Author: Mark Raycroft
Mark Raycroft
Mark Raycroft has spent the past 30 years traversing the continent during his career as a professional wildlife photographer, biologist, and author. Specializing in filming the icons of the north country, Mark is world-renowned for his images of heavy-beamed white-tailed deer, monster moose, giant elk, incredible caribou, full-curl mountain sheep, bears, and more! Mark’s award-winning published portfolio includes hundreds of articles, thousands photos, and several books. Mark’s recent book “MOOSE: Crowned Giant of the Northern Wilderness” won 1st place from the Outdoor Writers of Canada. Mark has been a Deer and North American Big-Game hunter his entire life. He believes that if one includes meat in their diet, the best route from field to table is harvesting one’s own food, fostering the respect and appreciation that comes with that ownership. His work can be viewed and easily ordered as stunning prints, ready-to-hang canvases, and vivid HD metals on his website.
Article by Mark Raycroft It was still dark outside when the alarm brought our deer camp to life on the Wednesday morning of the November gun hunt. I rolled out of my bunk to peek outside and check the weather. It was raining. I stepped back into the dry, warm camp to discover that a couple of the guys had gone back to bed. A few others planned to stick around and have a leisurely breakfast and coffee, to wait to see if the rain would let up before bothering to head out. Three of us decided to go hunt.…
Understanding the nuances of Whitetail behaviour has been the obsession of many a hunter over the decades. Correctly interpreting buck sign like rubs and scrapes, unraveling the truth as to whether or not deer can see colours, and discovering where huge bucks hide out have all intrigued deer hunters. These as well as many other aspects of the Whitetail world supplied us with great sources of speculation and debate over the years; some based on fact, others more on myth. Correctly interpreting and understanding deer behaviour is what gives some hunters the edge over others. Here are ten of the…
The concept of patterning Whitetails is not new. Our grandfathers did it naturally as they were afield farming or logging. They observed bucks as they went about their workdays, making mental notes of where and when the Whitetails appeared. For those who farm today and who hunt on their own property, this is still the status quo. But for hunters who live in cities or who hunt on a piece of land that isn’t close to home, a concerted effort must be made to go afield and learn about or scout for the deer that inhabit the area. Most of…
Here is your Plan of Attack! Wall know they’re out there. We capture nighttime photos of them on our trail cameras, or spot them feeding during an August evening, before they sneak back to the woods and seemingly vanish for the autumn months. Maybe they’ve been spotted as they crossed a road at night. These are the wariest of deer; nocturnal bucks are typically 4+ years of age and often have huge antlers. We know there’s a reason that certain bucks get big enough to grow heavy racks – by eluding hunters year after year. They remain in thick cover…