Brow Tines and Backstrap

Our deer blog is one of the longest-running and most popular ones out there. This is where we cover all things deer hunting, from experts and whitetail trivia to news, gear, and hardcore hunting advice. Whether you need to know how to test the soil in your food plot, tighten the groups from your crossbow, or scope out the latest on that big buck you saw online, you've landed around the right campfire. Pull up a seat and join us.

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Podcast: How the Grunt Call Came to Be

June 2, 2022   |  Brow Tines and Backstrap

Brad Harris was high in a tree in Mingo Swamp in southeast Missouri when a 6-point buck walked by at about 80 yards. Harris doesn’t remember the exact year, but it was in the ’70s. He was working in the mines back in those days, and he was among several...

Choose the Best Knife for Deer Hunting

June 2, 2022   |  Brow Tines and Backstrap

You can gut and skin a buck with a penknife or a Bowie or any blade in between, but to do the job right, select a tool designed with the deer hunter in mind. Fixed Blade with Gut-Hook If you haven’t tried a fixed-blade knife with a gut-hook, you should...

Sunday Hunting, Deer Harvest Totals, Studies on Spooked Bucks, and More

May 12, 2022   |  Brow Tines and Backstrap

Georgia Hunters: Debone Your Deer Georgia hunters, listen up. No more shooting a buck or doe over in Alabama or South Carolina (or any state for that matter), loading it in the bed of your pickup, and driving home with your bounty. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp recently signed House Bill...

4 Ugly Facts About Ticks

May 12, 2022   |  Brow Tines and Backstrap

We all hate the nasty little devils, but ticks are largely unavoidable as we do habitat work and start scouting and hanging treestands in the summer and early fall months. Here are four things to know about ticks, along with a few tips to stay tick-free and healthy. Ticks can...

CWD in Alabama and the Cheapest States for Deer Hunting

April 18, 2022   |  Brow Tines and Backstrap

How Long Do Deer Live? Researchers in Pennsylvania looked back at their 20 years of data from capturing, collaring, and tracking wild deer, and found that if a buck survives to his first birthday, on average he will live another one to two years. If a doe survives her first...

Find a Deadhead Buck? Keep it Legal

April 1, 2022   |  Brow Tines and Backstrap

To you thousands of COVID-19 newbies that have joined our ranks to hunt deer in the fall and shed antlers in the spring, here is something you’ll find interesting. A “deadhead” is the commonly used term for a buck deer carcass that you might stumble across in the woods, with...

Is a Trail Camera Ban Coming to a State Near You?

March 17, 2022   |  Brow Tines and Backstrap

Earlier this year Utah joined Arizona and Nevada in banning the use of all trail cameras for hunting. Montana prohibits the use of cellular cams during hunting season. Could similar restrictions move eastward to states where millions of us chase whitetails, and where millions of us use trail cams extensively...

2020 Season Had Highest Buck Harvest in 21 Years

March 3, 2022   |  Brow Tines and Backstrap

We’re killing older bucks and more bucks than ever in America. That’s the overpowering message of the 2022 Deer Report compiled by the National Deer Association (NDA). The NDA reports that hunters across the United States killed an estimated 3,041,544 bucks in the 2020-21 season, the most in 21 years...

The Right Way to Clean and Store Your Hunting Rifle

February 24, 2022   |  Brow Tines and Backstrap

Deer season is over, and now is the perfect time to give your rifle a thorough annual cleaning. Store your gun in a secure and rust-free environment and it will be in good working order when you break it out for a range session in a few months. Gun-Cleaning Gear...

Debate Settled: Deep South Deer are the Toughest to Hunt

February 17, 2022   |  Brow Tines and Backstrap

One muggy morning in early February I sat in box blind in south Alabama and waited for the sun to shine. At 6:30 I saw a doe. Two hours later a fawn straggled through. Nine hours later I caught movement in the growing dusk, a buck! His rack had 4...

Tips for February Coyote Hunting

February 10, 2022   |  Brow Tines and Backstrap

When deer season closes here in Virginia, my friend Rick is not ready to hang up his camouflage just yet. “Hunting coyotes in the winter extends my time in woods,” he says. “I’m not the greatest caller, but coyotes are mating now, and some days they run to my calls...

Nasal Bots: Deer Parasites Straight Out of Nightmares

January 31, 2022   |  Brow Tines and Backstrap

A few weeks ago, I was caping out the skull of a buck my buddy Phil killed with us during the December muzzleloader season. We’d already trimmed and packaged the venison, and just needed to boil and clean the skull for Phil’s drive home to New York. As I was...

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