By Scott Bestul

First off, apologies to readers of this blog for the absence of last week’s rut report. Due to some technical difficulties it did not get posted, and I’ve received at least one email wondering what was up. Hopefully we’re back on track now.

By Dave Hurteau

If you caught my last post, you know that F&S Whitetail columnist Scott Bestul and I just returned from an 8-day bowhunt in southern Iowa. We were after a 150-inch buck. There are lots of them, comparatively speaking, in The Hawkeye state. But even here, the best place to find one is at the taxidermist’s, especially with 75-degree temperatures in early November and a sea of corn still standing. So between morning and evening hunts, we dropped in on Risher Taxidermy (641-647-2648) just outside of Centerville, IA, where we found owner Monica Risher working on a ...

By Dave Hurteau

A guest post from Special Projects Editor (and Field Notes News Blogger) Dave Hurteau.

I know. It’s not the greatest photo. But it was the best I could do from a treestand, in low light, as the buck cruised by on the heels of a doe.

Last night I returned from an 8-day bowhunt in southern Iowa with F&S Whitetail columnist Scott Bestul. We had a mission: Kill a 150-inch buck. On November 6th, the third day of the trip, with the rut kicking in, we hung a stand in a pinch point between thick doe bedding cover along the edge of a standing corn field. That afternoon, I ...

By Scott Bestul

Wrist-slap fines for poaching have long been a problem. Serious poachers—or even casual “thrill killers”—are often willing to risk getting caught if they know retribution won’t be too bitter a pill to swallow. In response, many states have amped up the penalties for poaching or other wildlife violations, and one of the more recent ways they've done this with whitetail poachers is to use a fine-calculator based on the buck’s antler size.