Scout

When there’s snow in the forecast during hunting season, you can bet I’ll be heading to the whitetail woods. That’s for one simple reason: Snow shows deer patterns like a black light exposes invisible ink. Tracks are what tell the story. Whether it be to follow a buck on foot or verify the presence...

I’m a hunter and I’m colorblind. For a guy who has to follow a lot of blood trails, this is not a good combination. But I’m not alone. According to reports from San Francisco State University, about 5% of females and 8% of males have some form of colorblindness. This means there are likely hundreds...

Anyone planning to be an all-around woodsman needs to be able to identify oaks. In this video, I’ll go through the main ways to distinguish white oaks from red oaks and why it matters. Both have unique properties that cause wildlife to interact with them differently. This is an important skill to...

Whitetail hunters often think of food sources in a way that doesn’t do the deer’s adaptability justice. More often than not, this involves a serious focus on agricultural fields or food plots. Everyone knows deer love a picked cornfield or lush food plot full of clover, but what if you don’t have...

Spring means gobbling turkeys, pleasant temps, and more daylight. It’s also the start of a long offseason of whitetail scouting that spans the summer months and into fall openers. Unfortunately, it’s also the time that insects, spiders, snakes, and a host of other critters resurface. Depending on...

Hunters have an undeniable fascination with giant antlered, big-bodied bucks. If you've decided to take on the challenge of understanding mature bucks, you're in danger of becoming addicted and obsessed. However, studying mature bucks can also increase your fun in the woods. Mature bucks are king in...

Shooting lanes are not sexy. Whitetail fanatics don’t binge-watch shooting lane videos on YouTube or drool over artsy tree trimming pics on Instagram. Wow factor be damned—the art of trimming shooting lanes is crucial to deer hunting success. Yes, it is an art. Determining just the right time to cut...

Summer is the whitetailer’s season of anticipation. At no point during the year does the excitement rise more rapidly or to such a fever pitch than those last months leading up to opening day. For that reason, we deer hunters exert a whole lot of energy each summer seeking out, watching, and...

I have never had more trail cameras out in any given season than I do this year. It’s weird. While they are all out on private land, my season is split up pretty evenly between hunting those parcels and setting out on public where I have zero digital intel going. The difference between planning a...

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...

I know it seems a bit crazy for a dude living in Montana to expend so much energy on hunting white-tailed deer in Wisconsin. All I can say is, “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.” But I have more reasons than that. I’ve been hunting there since I was 11. I have an incredible...

I recently mentioned to a hunting buddy of mine that I already have some cameras out, along with one really good rut setup ready to go. He was a little surprised since our conversation happened before turkey season was fully played out. His mindset is a common one, and there’s nothing wrong with it...

The basics of shed hunting are well known, but the devil is in the details. Efficient use of time is the golden rule of shed hunting, so let’s not beat around the bush. Here are four simple tricks that will help you gain shed hunting success. Scout Like it’s Hunting Season The best DIY whitetail...

Shed hunting, from the outside looking in, can seem quite simple: walk a lot, look on the ground, and find antlers. But the search for whitetail sheds is rarely this straightforward. Consistent shed hunting success requires both an understanding of deer habitat and behavior, and a smart strategy...

Shed hunting is one of those outdoor pursuits that sounds easy: Walk some trails, check some fence crossings, and fill up your backpack with antler. If you’ve got primo spots and plenty of time, this is probably true (and you likely don’t need to read an article about why you suck at shed hunting...

Son of a bitch. That’s typically what runs through my mind when I see a buddy walking towards one of those spots while shed hunting. Maybe you know what I’m talking about. If you’ve shed hunted long enough, you’ll recognize that those spots almost always hold an antler or two. When this kind of...