By Scott Bestul

That’s what I paid for a 20-ounce bottle of Mountain Dew at my local gas-n-skedaddle this week. And since I typically use my own, fresh, all-natural, um, “product” to saturate a mock scrape, I fueled up with the Dew. Then I grabbed my mock scrape kit—a weed scythe, garden pruner, and hand saw—and hit the woods behind my house three days ago. In 20-minutes I’d created four big mock scrapes, and then hung a camera over one of them. When I pulled the card the other day, I had pics of four different bucks, including this one.

By Scott Bestul

If you haven’t filled your tag yet, it’s going happen soon. And when you shoot that buck, your friends are going to want to see it, and you’re going to want a memento. That’s why being able to take a good field photo (which has somehow been horribly dubbed a “hero shot”) is so important. To me, this is every bit as important as taxidermy. Nothing captures the memory of how that buck looked and the place you hunted better than a good harvest pic.

I’m always a little shocked at how bad so many field shots are—especially when taking a good one is, in fact, not that hard to do. Early this month F&S Wild Chef David Draper and I were on an Oklahoma hunt together. Draper shot a beautiful, mature 6-point on the last afternoon, and I was there for his photo shoot (go here for one of Draper’s best shots). After taking some photos of Dave and his deer, I took some frames of Van Holmes, a rep from Yamaha, as he shot some pics of Draper. This photo illustrates some of the keys to taking a great field photo, including:

By Scott Bestul

Poachers make dumb mistakes all the time. An Indiana violator tripped himself up when he shot a monster whitetail that area hunters knew well. According to this story in the Indianapolis Star, Don Ward confessed to shooting “Nightmare,” a 300-pound, 10-point buck, with a rifle and a spotlight last week.

The buck has been pursued by a pair of passionate bowhunters for several seasons. Jesse Fulwider and Mike Marsteller, both law enforcement officers, recorded their encounters with a buck they nicknamed “Nightmare,” a monster whitetail that eluded them on multiple occasions. The pair’s hunts have appeared on the popular “Dream Season: Working Man” television show, which is produced by Drury Outdoors.

According to the newspaper, the owner of a property that Nightmare frequented heard a shot in the hours just before daylight. He drove quickly toward the rifle blast, arriving just in time to get not only a description of a truck leaving the scene, but a license plate number.

By Will Brantley

In the great debate of mechanical vs. fixed-blade broadheads, there are valid arguments on both sides. For the sake of this post, I’ll compare a Muzzy 100-grain 3-blade to a Rage 100-grain 3-blade. Both are among the most popular styles in their respective class (and both are now owned by the same company). I’ve used both on numerous deer (and hogs) out of half a dozen different bows. Both fly very well, but I give a slight nod to the Rage for perfect flight at longer ranges.

Run either through a deer’s lungs and the deer dies, fast. The Rage tears a bigger hole, particularly on entry, and, on average, spills more blood. I trust the Muzzy a little more around heavy bone or when shooting slower arrows. But I’ve seen 2-foot-wide blood trails from Muzzy hits and punched-through shoulders from Rage hits.