Feral hogs are one of the country’s great ecological disasters. Few pests are more difficult to control, or more immediately detrimental to native ecosystems. In fact, some biologists consider hogs to be the most destructive invasive species on the planet. Though their spread across the United States has been slowed...
When I moved on from squirrels to hunting deer with my dad in the 1970s, there were about 200,000 whitetails in Virginia. Today, we’ve got five times that many. In the 1980s and ’90s, we went from “if it’s brown it’s down” to the “big buck” era. Whitetail management was...
Is there really such a thing as a “tough” game animal? After all, a bullet or arrow through the vitals will do the job on anything, from squirrels to elephants, right? That’s true. But equally true is that some critters, due to the size of their vitals, thickness of hide,...
A talking head on outdoor TV puffs his chest and declares, “Man, the full moon is the worst time to hunt!” Sounds pretty good, and you buy it. Your daddy told you never to overhunt a spot, and you never doubt Pops. Stands to reason that if another hunter tromps...
If you’re in the market for a new bow, 2021 is looking to be a good year to buy. The heavy hitters of the compound bow world continue to innovate, with new materials and features to push the envelope on performance, handling, and value. Here’s a quick look at 11...
Eric Hale grew up hunting in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. He watched a lot of hunting videos, including from the likes of Bill Jordan and David Blanton. “I began chasing mature bucks in my mid 20s and took my first mature [one] on public ground,” Hale says. “It...
In a perfect world, once deer season ends, we’d all go back to our hunting land, pull our treestands, carry them home, and store them in a locked shed where they’ll stay dry and safe until it’s time to hang them again next fall. If you only use two or...
Phillip Vanderpool, co-host of The Virtue, is well-known as a big-buck expert. He's tagged some genuine dandies over the years and last season, he added yet another stud of a buck to the wall. The story behind this deer is even more impressive than the antlers, too. Vanderpool has subleased...
Mention planting for deer, and most hunters automatically assume you are talking about food plots. There is no doubt that a nice food plot will attract and hold deer in an area. But planting trees and shrubs can also be an excellent way to improve the hunting on your property,...
In my formative deer hunting years, I’d park an extra quarter mile from my hunting area, throw a climbing stand on my back, and hike all the way to my tree. Often as not I’d spook a deer somewhere along the way. Back in those days, too, I’d sometimes listen...
Georgia-Kate McFerrin, daughter of Mike and Bonnie McFerrin, is a lifelong deer hunter. She was raised in the outdoors, and it’s a part of everyday life for this family. All of them contribute to " The Legends of the Fall " hunting show. “I’m 21 years old and have spent...
Scott Bestul was looking forward to an evening hunt in southern Minnesota. It was a 25-degree November afternoon with snow on the ground, and Bestul — a 40-year veteran of the deer woods and longtime whitetails columnist for Field & Stream — knew it was likely to be a good...
