Gear
Will Technology Ruin Deer Hunting in the Future?
As an admitted bass geek, I paid somewhat close attention to the latest Bassmaster Classic, which was held on the Tennessee River earlier this year. A relative newcomer to the scene, Dylan Nutt, took top honors in that prestigious tournament with a three-day bag weighing nearly 67 pounds. The win...
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Scout
5 onX Hunt Tools Every Deer Hunter Should Know
My son and I were nervous as we made our way from the truck to the front door of a local landowner in hopes of securing hunting permission. The sign by the road said, “Beware of Dog,” but with 100 acres of prime hunting land on the line, we took our chances and headed for the front porch. After a...
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Hunt
Why You Should Deer Hunt Warm Weather Conditions
I was nine years into my public land hunting career when I first dipped my toe in the target-buck pool. The North Carolina hitlister showed up on my trail cameras just before Halloween, with pre-rut in full swing, and a gnarly heat wave set to roll in a week later. With nearly a decade of experience...
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Hunt
Hunt
Why You Should Deer Hunt Warm Weather Conditions
I was nine years into my public land hunting career when I first dipped my toe in the target-buck pool. The North Carolina hitlister showed up on my trail cameras just before Halloween, with pre-rut in full swing, and a gnarly heat wave set to roll in a week later. With nearly a decade of experience...
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Hunt
Want Deer Hunting to be Less Stressful and More Fun? Pick Up a Rifle
Rifle hunting, specifically for whitetails, tends to get side-eyed compared to bowhunting. There’s an obvious level of skill, dedication, and a learning curve when it comes to bowhunting. The level of detail and minutiae required to locate, hunt, and fling an arrow often takes a bit of the surprise...
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Hunt
Baiting Whitetails: Misconceptions, How-to, and Risks
Baiting is one of the biggest hot-button issues in hunting. Regardless of species, everyone has an opinion. This is especially true for deer hunting, where antler inches can make toddlers out of grown men. Opponents of baiting often raise ethical or moral questions about the tactic itself and the...
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Hunt
How to Track Down a Buck Fast
When I first started tracking whitetail bucks in the big woods, things always seemed to go the same way. I’d find a buck track, and then I’d meticulously follow it through the forest all day long without ever seeing the buck that made it. It frustrated me because I thought I was doing everything...
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Hunt
Historical Data Can Help You Kill Bucks During the Rut
There’s a small section on a particular piece of public I look forward to hunting every year during the peak rut. There’s about a three- or four-day stretch that I know I’ll see bucks chasing in this specific stretch of woods. The first year I hunted this spot, I was nearly trampled by a group of...
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Hunt
How to Deer Hunt Edges in Pine Country
I live in a part of the South known as the Pine Belt. Most of the public lands in this part of Mississippi and Alabama consist almost entirely of old-growth or managed pine stands. There’s a running joke that the deer in this area survive on a diet of pine cones. If you’ve ever hunted in some of...
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Scout
5 onX Hunt Tools Every Deer Hunter Should Know
My son and I were nervous as we made our way from the truck to the front door of a local landowner in hopes of securing hunting permission. The sign by the road said, “Beware of Dog,” but with 100 acres of prime hunting land on the line, we took our chances and headed for the front porch. After a...
Read MorePlay Now
Scout
How to Scout Big Woods Bucks in Early Summer
If finding a deer in the big woods is like finding a needle in a haystack, finding a mature buck is like looking for that needle in an entire hay field. Unlike ag country, the big woods might only boast two bucks per square mile in some areas. Finding big bucks in such places requires a ton of...
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Scout
5 Offseason Chores that Help the Experts Kill Big Bucks
This time of year might not seem relevant for deer hunting, but if you want to find consistent success like some of the best big buck hunters, you might want to change your offseason approach. But don’t just take it from me. I spoke with MeatEater’s Mark Kenyon, who knows a thing or two about...
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Scout
How to Score and Keep Hunting Permissions
A few Novembers ago, I set out for a hang-and-hunt on my favorite piece of public land in North Carolina. After over an hour of wandering, I stumbled across a hot white oak that was surrounded by fresh deer sign. Shortly after I set up, a young buck limped up to the acorns and stood perfectly for a...
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Scout
3 Ways Mature Buck Hunters Sabotage Their Season Before It Starts
This is a weird time of year to be thinking about deer. It’s turkey season, the fishing is getting really good across the country, and we are at about the exact midpoint between the deer season’s end and its beginning. The default setting right now, with a lot of us, is that there is more than...
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Manage
Oklahoma Just Released a Captive Whitetail Deer into the Wild...On Purpose
For the first time ever, a captive-raised deer has been released into the wild whitetail population to slow the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). The historic move is part of a program instituted by the Oklahoma state legislature in 2024. The Chronic Wasting Disease Genetic Improvement...
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Manage
Will CWD Cripple Wisconsin’s Booner-Buck Status?
You can’t overlook Wisconsin’s No. 1 ranking when scrolling through the Boone and Crockett Club’s 17,465 record-book entries for white-tailed deer in the Lower 48. According to B&C’s “Big Game Records Live” online listings, hunters have entered 2,132 Wisconsin bucks (typicals and nontypicals...
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Manage
New Research Shows that Deer Rubs and Scrapes Glow
Hunters drool over fresh rubs and scrapes. They’re thrilling to see during a scouting session or hunt, but deer are drawn to them for other reasons. Research from the University of Georgia shows that fresh rubs and scrapes actually glow for deer like “neon lights.” This first-of-its-kind study...
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Manage
Missouri Bows to Hunter Pressure, Discontinues Targeted CWD Deer Removal Program
On December 15, the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) announced the end of a controversial CWD control program: a sharpshooting initiative that involved baiting and spotlighting deer in areas where CWD has been detected. MDC Director Jason Sumners announced the news in an open letter. “As...
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Manage
Ohio Officials Consider Emergency Regulations Due to 'Worst EHD Outbreak' in State’s History
Southeast Ohio’s deer population is experiencing a serious epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) outbreak, forcing wildlife managers to consider adjusting hunting regulations before the state’s rifle season opens. EHD is a virus transmitted by biting flies such as no-see-ums. Deer killed by the...
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Manage
How to Plant a Food Plot with Minimal Equipment
A lot of deer hunting media includes B-roll footage of huge farm equipment creating massive food plots. It paints a cool story that supposedly shows the hard work that went into killing a certain big buck. However, that reality doesn’t relate to most hunters. If anything, it makes food plotting feel...
Read MorePlay NowGear
Gear
Will Technology Ruin Deer Hunting in the Future?
As an admitted bass geek, I paid somewhat close attention to the latest Bassmaster Classic, which was held on the Tennessee River earlier this year. A relative newcomer to the scene, Dylan Nutt, took top honors in that prestigious tournament with a three-day bag weighing nearly 67 pounds. The win...
Read MorePlay Now
Gear
3 Things That Can Suck About Mobile Hunting for Whitetails
Two years ago, I was ready to throw hands at the next person to tell me to go mobile. I had only recently ditched ladder stands for climbing stands, which I considered mobile enough. The last thing I wanted to do was learn a new hunting system. I put up a brave fight against peer pressure, but...
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Gear
How Trail Cameras Made Me A More Patient Buck Hunter
I can’t run trail cameras in a lot of the places I hunt. I love that, but I also love running a whole bunch of cameras to try to decipher deer movement from year to year on specific properties. This latter tactic was a big part of my fall this year, and I noticed something that has led me to more...
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Gear
How to Take Better Grip & Grin Photos with Your Phone
I’m old enough to remember shooting photos with film. In fact, one of the duties I had for my first editing gig at a bowhunting magazine was to scour slides for perfect cover and lead images. Every photo you took back then had to have some intention behind it, because you knew you had limited film...
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Gear
Why You Shouldn’t Stress About Scent Control
This title might seem a little misleading. It probably ruffles a few feathers, but hear me out. There’s a whole market of deodorants, detergents, and, yes, even mouth spray that promises to fool a big buck’s nose. I’m not saying they don’t work in some capacity or that, if compounded, they might not...
Read MorePlay NowContributors
Tony J. Peterson
MeatEater Contributor Tony Peterson has penned hundreds of hunting articles, several books, and developed multiple podcasts. Peterson’s whitetail-related contributions stem from real-world experience and a passion for hunting new ground each season. He's considered one of the top whitetail hunters...
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Spencer Neuharth
Spencer Neuharth is the director of web content at MeatEater, producer of Wired to Hunt, and founder of Rut Fresh. His writing has been featured in over a dozen magazines, including Field & Stream, Petersen's Hunting, and Men's Journal. His work is a reflection of his roots as a whitetail hunter and...
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Clay Newcomb
Clay Newcomb is an American outdoorsman, storyteller, and host of the Bear Grease Podcast. A 5th-generation Arkansan, Newcomb is an avid hunter, conservationist, and writer whose work explores the cultural and historical roots of hunting, rural life, and the American outdoors. He is passionate about...
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Tyler Jones
Tyler is known for being the frontman of Tyler and the Tribe, co-host of The Element Podcast, The Buck Truck Video Series, still using mechanical broadheads, and co-host of Rut Fresh Radio. He is a believer, husband, father of two, songwriter and guitar player, small stream aficionado, wannabe...
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K.C. Smith
K.C. is known for taste testing everything and being impulsive. He is the co-founder of The Element, co-host The Element Podcast, co-host of Buck Truck, and co-host of Rut Fresh Radio K.C. is an East Texas family man, gardener, adventure seeker, fig enthusiast, Christian Youth Leader, and a half...
Read MorePlay NowTony J. Peterson
MeatEater Contributor Tony Peterson has penned hundreds of hunting articles, several books, and developed multiple podcasts. Peterson’s whitetail-related contributions stem from real-world experience and a passion for hunting new ground each season. He's considered one of the top whitetail hunters...
Read MorePlay NowSpencer Neuharth
Spencer Neuharth is the director of web content at MeatEater, producer of Wired to Hunt, and founder of Rut Fresh. His writing has been featured in over a dozen magazines, including Field & Stream, Petersen's Hunting, and Men's Journal. His work is a reflection of his roots as a whitetail hunter and...
Read MorePlay NowClay Newcomb
Clay Newcomb is an American outdoorsman, storyteller, and host of the Bear Grease Podcast. A 5th-generation Arkansan, Newcomb is an avid hunter, conservationist, and writer whose work explores the cultural and historical roots of hunting, rural life, and the American outdoors. He is passionate about...
Read MorePlay NowTyler Jones
Tyler is known for being the frontman of Tyler and the Tribe, co-host of The Element Podcast, The Buck Truck Video Series, still using mechanical broadheads, and co-host of Rut Fresh Radio. He is a believer, husband, father of two, songwriter and guitar player, small stream aficionado, wannabe...
Read MorePlay NowK.C. Smith
K.C. is known for taste testing everything and being impulsive. He is the co-founder of The Element, co-host The Element Podcast, co-host of Buck Truck, and co-host of Rut Fresh Radio K.C. is an East Texas family man, gardener, adventure seeker, fig enthusiast, Christian Youth Leader, and a half...
Read MorePlay NowMore Whitetail Content
Whitetail
Research Shows Wild Pigs Affect Deer Movement
Wild hogs and deer don’t exactly mix. At least, that’s what any number of deer hunters or landowners in pig country will tell you. If you have experience hunting around wild hogs, then you probably have surmised as much. While anecdotal evidence might seem to support certain theories in the hunting...
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Whitetail
Milo Hanson is Gone, But His Record Buck Still Stands
Some lucky deer hunter will eventually shoot a whitetail with antlers bigger than those atop the buck Milo Hanson killed Nov. 23, 1993, near his Saskatchewan farm. With a certified score of 213-5/8 inches, Hanson’s 14-point buck became the world-record “typical” whitetail during the Boone and...
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Whitetail
Why Patience Might Cost You a Shot Opportunity
Patience gets thrown around a lot in general hunting advice. Whether it’s pulling an all-day hunt during the whitetail rut or waiting another hour on that gobbler that went silent, patience usually pays off. You’ll punch a lot of tags if you learn to embrace patience. But sometimes you need to throw...
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Whitetail
Wisconsin Man Asks, ‘Have You Seen This Buck?’
Roger Maes knows he’ll recognize his grandfather’s nearly century-old trophy buck whether it’s in online photo lineups, hanging in a Northwoods tavern, or fully restored and displayed at a giant hunting/fishing store. But the Madison, Wisconsin, resident hasn't seen the buck for over 30 years, not...
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Whitetail
How to Scout Big Public Land Tracts for Deer
Large blocks of public land appeal to me. There’s something remote, almost mythical about them. The cool thing about these places is that it feels like deer can come from anywhere at any time. Personally, that gives me more confidence in a spot. Often, these places require more walking, which tends...
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Whitetail
Why Carbines Are the Best Big Woods Buck Rifles
The modern hunting world is obsessed with long-range shooting. From the rise in popularity of rifles like the 6.5 Creedmoor to thousand-yard gun ranges and shooting courses popping up like new Starbucks locations, it seems like every hunter wants to dial it in at a distance. Now, I’m not saying...
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