To Kill Mature Bucks, Go Somewhere Else

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I had an interesting phone conversation with deer researcher Dr. Mark Conner while I was working on an article for Quality Whitetails. Mark, who works in Maryland, has led a number of recent groundbreaking studies of buck movements and home-range characteristics using GPS tracking collars placed on deer. We were talking about “sanctuaries,” and Mark told …

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Build a Stalking Trail

| By Dr. Mickey Hellickson
In my article in Quality Whitetails magazine titled “Paradise Under Construction,” I described the initial deer management practices my brother Jason and I implemented on a 350-acre farm we purchased in southern Iowa. One of the habitat features we discussed was “stalking trails,” which allow us to hunt more effectively on the ground. My idea …

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Create a Buck Funnel

| By Dr. Mickey Hellickson
A habitat feature that I love to design is a funnel to bottleneck buck movements at specific ambush sites. All deer, including mature bucks, are surprisingly lazy and, unless they are pressured, will nearly always select the path of least resistance. Several funnel techniques have been described in previous articles by others, such as altering …

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Bottled Bucks – Map 1

| By Paul Knox
Years ago, a friend who was a very successful bowhunter told me, “If you want to kill big bucks, you have to hunt where big bucks live, and then you have to bottle em’ up!” The first part seemed obvious, but back then I was still learning, and he could see by the puzzled look …

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Bottled Bucks – Map 2

| By Paul Knox
Bottled Bucks No. 2 The only thing better for a stand site than a single well-used runway is a second one crossing it! The crosshairs effect can bring twice as many bucks by a stand, and I found just such a place where an old farm lane cut between two adjacent wood lots. The only …

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