By Scott Bestul

If you ever need proof that whitetails adapt to people, check out the photo below. No word yet on where this trampoline is located, but I hope the landowners remove it before the firearms season…bucks have enough hiding places as it is!

-Scott [ Read Full Post ]

By Scott Bestul

Another great deer story came to me from Iowa the other day. Steve Hanson, a friend, guide, and whitetail fanatic from Monroe County, actually knew the buck pictured here quite well. “We had seen him several times in velvet and had lots of trail camera photos of him,” Steve says. “We knew he was a monster and I had a client coming in for the archery opener. I hoped he’d have a chance at the buck.”

The client did indeed get a crack at the buck. Unfortunately, after a thorough blood trailing job, they were unable to find the deer.

Steve is so busy guiding hunters he rarely has time to hunt himself. But when he had a free afternoon during the resident muzzleloader season, he decided to visit the same area. “I didn’t really have this buck on my radar,” Steve says. “But there were others nearby worth looking for.” Despite some lousy weather (rain, wind, and occasional thunder) Steve crawled up in a tree stand. “The rain just kept getting worse, but deer were feeding heavily. Suddenly a big buck came... [ Read Full Post ]

By Scott Bestul

Clark County Forest (133,000 acres)
Jackson County Forest (120,000 acres)
Location: central Wisconsin
Size: 253,000 acres
ZIP: 54456 (Clark County), 54615 (Jackson Co.)

Many central Wisconsin counties maintain extensive public forests that are open to hunting, and those located in the adjacent counties of Jackson and Clark are two of the best. Active logging here creates a number of forest openings that make good deer food and winter cover, and deer densities are much higher than in northern Wisconsin, ranging from 50 to 75 per square mile. “This is land that produces big bucks year after year,” Warnke says, “but you’ve got to do your homework to find them.” Start by identifying logged areas and then trace the travel routes between them. No food plots are planted at either site, but surrounding agricultural areas are important food sources. [ Read Full Post ]

By Scott Bestul

Granger Wildlife Management Area
Location: Central Texas
Size: 10,888 acres
ZIP: 76530

Granger boasts much better draw odds than Chaparral and quality bucks that give up nothing to their more celebrated south Texas counterparts. Better than one in three applicants snags one of 100 archery permits, and a liberal stand-by policy has thus far ensured that few wait-listed hunters who show up on hunt day are turned away. This state-managed area is located only 45 minutes from Austin in flat, open black-land prairie long ago converted to farming. Antler restrictions call for a 13-inch minimum spread, and the approach seems to be working. Area manager Trey Carpenter of Parks and Wildlife says Granger has produced several bucks in the 160- to 180-class range—of the last dozen or so harvested, all but two were Pope and Young qualifiers. “Usually, if a buck is older than 2 ½, it’s going to make the record book,” Carpenter says. “It’s a rare occasion that it doesn’t.”

Sam Houston National Forest Wildlife Management Area
Location: east Texas
Size: 161,508 acres
ZIP: 77351

Firearms hunters looking for certain access should head to east Texas, where ample public land is open to all who purchase the state’s $48 Annual Public... [ Read Full Post ]

By Scott Bestul

Frye Mountain Wildlife Management Area
south-central Maine
5,240 acres
ZIP: 04986

Located in Wildlife Management District 23, which recorded the second highest harvest in Maine last year with 2,895 deer, Frye Mountain is heavily forested in second-growth spruce and white pine. A fair amount of oaks produce a good crop of acorns, and lots of reverting farm fields and old apple trees complete the mixed habitat. “The variety offers a very nice opportunity, really quite a pleasant landscape for deer hunting,” says regional wildlife biologist Jim Connolly of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. That helps explain why Frye Mountain is a popular destination for Maine hunters. Getting away from the crowds can be tough: Though it’s fairly hilly, a good road network eases access into even the most far-flung areas. [ Read Full Post ]

By Scott Bestul

Unit 5H, Adirondack Park
Location: northeast New York
Size: 2,900 square miles
ZIP: 12164

"When I talk to guys who want to come to New York and aren't sure where to go," Hurst says, "I tell them the Adirondacks presents a great opportunity to hunt in solitude, in a big woods setting." Indeed, for east-coast hunters who want plenty of elbow room, the Adirondack Mountains-which represent 85 percent of the wilderness in the eastern U.S.-are hard to beat. NYSDEC's Wildlife Management Unit 5H, a nearly 3,000-square-mile area in the south-central Adirondacks (roughly circled by Indian Lake, Johnsburg, Caroga Lake and Hinckley Reservoir) is the hard-core, real-deal for big-woods hunters. These remote, forested mountains top out around 4,000 feet, and there are few trails or roads. Deer densities are low-last year's deer harvest was only .9 per square mile, but .7 were bucks. Hunting pressure is equally light, which allows many Adirondack bucks to put some years on. "The chances of seeing deer are lower," Hurst says, "but chances are higher that one of them will be a big buck." [ Read Full Post ]