“mature deer”

If outwitting big deer with a bow wasn’t consuming enough, Mike Gilbert is also addicted to trophy antelope hunting.

The Myth: Coyotes and other predators only prey on the sick and weak.

With this time of year comes some of the best whitetail hunting action in the country. Many hunters are content to climb into a stand and simply sit back and wait for a bruiser to walk by, which certainly can work. But to improve your odds and take a more active role in bringing in that buck try rattling to simulate a battle between bucks.

This month presents opportunities for a bowhunter or early-season muzzleloader hunter—if you don’t mess up first. Here’s how to score before the rut arrives.

While we know to hunt our treestands with discretion, knowing how much is too much is the key. Before we blow our cover, research sheds light in time for fall.

We all know mature whitetail bucks can be elusive, even nocturnal, but when you track them just after the season you find how simply neurotic they can be.

You see a buck across a field in the soft, late light of a summer evening. You tell yourself he isn’t really that big. The velvet on his rack in the diffused light is giving the buck cartoon proportions. But he is big enough. You next look at the woods beyond the buck and wonder how you can get him in your sights in autumn daylight. To make that happen you have to concede and understand a few things.

Hunters who pursue the monarchs of the West for the first time face steep learning curves if they don’t do their homework.