Latest Featured Hunting Articles


	Mule Deer: Those Western Deer It was clearly the peak of the rut and, in the narrow draw below me, a doe pranced coquettishly through the brittle cottonwoods, keeping well out of reach of the husky buck that dogged her trail. Though confident that her magic scent would draw him on, she stopped every 50 meters or so to gaze intently down her back trail, evidently impatient for the buck to catch up.
	A Hunter's Guide to Crossing the Canada-US Border There was a time when hunters didn't have to think twice about transporting game and firearms across the Canada/US border. Unfortunately, those days are gone forever. Now, more onerous firearms laws, fear of spreading game-borne diseases, and post 9-11 security concerns have made crossing the border with firearms, trophies, or game meat far more complex. Here's a quick run down of what a traveling hunter needs to know.
	5 Steps for Approaching a New Deer Property I met a guy who knew a guy, and that's how I secured permission on one of the best properties I know. But then the work began; to hunt it effectively, I had to learn the property and what the deer are doing on it. Approaching a new property can be a daunting task, particularly if it's a sizable piece of land. The property I just referred to is three quarter sections large, that's 480 acres. Roughly half of it is covered in a matrix of old growth aspen and spruce forest.
	Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Choosing and Using Blinds and Stands Blinds and tree stands are all the rage with today's hunter. Used for almost all big game species, ground blinds and tree stands, not to mention freestanding hides are huge on the deer hunting scene. These portable structures are the cats meow. All sorts of blinds allow us to essentially vanish inside a tent or box-like structure. Stands allow us to hunt at an elevation less easily recognized by game. Ground blinds are becoming very popular. Manufacturers catering to the discerning hunter offer a bevy of different designs.
	Traditional Roving for Modern Success Long before the advent of 3-D targets and laser range finders, bow hunters honed their archery skills in much simpler ways. For the most part, they'd loose arrows at target butts from predetermined ranges. But, if they were really serious about improving their field skills, they would string their favorite hunting bow, grab a quiver, and go roving.
	Confessions of a Crossbow Convert In our eternal quest for new opportunities, lots of hunters are turning to crossbows. Where legal, they offer a unique challenge. This medieval weapon combines the restricted range of archery equipment with the added convenience of a rifle. I've been watching this trend for several years and finally, this past fall, I decided to give it a try myself.
	5 Tips for Sighting in Your Rifle So you've acquired a new hunting rifle. After saving your hard-earned cash and landing permission from your other half, the gun rests in your hot little hands. It looks great, feels great... it probably smells great... but more importantly does it shoot great? Now its time to hit the range and get this baby sighted in.
	The Truth About Prairie Whitetail Dakota whitetail. Just the name inspires images of big boned, heavy racked deer standing alert at the edge of a cottonwood bluff while the last vestiges of yet another spectacular prairie sunset fade overhead. But is there really such a creature or is this simply a fabrication of our imagination bordering on elitism. After all, big-bodied whitetails have been taken throughout North America.
	Tips for Better Coyote Hunting It's the rush of a lifetime! I'm talking about calling in coyotes. If you've ever had a wild dog come blistering in to your set up, then you know what I mean! While many hunters shoot coyotes as incidental species during big game or even bird game hunts, there are those among us who thrive on targeting predators exclusively. For coyote hunting fanatics, predator seasons are all about the rush; more specifically duping a wily coyote, prompting them to race in to inspect the prospect of an easy meal or perhaps a potential breeding partner.
	Lighten the Load: New Approach to Dressing Big Game The following method of handling big game has evolved over several years. It was originally motivated by the necessity to extract animals from rugged terrain, sometimes miles from the nearest road. It has since become 'standard operating procedure', whether distant from our vehicles, or right next to. The method has also evolved as such to produce premium-tasting table fare. Basically we 'de-meat' our animals in the field. We do it to produce a minimum of weight carried out, and we do it in a way that best 'cares' for the meat itself.
	Trail Cameras: Truth or Consequence Trail camera use and technology has exploded over the past five years. Do they uncover a property's true potential for producing trophy whitetails... or spook the very deer we're trying to hunt? Finding a cure for the common cold will probably happen before hunters fully understand how trophy-class whitetails so easily evade us during hunting season. Undoubtedly, it's the variables which make this sport tough.
	The Year-Round Deer Hunter Most of us, at one time or another, have flipped through the pages of our favorite hunting magazines or browsed the pages of our favorite hunting websites and commented to ourselves on how "lucky" some of the featured hunters were to have harvested such tremendous animals. For these hunters, fortune comes in the form of months of preparation and time in the field. The end of the season for these guys is merely the beginning of the next. If your goal is to harvest a trophy buck this year, then don't wait until September to start scouting. Follow this simple four-season schedule and become a year-round student of the deer!
	Deer Hunting and Weather Every time we step off the asphalt into the country's wilderness, we carry with us a considerable store of outdoor lore, some of it based on personal hunting experience, some on information gleaned from our peers and our mentors and some on what we have read and heard in magazines and on programs. Our moment-to-moment decisions, regardless of how big or small, are based on this accumulated storehouse of both conscious and subconscious knowledge.
	Field Judging Whitetails Every season numerous whitetail hunters set out to pursue that trophy of a lifetime. For some hunters, success comes easily. However, for most successful hunters, their success is the result of hard work and excellent knowledge of whitetails. Unfortunately, most trophy hunters end the season disappointed, because the buck they elected to shoot turned out to be much smaller than they originally thought it was.
	Call Them, and They Will Come Nose to the ground, the buck grunted feverishly. Scouring the woods for a doe in estrus, he was on a mission! Easing the can call from my pocket I gently rolled it over. Emulating a doe bleat, I hoped to attract the giant buck and then halt him long enough for a bow shot. At first it looked like he'd skirt my stand outside of bow range. But then, at the sound of my call, his head snapped to attention and he plodded straight toward me!
	Hunting the King of the Forest Hunkered behind a large spruce tree, I watched in amazement as a massive bull displayed his dominance on a nearby ridge. Guttural grunts followed by aggressive raking captured the undivided attention of two cows standing a short distance away. It was early October, peak of the moose rut in Alberta. My lovesick moans held his attention but weren't enough to close the deal. So I stepped it up a notch. After emitting a series of low grunts, I grabbed a nearby log and raked the tree branches before me.
	The Joys of Muzzleloader Shooting Muzzleloaders are a lot of fun to shoot! The concept of a single shot makes shooters try to do their best on every shot. Large puffs of smoke belching from the muzzle after each shot, makes this a very visual shooting sport. As well, muzzleloaders are capable of firing a variety of bullet weights and powder charges, giving them the ability to be a multi species firearm.
	Rattling 101 Rattling is one of those techniques that you either have complete confidence in or completely lack confidence in. It's true that there are few hunters these days who steadfastly maintain that rattling is little more than a gimmick and that the technique only works in Texas where the countryside is supposedly crawling with whitetails. They're convinced that no self-respecting northern whitetail would ever fall for the trick and that the fad will eventually blow over.
	10 Mistakes Every Bowhunter Should Avoid After 13 hours of searching, I finally ran out of options. The scant blood trail had vanished, I'd scoured every inch of the property and he was nowhere to be seen. Feeling rather sick about the ordeal, to make matters worse, it had been a straightforward 21-yard shot. I'd done it a thousand times before on 3D targets and many different bucks. But this one was different. In retrospect, several things went wrong. Stopping behind a huge aspen, I had only two options; let down and hope for another opportunity as the buck moved through the woods or lean out from my stand and attempt the shot.
	Understanding Mule Deer Infinite volumes have been written about whitetailed deer. From their reclusive nature to their sex lives, virtually every aspect of their lives has been dissected. But, for those of us intrigued with variety, far less is written about their counterpart, the mule deer.