By Eric Bruce

The rut in Mississippi, Alabama, and eastern Louisiana is about to begin. Serious pre-rut activity and some initial chasing by eager bucks have begun. Most of Florida is still a little ways down the calendar.
 
Georgia, South Carolina, Arkansas, and western Louisiana have a more traditional and consistent mid-November rut. The rut is mostly over in these states, although there are still some scattered reports of isolated chasing. That “second rut”is likely caused by yearling does coming into their first estrous cycle, or by does that didn't get bred the first time around. [ Read Full Post ]

By Chad Love

A massive non-typical whitetail deer arrowed by an Oklahoma woman may be the largest buck ever taken by a female bowhunter in the Sooner State.

From this story on newsok.com:
Linet Navarro of Chandler likes to bake cakes and kill deer. On Nov. 8, Navarro killed the biggest whitetail of her life and perhaps the largest ever by a woman with a bow in Oklahoma. Her non-typical buck has a net green score of 175 2/8. A check of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation's Cy Curtis records — a listing of big deer killed by Oklahoma hunters — show that larger non-typical bucks have been killed by female hunters with a gun, although it appears none have with a bow. The Wildlife Department does not distinguish between male and female hunters in the Cy Curtis record book. “Maybe they should,” Navarro said. “They could start it this year.” [ Read Full Post ]

By David E. Petzal

I spent the past week in Kansas, a place of very little culture but very many whitetail deer, which is a better reason to go someplace than culture. I was hunting out of elevated blinds with a friend who is a highly experienced hunter and a very good spotter of cloven-hoofed ungulates. Each of us had a laser rangefinder. Mine was in my binocular; his was separate.

What we noticed pretty quickly was that neither rangefinder ever agreed…ever. Sometimes the difference was only a few yards, but sometimes it was 50 yards or more. In addition, my rangefinder also gave Weird Readings. It would say that a deer was 152 yards away when it was perfectly obvious the beast was way over 300. This may have been caused by fog, which we had, or by the beam bouncing off weeds and brush that I couldn’t see but which the laser could. It was, as Richard Pryor used to say, a nerve-shattering experience.

[ Read Full Post ]

By David Draper

After a November that felt more like September in terms of temperatures, much of the country finally got a blast of cold weather this past weekend, along with heavy snow for some of the upper Midwest. Weather like that just begs for some hearty meals—the kinds that slowly cook all day long filling the house with the savory aroma of simmering meat. The list of perfect winter meals is nearly endless, but here are five to try with the wild game in your freezer.

[ Read Full Post ]

By Chad Love

Spotlighting for deer may soon become legal for members of a Wisconsin Native American tribe if a federal judge rules in their favor.

From this story on jsonline.com: 
A federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments over whether the Wisconsin Chippewa can hunt deer at night. U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb two weeks ago declared the state's ban on night deer hunting extends to tribal hunters, scuttling the Chippewa's request until Wednesday's hearing. 

[ Read Full Post ]

By Mike Bleech

Overall Activity Status: Deer activity is slight in most of our Northeast Region, though it may be picking up.
 
Fighting: Surprisingly, bucks had been seen fighting right into late November, but no fights have been reported since.
 
Rub & Scrape Making: There has been an increase in the number of fresh rubs and scrapes seen. In some areas, this is more activity of this kind that at any other time this year. [ Read Full Post ]