting from treestands in Wisconsin. Starting at age 17, I began making trips to other states, where I also hunted Whitetails exclusively…
After hunting nothing but mature bucks for many seasons, the author enjoyed using some new equipment, going back to his hunting roots and taking a nice doe. When I arrived in west-central Illinois on November 30, 2022, in preparation for the second gun hunt, my eyes widened and my jaw dropped as I carried my duffel inside the lodge at Performance Outdoors. World-class bucks adorned the walls. Though I live just one state away in Wisconsin and had long dreamed of hunting in the Land of Lincoln, this was my maiden voyage. Illinois is acclaimed as one of the top…
Although I knew long before I was old enough to hunt that I would love it, it became etched in stone once I harvested my first deer. That moment, I became a hunter, and it was because my father took me hunting. Unfortunately, not all who would like to try hunting have a family member or friend who can help them get started. And then, their desire to hunt creates a void that is often filled with something else, and often that something else is a road that leads nowhere good. Our world is full of choices, and influential people…
Deer hunting on the go can put you into the action and provide in-your-face excitement, but doing it successfully takes a careful approach. It was a mild day on the Iowa prairies. After many fruitless treestand hunts, I hadn’t seen a big buck and was burnt out. I checked in with a friend over the phone, and he said something along these lines: “You need to do something different, man. Try driving around and see if you can spot a buck from the road. If not, pop in and out of some different spots. With the rut going on, don’t…
Is a guided hunt all that it’s cracked up to be, or should you go the DIY angle? The ice-cold November mist and biting winds sucked the warmth from my body as I watched two well-traveled deer trails along a dry creek bed. The morning had been slow, but a commotion abruptly signaled the approach of a hot doe followed by a mature but broken-racked buck. Both passed by my stand. Suddenly, a larger buck flew onto the scene. I mouth-grunted to stop him at 27 yards, and my arrow zipped perfectly through his ribs. He didn’t make it very…
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF MELISSA BACHMAN ‘Memory Chase’ is more than a segment of the Winchester Deadly Passion TV show; it’s also a movement to spur kids to explore hunting and the outdoors. Unless you’re not a hunter or you’ve been living underneath a rock, Melissa Bachman needs no introduction. Perhaps you’ve watched her TV show, Winchester Deadly Passion. If so, you’re probably familiar with the “Memory Chase” segment, but if not, that’s okay. Here’s the scoop. In this segment, kids are encouraged to film their hunts (with help from parents or mentors) and submit the raw footage to Melissa. She…
Some of the best DIY Whitetail hunting can be had by applying for and drawing tags “There he is,” my wife hissed. She was referring to a wide-racked 5×6 buck that suddenly appeared, along with another buck, in a shadowed draw beneath us. I adjusted my posture to see above our thrown-together sagebrush blind. Presented with a 54-yard, quartering-away opportunity, my CVA Paramount Pro muzzleloader soon cracked. Seconds later, the motionless 22-inch-wide buck was all ours. Scores of Whitetail hunters spend years hunting the same places and continually falling short of expectations. If that describes you, perhaps taking a big…
Want to try your hand at bowhunting deer in a unique eco-region of North America? Give Arizona a shot. It was the end of the morning, and I’d encountered 22 mule deer, including one buck that I had to talk myself out of because he was pretty nice. It was a great morning of hunting, particularly because I was hunting on highly accessible public land and with an OTC deer license that I’d bought at Walmart. There also weren’t a bunch of other hunters around. In fact, I saw none that morning and only a couple during the eight-day hunt.…
Introducing kids to hunting is a great move. Here’s why. It was a snowy, cold April morning 15 years ago when two big gobblers approached the decoys. My younger sister—I was mentoring her at the time during Wisconsin’s youth hunt— cocked the hammer back on an old 20-gauge shotgun. She aimed and pulled the trigger. Unfortunately, the gun went “click.” The toms left, and I was frustrated that the gun had misfired. I left my sister along with my mother in the blind and drove a short distance to retrieve my grandpa’s newer 20-gauge pump gun. Before long, I reached…
For the time of your bowhunting life, get aggressive with these big-eared deer It was now or never. I charged ahead through the scattered junipers, disregarding the bedded fawn watching me make the maneuver. My focus was on the grunts emitting from an old buck I’d first encountered one year earlier. He’d also been taunting me for the last few days in a wide-open wheat field with a large doe harem. But a wintery onslaught with fierce winds drove the harem down into an adjacent canyon. Based on his behavior and the satellite bucks circling like buzzards, at least one…