By Scott Bestul

It’s time to plow under the clover-plot-equals-corn-pile argument. Of the many fresh debates germinated by modern whitetail management, none has proved faster growing or hardier than food plots vs. bait, in which one side insists that planting plots to attract and kill deer is no different from luring them to a mound of carrots or sugar beets. This may sound perfectly sensible…until you soil-test the dirt from which the logic grows.

Food plots are very different from baiting—and better for the health of the deer herd as well as for hunting. And while it’s true that a small plot of lush clover in the middle of otherwise barren woods may be no different from a pile of corn in terms of fair-chase principles, food-plot planting and management provides a long list of tangible and intangible benefits. Here are the main ones. [ Read Full Post ]

Rut Reporter Brandon Ray is an expert on the region. Ray was born in Dallas and shot his first deer with a bow in Central Texas at the age of 15. The full-time freelance writer manages his family’s Texas Panhandle ranch, is a licensed New Mexico guide, and last year took a 184 gross P&Y non-typical trophy. States covered: TX, OK, NM.

I'm already thinking about next year's deer season before the current one ends. And as we prepare to say adios to the 2011-2012 season, here are two things worth doing.

Because of drought across the region in 2011, winter forage is even more reduced than normal in the southern and middle sections of the region. In the northern extremes, where crops like wheat often help deer through the winter, production is way down. To help deer, and specifically rut-weary bucks, through the cold and stressful days of a long winter, I keep my bait areas and corn feeders running until spring. [ Read Full Post ]

By Dave Hurteau

If you saw David Maccar’s recent post “High-Speed Video: .308 vs. Soup Can”  (if you didn’t you should) then you know that we recently had the use of some spectacularly sophisticated high-speed cameras.

For this video, we wanted to see something that is normally only felt: hand shock and vibration from a bow. At 19,300 frames per second, two things jump out at me:

[ Read Full Post ]

By Chad Love

We all know there are a ton of professional football and baseball players who love to hunt and fish, but what about the NBA? Are there any professional basketball players who are also avid hunters? There's at least one, according to this story in USA Today: 

Seven-footer Chris Kaman was acquired in the trade that sent Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Clippers. Kaman, from Grand Rapids, Mich., with dual citizenship in Germany (he has grandparents from there), has the most NBA seniority on the Hornets' roster and is the only All-Star (2009-10). He played in only 32 games last season and 31 in 2008-09 because of left foot injuries. Kaman talked to USA TODAY's J. Michael Falgoust: During the lockout you spent a lot of time hunting and posting pictures.

[ Read Full Post ]

By Brandon Ray

Rut Reporter Brandon Ray is an expert on the region. Ray was born in Dallas and shot his first deer with a bow in Central Texas at the age of 15. The full-time freelance writer manages his family’s Texas Panhandle ranch, is a licensed New Mexico guide, and last year took a 184 gross P&Y non-typical trophy. States covered: TX, OK, NM.

Here is more proof that the weather and the rut can be at opposite ends of the spectrum in Texas. Last week, on Dec. 20, it was 25 degrees in the Panhandle town of Amarillo. The wind was out of the north at 25 mph and the wind chill was nine. A blizzard came through northeastern New Mexico, the top of Texas and western Oklahoma the night before, dropping up to 10 inches of snow in some parts. If you were hunting bucks at the top of the region then, you should have been hunting the food.  [ Read Full Post ]

By David E. Petzal

Cabela’s, perhaps because it’s their 50th anniversary, or because they’re getting soft in the head, or because they felt sorry for me, sent me a whole sleighload of gear to play with this past hunting season, so much so that our UPS guy developed a conspiratorial smirk each time he drove up with a new package from Sidney, Nebraska. Everything that follows, I’ve used, but first a note:

All of this gear comes in the company’s Outfitter camo pattern, which is the only one I’ve ever seen that you can take anywhere without standing out like a zit on your daughter’s forehead the night before the prom. You may, if you wish, opt for a pattern such as Redbug and Pellagra, but eventually you’ll regret it.

Bow and Rifle Pack It’s 2400 cubic inches overall and weighs 4 pounds. The pack has a 2-litre water bladder, holds a reasonable amount of small stuff, plus shooting sticks and a spotting scope, and lets you carry your rifle down the center of your back, making it a hell of a lot easier to lug, and freeing both hands. The Bow and Rifle Pack has an excellent suspension, a waist belt big enough to go around the guts of even the calorically challenged, and no flaws that I can find. If you’ve never carried a rifle this way before, the Bow and Rifle will make a believer out of you. $150.

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