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Opinion: Saddles Will Never Replace Tree Stands
I hate talking about the first time I experimented with a tree saddle. It reminds me that I'm not exactly young anymore.
The first time I dove into the world of saddle hunting was when reading John Eberhart's book Bowhunting Pressured Whitetails. The classic was the first mention of a hunting saddle...
Tony Hansen
May 3, 2024
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Gear
5 Archery Tips That Might Just Save Your Next Hunt
Hunting is a sport of continually changing variables, with every decision you make compounding on the next and altering the outcome of the day. The uncertainty is what makes hunting so exciting. The best hunts are usually days when success is completely inconceivable, and when you least expect it...
Dylan Tramp
Feb 15, 2024
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Gear
3 Products That Might Just Make You A Worse Whitetail Hunter
When it comes to buyer’s remorse, we tend to think of junk. Like paying good money for something that just doesn’t deliver on its marketing promise or maybe breaks right out of the box. Cheap hunting gear, and unfortunately some not-so-cheap hunting gear, is not immune to this frustrating issue...
Tony J. Peterson
Feb 9, 2024
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Featured Gear
Archery
Gear
Everything I Use on DIY, Out-of-State Deer Hunts
I’ve traveled across the country to hunt whitetails everywhere from Ohio to Montana, Idaho to Indiana, and most points in between. Every time I embark on one of these trips, I receive dozens of messages asking about what clothing, gear, or camping equipment I’m taking with me.
About five years ago...
Mark Kenyon
Sep 22, 2021
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Gear
3 Common Reasons Broadheads Fail
I quit drinking eight years ago. Since then, I’ve discovered a special kind of hell that occurs when someone is hammered and tries to have a deep conversation with me. This only gets worse when that someone is a stranger and the topic is bowhunting.
This past turkey season, while eating a burger in...
Tony J. Peterson
Jun 3, 2021
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Gear
How to Select the Best Hunting Arrows for Deer
Deer hunters love to debate. We argue over broadhead styles. We fight over who makes the best bow. We will nearly come to blows over baiting versus food plots versus hunting natural movement.
What we don’t get overly passionate about is choosing the best hunting arrows.
I talk to a pile of whitetail...
Tony J. Peterson
May 21, 2021
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Gear
You’re Hanging Your Tree Stands Wrong
Between the biblical rain and plague-level ticks, I called it quits on the run-and-gun mission an hour before sunset. The late season Wisconsin birds weren’t gobbling, and it was clear the public land I was hunting had plenty of other turkey hunters. As I hiked out, I tried to salvage the day by...
Tony J. Peterson
Aug 21, 2020
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Gear
Ask MeatEater: What’s the Best Broadhead for Deer?
You’ve got questions. We’ve got answers (and if we don’t, we’ll make them up). Every day, fellow MeatEaters send us more than 100 emails regarding hunting, fishing, cooking, conservation, and more. So, we decided to publish a series dedicated to our favorite FAQs. This is Ask MeatEater.
While...
Spencer Neuharth
Aug 6, 2020
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Trail Cameras
Gear
How to Make Trail Camera Batteries Last Longer
Here’s a controversial statement: Trail cameras can be absolutely worthless.
Here’s a less controversial statement: Trail cameras are worthless when their batteries are dead.
This might seem obvious, but every year hunters stick hundreds of dollars-worth of trail cams in the woods and then return...
Mark Kenyon
Mar 22, 2021
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Scout
Are Trail Cameras Making You a Worse Hunter?
Scouting deer used to involve glassing, looking for sign, and getting in where the deer live to suss out their patterns. Now, for a lot of us, it just involves hanging a trail camera. This might be a necessity and the best way to figure out a buck, or it can be a crutch and steer us into poor...
Tony J. Peterson
Sep 29, 2020
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Gear
The Single Best Way to Get Bucks on Trail Cam (Without Bait)
Hang a trail camera in front of a pile of corn or a mineral block and you’re almost guaranteed to get an SD card full of deer photos. It used to be that simple. But with increasing concerns over disease in recent years, more and more states are outlawing the use of bait at trail camera sites. For...
Mark Kenyon
Jul 31, 2020
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Gear
Back 40 Extras: How to Set Up a Trail Camera
Trail cameras are some of the greatest modern tools that hunters have at their disposal. If you hunt in an area that allows them, then you need to take advantage of it.
Here’s what you need to know about setting up a camera to get pictures of whitetails.
Mark Kenyon
Oct 29, 2019
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Gear
Ask Wired To Hunt: Where Should I Place Trail Cams?
It’s obvious to anyone paying attention that trail cameras have led to a lot of whitetail bucks ending up in freezers. But the inverse is true too: Cameras have saved a lot of deer lives as well. Mostly this is because well-intentioned hunters place their cameras in the wrong locations and check...
Mark Kenyon
Jul 12, 2019
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Gear
Ask Wired To Hunt: Are Wireless Trail Cameras Fair Chase?
At the risk of igniting “another classic ethics debate fueled by none other than MeatEater,” as one social media commenter recently lamented, I’d like to talk about the fair chase ramifications of wireless trail cameras.
What is ethical? What is moral? What is fair chase? This is a set of questions...
Mark Kenyon
May 7, 2019
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Other Gear
Gear
Video: How to Carry a Deer On Your Back
We all know that once a deer hits the ground the real work begins. Typically, our options for a getting our venison back to the truck are pretty simple—drag it out or quarter it up and haul it out piece by piece. However, there is a third option. You can carry the deer on your back. I learned this...
Clay Newcomb
Jan 5, 2023
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Gear
The Best Straight-Wall Cartridge for Whitetail Hunting
Straight-wall cartridges are surging in the whitetail world. The best evidence of this is recent legislation.
Several big deer states—including Michigan, Ohio, Iowa, and Indiana—have passed laws in the last five years allowing straight-wall cartridges in zones previously designated as shotgun- or...
Jordan Sillars
Jan 5, 2021
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Gear
Video: Which Rattling Call is Loudest?
Mimicking the sound of bucks fighting can be an effective way to draw a buck in during any phase of the rut. In this video, I compare the volume of five different rattle calls to see which is loudest.
Admittedly, volume isn’t the only thing that matters when it comes to rattling—realism is equally...
Clay Newcomb
Dec 11, 2020
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Gear
Scent Control for Dummies
If there’s any one thing that connects the most consistently successful whitetail hunters I know, it’s a strong focus on scent control. A whitetail’s nose is its best defense mechanism. For that reason, the smart hunter will do everything possible to control the scent he brings into the woods.
Can...
Mark Kenyon
Nov 9, 2020
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Gear
How to Pick a Good Deer Taxidermist
Taxidermists are like referees. When they do their job well, you hardly notice them. But when the job is done poorly, it commands attention in a bad way.
In many cases, exceptional taxidermy contains details that the average person won’t pick up on. I reached out to some taxidermists to ask what...
Spencer Neuharth
Oct 10, 2019
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