Decide If You Even Need Doe Estrus Scent This Season I start using doe estrus scent in the pre-rut when I am seeing fresh buck sign and does are acting jumpy, which is usually about 10 to 14 days before
Which One I’d Buy With My Own Money. I’d buy the Tactacam REVEAL for reliability and fewer headaches, and I’d buy the Stealth Cam Fusion only if price is the main thing and I can live with more tinkering. I
Stop Blaming “Bad Batteries” and Fix the Three Real Problems Your trail camera batteries die so fast because of three things I see over and over. Cold weather, too many triggers at night, and the wrong battery type for your
The Real Number I Use (And Why). I run 3 to 6 trail cameras per 100 acres for whitetails, and I only go over that if I am trying to inventory bucks hard during late summer. If you only buy
Pick Your Setup First, Because That Choice Decides Everything. The fastest way to get trail camera pictures sent to your phone is to buy a cellular trail camera, activate a data plan, and run the camera’s app on your phone.
Pick Your Height Based on One Thing: The Shot You Want For the best trail cam pictures on whitetails, I hang most cameras at 36 to 42 inches high, level, and 10 to 15 yards from the trail. If I
Pick the Right Camera First, or You Are Fighting a Losing Battle. The fastest way to reduce trail camera flash spook is to run a true no-glow IR camera, aim it so the deer is not staring into the lens,
Pick Your Camera Settings Based on What You Want the Photo to Do I set trail camera picture quality based on my goal, not on “best.” If I am trying to pattern a buck, I run medium photo size, fast
Pick a Pellet That Matches Your Goal, Not the Hype. The best protein pellets for deer feeders are 16 percent to 20 percent protein, high in digestible fiber, and fed at the right time of year, not year-round like candy.
Program It Like You Mean It, Or You Are Just Feeding Raccoons. My answer is this. Set a Boss Buck feeder timer for 2 short feeds a day, centered on daylight edges, and keep the total under 10 seconds per
Pick A Battery Type First, Or You Will Be Mad In January. The best deer feeder battery that lasts all winter is a 12V 35Ah AGM sealed lead-acid battery from a real brand like Mighty Max or ExpertPower. If you
Pick Your App Based on One Thing: How Official You Need It. The best deer scoring app for your phone is the one that matches what you are trying to do. If you want a fast, in-the-truck estimate, I use
What You Actually Need to Do to Enter a Deer To enter a deer in Boone and Crockett, you need a qualifying score from an official B&C measurer, the right paperwork, and you need to wait out the drying period
Net Score vs Gross Score. The Real Difference. Gross score is the buck’s full antler inches before deductions. Net score is what’s left after you subtract the bad stuff, like uneven tines and mismatched beams. I care about gross for
Should You Do a DIY Deer Shoulder Mount? Yes, a DIY deer shoulder mount can be worth it if you want a wall-worthy memory and you can slow down and follow steps. No, it is not worth it if you
The Answer I Give My Buddies OnX is the better all-around app for most deer hunters because its private-land layer and waypoint sharing are more reliable, especially when I cross county lines and hunt new public. HuntStand is still worth
Stop Guessing. Use Wind And Thermals Like A Trap. To read wind thermals for deer hunting, I treat it like two winds at once. At daylight and in the evening, thermals usually matter more than the forecasted wind. If I
Pick One Based on How You Actually Hunt If you want a quieter, smoother, more “truck-like” ride for long property loops and stand hops, I would buy the Polaris Ranger. If you want a simple work-first rig that you do
Pick the UTV That Gets You In Quiet, Not the One That Looks Cool The best UTV for deer hunting access is the one that matches your ground and stays quiet. For most deer hunters, that means a mid-size 2-seat
Decide If You Need a Dog Before You Call. If you want the best odds of recovering your deer, call a blood tracking dog handler the moment you think the hit is not perfect. I call even sooner if it
Pick a Leash and Harness That Lets Your Dog Work, Not Fight You The best leash and harness for tracking dogs is a tough Y-front tracking harness paired with a 20-foot biothane long line. If you want one setup that
Make the Call Fast, But Do Not Rush the Track If you have a hit you do not trust, call a tracking dog handler right now and stop walking. The biggest favor you can do for that dog is to
Pick One Dog, Don’t Overthink It If you want a house dog that can also track a deer well, I would pick the Dachshund. If you want a tougher all-around hunting dog that can track but also do birds, water,
Decide If You Want a “Blood Dog” or a “Deer Dog” If you want to train a dog to track wounded deer, you need two things: a dog with the right nose and drive, and a step-by-step plan that starts