Author: NA Deer Hunter Staff

A comprehensive gift guide for the hunter in your life. We know how hard it is to find that perfect gift for a loved one who spends their time in the outdoors hunting, so our staff has come together and listed some of their favorite products in order to help make your holiday shopping easier.  The hunter in your life will love these items as they are reviewed and/or tested and proven by our knowledgeable staff.  You can count on their recommendations to put a smile on the face of your favorite hunter this holiday season, or any season for…

Choosing the perfect pair of binoculars can elevate your outdoor experience, whether you’re a hunter, birdwatcher, or nature enthusiast. With a trusted name like Vortex Optics, you’re assured of high-quality, durable binoculars designed to meet specific viewing needs. From long-range precision to compact models ideal for travel, Vortex offers a range of options that cater to various activities and environments. This guide will walk you through essential features, from magnification and lens quality to durability and weight, helping you find the ideal Vortex binoculars to suit your adventures and enhance every sighting. Vortex Binocular Families The difference between HD and…

A Game Changer for Deer, Turkey, and Predator Hunting In the world of hunting deer, turkeys, or predators, there is often the need or the desire to hunt from the ground. When this situation occurs, there are few tools that are as essential as a reliable ground blind, and having the right blind can make all the difference between a successful hunt and a disappointing outing. Enter the Warrior Down and Out Ground Blind from Hawk, a revolutionary product designed to elevate your ground blind hunting experience to new heights. They tout themselves to the “World’s Most Permanent Portable Blind”…

Our first Rut Report of the year was published in early September. We reported observing the usual early season rubs and fresh scrapes sure signs of the upcoming rut. By now bucks were “hard horned” and light sparring and pushing matches were occurring. Bachelor groups were beginning to break up, but doe-fawn groups were still intact. The deer were for the most part in their summer feeding patterns, but slowly transitioning to Fall food sources dominated whitetail behavior patterns. Our whitetail hunting experts advised hunting late summer-early fall food sources and cautioned that most of the big bucks were for…

Whether you didn’t fill your tag the first go-around or just love to hunt the late season, one thing is for sure, December and early January gives you a great chance at shooting a trophy whitetail. Yes the conditions are harsher than the early seasons but whitetail bucks are still susceptible to harvest because one thing is on their mind: food. Another key point of hunting the month of December, that is not to be overlooked, is the onset of the secondary rut. Approximately one month after the peak dates of the primary rut, unbred and young does will again…

For whitetail hunters, the dreaded lockdown is one of the most unproductive times of deer season. For a few it can be one of the luckiest times, but unfortunately, far less than we hope. Lockdown is the phase when a doe becomes submissive to a buck and allows him to become her breeding partner. Although this description does little justice to the real science behind it, a simplistic view of this behavior will save many of us from ripping our hair out over hunting bucks during the lockdown phase.  This just happens to be the time when the majority of…

As more does start coming into heat this week, most bucks throw caution to the wind and abandon their limited movement patterns to search for and breed does—24/7. As a rule, the second week of the month is typically the most frantic by far. Within a short period of time, mature breeding bucks can lose a quarter of their body weight searching out and guarding does in heat—one after another. A prime-aged breeding buck will spend approximately two days with a receptive doe, after which the doe will no longer be in estrus. The buck will then leave her to…

By the last week of October, the whitetail woods will be bare of leaves, making it much easier for hunters to spot approaching deer. Sparring is a rare occurrence now, as most mature bucks are wound too tightly to even stand the sight of another male. And with dominance hierarchies in place, the buck that knows he’s the subordinate will quickly tuck tail and run from any threatening adversary. At this time, it’s not uncommon for the first batch of does to come into heat, sending local bucks into a frenzy. This is just a warm-up for what’s soon to…

Guest Editorial Written by: Representative Mark Green (R-TN) – US House of Representatives Hunting and fishing are more than just hobbies; they are a way of life. For generations, long before our nation was founded, hunters and fisherman have trapped and fished these lands. Genesis 1:28 states, “And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” This is the creation mandate, and it…

We have gathered top-shelf options in the single and double-panel variations that will kick your season off on the right foot! In my time as a whitetail hunting editor, I’ve been able to observe the evolution of this highly mobile and customizable approach to deer hunting. It has been one of the fastest-developing parts of the industry in the last decade. Along with their popularity has also come a variety of hunting saddle designs that make it difficult to make a final purchase decision. Single-panel, double-panel, and hybrid saddle iterations are all available. In this article, we will be looking…