Author: NA Deer Hunter Staff

Despite the National Wild Turkey Federation’s 50 years of unparalleled conservation delivery and the realization of what is regarded as the most acclaimed conservation story in America, many factors today are resulting in the loss of healthy habitats and a decrease in wild turkey populations. The health of the North American wild turkey population has diminished since 2004, with surveys showing a decline of 10-15% over the past 15 years. Also alarming, the number of turkey hunters have declined over the same period. Insufficient habitat management, the fragmentation and development of previously untouched lands, decreased public support of hunting, reduced…

Crossbow sighting options have evolved over time from peep and pin sights to the standard of today, which is a multi-reticle design with an adjustable speed ring. While these scopes have served the crossbow community wonderfully over the past few years, the shooter still must manually range the target with a separate device then gap shoot in between holdover marks in the reticle. These two necessary tasks introduce more room for error into the shooting equation. On the surface, they may not seem like enough to affect the outcome of the hunt, but rest assured, that can happen. There have…

As a dedicated whitetail conservationist, wildlife biologist and big game hunter, I have had the pleasure of managing winter whitetails for more than 25 years. From deeryard operations in the mountains of Quebec, to counting ‘pellet groups’ in Central Ontario as part of a Fish & Wildlife program, to today managing my own backyard program in the National Capital Region. You might say managing winter whitetails is a pet project of mine, and an activity I take quite seriously! Backyard deer feeding is an enjoyable pastime and can be of benefit to whitetail herds as snow depth increases. Having done…

“Who in the hell is crazy enough to hunt in this weather,” scowled the state worker waiting for the storm to pass before plowing the roads. After ten minutes of talking football, the fellow cooled off, started his road grader, and pulled our rig back on the highway. The full-blown blizzard had also blown down a power pole and wires sparked across the highway, relegating us to hunting from camp. “I know a good spot,” I said to Seth McGinn, whose knowledge of the Nebraska Cornhuskers convinced the irate local to rescue us from the ditch. Shouldering our muzzleloaders, we…

Head south to extend your deer-hunting season! Now that I live in northern Idaho I miss the late seasons of the Southwest I once took for granted. Today taking advantage of those opportunities requires packing up and in investing in two-day marathon drives, which I do happily. By the time December, and especially January, rolls around in the Inland Northwest, with snow flying and morning temperatures in the single digits or teens, the sun blotted out for weeks on end, I’m seriously ready to get out of here for a while. I suspect that would go double for residents of…

Not many of us like to focus on much other than the spoils after the hunt, and that may be okay. But those that want to step up their game and think beyond the outcome of the hunt and focus on the future may think about the factors that indicate progress or change in their hunting world. Years ago, I would consider logging my hunts in a notebook; this ended up being a drawn-out and poorly organized set of data. It wasn’t that the data was unhelpful, but it became more of a memoir than a book of statistics. For…

Mountains and mule deer seem synonymous, yet the Midwest and Great Plains offer excellent hunting for giant bucks without the climb. Think attitude, not altitude. The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation spans nearly 2,000,000 acres and Neil Davies and I each had a deer tag. Shortly after noon, we met Travis Brave Bird, our Sioux guide and headed into some of the most incredible landscapes of the West. Like a teenager on his first trip to New York City, I was google-eyed at the majestic country we traversed. No shots that first afternoon, yet what an adventure! Brave Bird picked us…

Hunter’s Kloak® and Odin’s Innovations Collaborate on Next Gen Scent Solutions ROGERS, Ark. – After the second year of offering Hunter’s Kloak synthetic scents in Odin’s time release beads; and extensive field testing, the brands are teaming-up to introduce hunters to the next generation of scent delivery options to improve the chances for a successful hunt. Used in concert, they’re a lethal combination; with Odin’s releasing scent for 30 days or more and Hunter’s Kloak providing a scent boost during the hunt. The scent strategies a hunter can employ are endless with this duo – drawing game to cameras, building…

Dad and I had hunted hard but the whitetail season was down to the wire with one day left in the season. It was overcast and -30 degrees Celcius, a cold front had moved in and we knew this could work in our favour. It was around 9:00am when Dad spotted a buck and with the naked eye, we both knew this was what we had been waiting for. A look through the Swarovski Spotting scope revealed a GIANT, with extra points off both sides, we knew we were looking at a 200” whitetail. I’ve had some of my greatest…

Deer and rivers go together like meat and potatoes. In nearly any region of the country, where there is a river, there are deer. While a piece of river bottom can produce deer at any period of the hunting season, they shine like a sparkling snowflake in the cold and snow of the late season. While rivers are not impossible to navigate for deer when flowing, cold weather that locks them up open up a world of possibilities for not only deer but nearly all wildlife. Predators like fox, coyotes, mink and fisher will cruise up and the down the…