Decide What “Disappear” Means, Then Hunt Like They Didn’t Leave Big bucks do not vanish during gun season. They clamp down, shift beds, and move at different times because pressure changes fast and loud. I have watched it happen on
Pick a Plot You Can Actually Grow in Sand. The best food plot for sandy soil is a simple mix of cereal rye and oats for fall, and a cowpeas plus buckwheat mix for summer. If you want one “set
Decide Your Plot Size First, Not Your Seed Brand I plan on about 1 acre of food plot for every 8 to 12 deer I want using it regularly. If you want to actually hold deer on your place in
Pick One Based on Your Dirt and Your Time. If you have decent soil and you want a “plant it and forget it” perennial, I pick Whitetail Institute Imperial most of the time. If you are planting a quick annual
Should You Use TSI to Improve Deer Habitat? Yes, TSI works for deer habitat improvement if you do it around bedding cover and travel corridors, and you commit to follow-up for 2-3 years. No, TSI is a waste of sweat
Start Here: What I Actually Do on Corps Ground I hunt Army Corps of Engineers deer ground by treating it like pressured public land, not a “hidden gem,” and I win by getting away from easy access, hunting wind-first, and
Start Here: How I Would Hunt Chequamegon National Forest This Fall I would hunt Chequamegon like big woods with pressure, not like a farm-country rut lease. My plan is simple. Hunt tight to bedding cover, use the wind like a
Pick A Forest Based On Pressure, Access, And How Much Walking You Will Actually Do. If you want my honest pick for the best overall national forest for deer hunting in Appalachia, I put George Washington and Jefferson National Forest
What I Actually Think About BLM Whitetail Hunting in Eastern Montana BLM land deer hunting in eastern Montana is worth doing if you treat it like a long walk and a glassing job, not a tree stand job. The guys
Pick Your Kansas Walk-In Plan Before You Ever Leave the House The best walk-in hunting access in Kansas is the place you can actually hunt hard all day without bumping other guys, and that means targeting WIHA tracts that are
Start With This, Or You Will Waste Days. The best public land deer spots in the Missouri Ozarks are not “a secret hollow.” They are the spots where cover, food, and human pressure collide, and you can hunt the edge
Get the Roast Tender by Picking the Right Method for the Cut You Have The fastest way I tenderize a tough deer roast is a long, wet cook at 205 degrees for 3.5 to 6 hours, plus a salty overnight
Pick the Right Cuts and Your Jerky Gets Easy The best cuts of deer for jerky are the top round, bottom round, eye of round, and the sirloin tip, because they are lean, tight-grained, and slice clean. If you use
Pick Your Temperature and Stick With It The best smoker temperature for deer summer sausage is 165 degrees to 175 degrees for most of the cook, then bump to 180 degrees to finish. I pull it when the internal temp
How Long I Age Deer Meat in the Fridge (And Why). I age deer meat in a refrigerator for 3 to 7 days most of the time. If it is a young doe or you are tight on fridge space,
Make the Call Early, Not After You Have Wrecked the Track I call a tracking dog as soon as I think I might bump the deer, lose blood, or run out of daylight. If the shot is questionable, I would
Make the Call Fast: Bright Red Blood Usually Means Lung, Muscle, or a High Hit Bright red blood while tracking usually means you hit lungs or muscle, not gut. If it is bright red and bubbly, I treat it like
Make the Call Fast: Dead Deer, Hit Deer, or Miss? If you have no blood trail, you still have a very real chance of finding that deer. The key is this. I stop thinking like a tracker and start thinking
How Long to Wait After a Gut Shot and What to Do Right Now If you gut shot a deer, I wait 8 to 12 hours before I track it, and I back out right now. The fastest way to
Make One Decision Right Now: Back Out Or Keep Going. If you lose blood trail, the best move most of the time is to stop, mark last blood, and back out for 2 to 6 hours. The only times I
Pick Your Crossbow Like You Pick A Stand Location If you want the simplest, toughest setup that keeps shooting in nasty weather and you do not care about cocking effort, I lean Excalibur. If you want speed, a safer cocking
The Short Answer I Tell My Buddy at the Tailgate Neither Bowtech nor Mathews “shoots better” across the board, because the better-shooting bow is the one you tune fast, hold steady, and hit with under pressure. If you want easy
Pick One If You Want Less Headache If you want “set it and forget it” tough, I pick the Spot Hogg Fast Eddie. If you want faster setup, lighter weight, and clean pins for the money, I pick the Trophy
Pick This Based on How Far You Actually Shoot If you hunt inside 30 yards most of the time, I would run a multi pin. If you hunt mixed distance or you might have to stretch to 50 in open