Scott Bestul

The 180-Class Pending B&C World Record 8-Point Buck!

Dave_Maccar — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:46:12 -0500

On December 1, 2011, on the opening day of the second shotgun season in Illinois, Jason Sanders tagged what will likely be the largest 8-point whitetail in the Boone & Crockett record books. Sanders, a 38-year-old farmer and veteran deer hunter, was hunting on his home farm when he set his sights on this world-class buck of a lifetime.

National Report: Déjà Vu in the South

Sarah Smith — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 14:39:26 -0500

Rut Reporter Scott Bestul is a Field & Stream’s Whitetails columnist and writes for the website’s Whitetail365 blog. The Minnesotan has taken 13 Pope & Young-class whitetails and has hunted, guided for, and studied deer in the north-central region all his life. States covered: IA, IL, IN, MI, MN, MO, WI.

With deer seasons winding down across the country, our reporters from the south are the last men standing for this year’s rut report. Eric Bruce did a nice job detailing the rut progression in Mississippi, Florida and Alabama, where hunters are witnessing rut behavior seen by their brothers in the north a full two months ago. In those three states the rut is just cranking up, with scrapes and rubs just now appearing, and young bucks charged with testosterone anxious to get things started.

Every year this phenomenon of eager young bucks reminds me of a conversation I had with University of Georgia’s Karl Miller regarding the rut. “Older bucks simply approach the breeding season more like gentlemen,” he said. “Young bucks are running around like teenagers at their first party. But older bucks are simply more experienced and ready to wait until does are ready before they plunge in.”

National Report: Bucks Need Food and Water, No Matter the Rut Stage

Sarah Smith — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:22:05 -0500

Whitetail seasons are winding up across much of the country’s northern tier, but we’ll continue to provide rut activity reports from the southern states, where some of the best hunting still lies ahead. This is the time of year when northern deer hunters are either played out and turning their sights to ice-fishing, or wishing they lived in Mississippi or Alabama.

Speaking of those states, southern reporter Eric Bruce posted a great photo of a Georgia buck that would draw a crowd anywhere in the country. The buck was shot as it visited a late-season food plot, and that harvest serves as another reminder that food sources become more and more important to bucks as the rut progresses.

National Report: Buddy Bucks Mean Better Hunting

Sarah Smith — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:03:16 -0500

My hunting pals probably get sick of hearing me say this, but nearly every year, I see more big bucks during my post-rut hunts than I do during the weeks of the peak rut. I confess that part of this mantra is nothing more than simple cheerleading, but I’ve got reasons for my rah-rah.

The simplest explanation is that I’m usually camped out on a hot food source, where hungry bucks are sure to feed. Reason two is that I believe secondary rutting activity is largely a big-buck (if they’re present) thing, and the does they pester will invariably hang near the best food. Then there’s this weird theory I have that bucks start to “bachelor-up” in the weeks following peak rutting activity.

Bestul: Bucks Scraping and Chasing Between Meals

Sarah Smith — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 11:23:21 -0500

It’s about the food, yet still about the does, too.

On a recent hunt, a friend watched a nice 2-1/2 year old buck chase a doe in tight, frantic loops, grunting as he ran. Meanwhile, the next morning, I rattled in two bucks that came to the horns like it was the first week of November, not two weeks before Christmas. The common denominator in each situation? Both hunts occurred near a pair of picked cornfields, separated by excellent transition cover and a few prime bedding lairs.

Best Days of the Rut 2011: December 7

Online Editors — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:20:29 -0500

by Scott Bestul

We’ve come nearly full circle in the rut cycle now, but this last of our Best Days is certainly no slouch. One month ago, does were entering estrus all over your hunting area, and bucks were running wild trying to service every doe. Guess what? Those bucks failed. Does are in heat for a 24- to 36-hour period, and if they’re not bred during that small window of time, they re-cycle a month later—which is, as you’ve surmised, right now.

It gets better. In addition to these missed does, a certain number of fawns—up to 40 percent in some areas—will enter their first estrous cycle, and the bucks will chase and breed them with abandon. This secondary rut will by no means match the main event in duration, scope, or intensity. But if you ignore it, you may miss out on a wildly successful season finale.

Bestul: Hunting the Transition

Sarah Smith — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 15:00:51 -0500

We’ve reached an interesting phase of the season here in the north-central region; in most states, the general firearms season (rifle or shotgun) have recently closed. I always find this a fascinating, but often challenging, time to hunt. In areas where deer have experienced heavy hunting pressure, it usually takes a few days for whitetails to resume normal feeding and breeding behavior. When this is the case, I typically forego serious hunting and scout or observe feeding areas and let whitetails emerge from shell-shock mode.

National Report: Big Bucks Still Out There

Sarah Smith — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:36:10 -0500

Yogi Berra had it right when he said “it ain’t over ‘til it’s over,” and that’s the theme for this week’s rut summary. Perhaps the most telling indicator was Rich Landers’ report from a Montana guide who noted that he’d seen two of the biggest bucks of the year during the last two weeks of the season--when he had no hunters in camp. It’s human nature to want first crack at everything, and of course deer hunters are no different than anyone else, but every year reports like this remind me that some of the best buck action can occur long after the excitement of the opener fades.

Landers also noted the success of late-season archery hunters in Washington who successfully used calls and scents. That’s another excellent point. Big bucks respond to the same attractants in the post-rut phase as they did several weeks earlier, and Mike Bleech noted this in his Northeast report as well. Bleech also made the spot-on observation that determining rut phase in areas of low deer densities can be difficult.

A Worthy End For a Nearly 10-Year-Old, 190-Inch Iowa Buck

Dave_Maccar — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:43:52 -0500

On Nov. 1, Iowa bowhunter Barry Wensel shot a giant whitetail. The 6X7 buck was 9-1/2 years old, gross-scored 190-1/8” and field dressed 248 pounds. But this was no lightning strike; Wensel knew the buck well and had enjoyed numerous encounters over the last three seasons. Here is Barry’s story of a buck he called “Hurley.”

Bestul: Adapting to the Late Rut

Sarah Smith — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:36:46 -0500

The photo above shows more than just a fantastic trophy; it illustrates the need to adapt to ever-changing whitetail behavior as the hunting season progresses. Illinois hunter Brent VanHoveln used a ghillie suit to set up on the ground and shoot this 180-class monster during the Prairie State’s recent gun season.

Brent found the perfect spot to ambush the great buck, and sometimes those “perfect” sites don’t include a nifty stand tree. In recent years, scores of hunters have come to believe that an elevated stand is the only way to fool the eyes, ears and nose of a monster whitetail, but others like Brent know better--he shot this tremendous buck at a distance of 22 steps. Congrats to Brent!