Beat the October Lull: Where Mature Bucks Actually Go

The October lull gets blamed for empty sits across the whitetail woods, but the deer are still moving. They have shifted their patterns, and in most cases, they are circling the same tired stands hunters keep climbing into. The problem lies in where the hunter sits, not in how the deer behave. If...

By James Chen •

Spring Bear Hunting in Canada and Alaska: How to Plan Your Hunt

Where to hunt spring bears in Canada and Alaska, when seasons run, where baiting is legal, and how to get your rifle and trophy across the border. The post Spring Bear Hunting in Canada and Alaska: How to Plan Your Hunt appeared first on AllOutdoor.com.

By Ben Ryder •

Feral Hog Hunting: How to Hunt, Trap and Cook Wild Pigs

How to hunt feral hogs in Texas and beyond: licenses, night hunting, shot placement, trapping a whole sounder and cooking wild pork safely. The post Feral Hog Hunting: How to Hunt, Trap and Cook Wild Pigs appeared first on AllOutdoor.com.

By Ben Ryder •

Picking the Right Goose Load: Shell, Shot and Payload

Geese are among the toughest birds a waterfowler will ever try to put on the ground. A mature Giant Canada averages upward of 14 pounds, with the biggest birds reaching 20, and all that mass comes wrapped in heavy plumage, dense muscle, and hearty bone and cartilage. That heft is exactly why load...

By James Chen •

Machine Gun Theory and Doctrine

The Russo-Japanese War was one of the first major conflicts in which two modern industrial powers employed machine guns extensively against one another. Russian forces primarily used the Maxim machine gun, while the Japanese increasingly used the Hotchkiss machine gun. Both armies initially had r...

By Lynndon Schooler •

Three Mule Deer Hunts That Taught Me the Hard Way

Every hunter remembers the bucks they tagged. But the hunts that teach the most are usually the ones that fall apart. Michael “Micky” Luby puts it plainly: the hunts he botched outright shaped him far more than the successful ones ever did. Steven Rinella made a similar point when he ...

By James Chen •

Beating Bugs and Bucks in the Early Southern Season

Early-season deer hunting in the South means fighting two battles at once: staying still enough to kill a mature buck, and keeping the mosquitoes off you while you do it. The heat and humidity alone make sitting a treestand a chore, and mosquitoes stay prevalent throughout much of the South well ...

By James Chen •

The Wildest Waterfowl Bands Hunters Have Ever Recovered

A metal leg band carries an eight- or nine-digit sequence that records the bird’s age, sex, and where it was banded. Report one, and you receive a certificate telling you when and where the bird was banded. Since the U.S. government’s program began in 1920, the federal effort has tagg...

By James Chen •

How a Homebound Buck Betrayed a 287-Pound South Carolina Giant

The lesson in this story concerns deer behavior, and it is one you can put to work on your own ground. Archibald Rutledge held that an old buck keeps a home range he loves, and that even after being run out, shot at, or wounded, he returns to that home within a week or ten […] The post How ...

By James Chen •

18 Veteran Tricks for Fooling Big Bucks in October

October is the hinge of the whitetail season. It connects the steady, early-season patterns with the chaos of the rut, which means the bucks you want are neither fully nocturnal nor fully reckless. Mature deer in this window are summer-fat, heavy-coated, and reluctant to move in daylight, and hun...

By James Chen •
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