Written by Ed Haag

New Buckshot Pea blend offers an agronomic-based response to excessive pre-season deer grazing while extending the longevity of the food plot. The two questions most asked by those who grew white flower peas in their food plots last year was as follows: How do I keep the deer from devouring all my plants before opening day? And where can I get my hands on more of that crazy new deer candy?

Using an outside service to process your wild game can be hard on your wallet. You have considered processing wild game on your own, but had your concerns. Lack of equipment and personal expense seem like obvious obstacles to a DIY approach. However, eating the same old steak day after day can get old. In my search for meat variety I took a serious look at how to process my own game, how much it costs and amount of effort it takes.

Archery Deer Hunt Tar Hollow, Ohio

By Linda Kistler Burch


All was quiet as the final stages of the operation were nearing completion. The surgeon, a 30 plus year veteran, was asking for various tools and input from his team as he finished the task at hand. Blood was spattered everywhere but the patient thankfully was not conscious, a good thing since anesthetic was not available. As the final and exacting cuts were made, I reached out and put my hand in the body cavity, dipped it in the blood, and to his shock, proceeded to mark the doctor's face with it, one smear on each cheek.

Proper Calling, Rattling, Scent Use and Scent Control for Fast Action

Written by Chuck Smick


The buck came in at a fast pace, looking for the two bucks fighting. I had just finished my rattling and calling sequence, when the deer came in. The deer hung up behind some heavy brush. A couple of grunts on the Knight and Hale 'Translator'? grunt call pulled the buck into an opening for a shot.

HUNTING WITH TRADITIONAL METHODS AND TRADITIONAL TACKLE
Written By Chuck Smick

The doe froze when the other deer that she was with spooked slightly, as I prepared to take a shot at the big lead doe. She searched the area and spotted my frozen form. After a long stare-down, the big doe decided that she didn't like what she saw and blew out of bow range in a flash. Well, that's bowhunting eye level whitetails. I continued to still-hunt the area and saw the group of whitetails again, but these deer never presented another shot opportunity. I decided to hunt another area and moved on to scout this new area.

Use the Right Broadhead for the Job

Written By Chuck Smick


I spotted the grizzled animal as it moved through the brush searching for a cool place to lie up during the hot day. When I moved to position myself for a clear shot with my longbow, the big wild boar busted out of the heavy brush and out of sight. Who said wild hogs don't have good eyesight; along with their great hearing and an incredible sense of smell. Hunting wild hogs is extremely challenging and exciting and they can be a dangerous critter to hunt occasionally. These animals can provide hunters with incredible off season hunting opportunities for bowhunters in at least 39 states. They also can provide successful hunters with some great eating on the barbeque during the summer months too.

Written By Jon Nystrom



I got a call from a good friend Butch Hunter. It was a strange call. Not that I don't talk to Butch fairly often. We try to get together in the summer to catch a meal or two of fish. Butch sounded a little stressed. I asked him what was bothering him. Butch said I have too many bears on my property. I haven't seen a deer in weeks. I got this big bear maybe 500 pounds that watches tv everyday through my patio window.

I can't believe what just happened. Just 5 minutes ago I was snug in my sleeping bag dreaming of elk bugling and cows serenading love songs to a wanting bull. It all seemed so real and in fact it was.

Written By Linda Kistler Burch, copyright October 2010



I stood there in what should have been a Kodak moment: a brilliantly colored fall woods, the angled mid-day sun glinting through the trees, a walk in the woods for several hours, thanking God for strength and health and my many blessings and dragging a deer back to camp.

Written by Marlene Odahlen-Hinz



My husband, Jerry and I don't live on or near our hunting property s ofinding time to make improvements or just maintaining it can be frustrating. There is only a finite amount of vacation time I'm willing to give up because frankly, I'd just as soon use that precious time hunting the property rather than working it.

Written By Marlene Odahlen-Hinz



Everything has a specific odor. Bears don't smell like deer, deer don't smell like your golden retriever, and you're not going to confuse a slice of home made apple pie with a plate of deviled egg. An entire industry has been build around odor.

Written by Marlene Odahlen-Hinz


When we bought 80 acres in Western Wisconsin our goal was to manage it for wildlife. It was property we'd hunted for years so we were familiar with how the deer moved through it. Now that we actually owned it we knew we wanted to develop it for wildlife but since we were absentee landowners living 100 miles away we were very much aware that what ever projects we wanted to complete had to be done piecemeal. We prioritized a list of things we felt were important to improving the land in order to maximize our efforts with each visit to the land.

Written by Ed Haag



Recovery Plot Secrets Revealed

Just because it is already fall and your summer planted food plots appear to be failing there is no need to despair---a second try could be the charm . In the past if your food plots didn't show some serious growth by mid-September it was time to consider pulling the plug on Plan A and start looking for another site to set up your blind. 'Not so fast,' says plant breeder Kurt Braunwart. 'That might have been true in the past.

Written by Ed Haag

It is a problem most hunters would kill for but for some lucky individuals it is a legitimate question. What happens if the deer love your food plots too much? When Mike Vose, owner and operator of Buck Fever Food Plots and Feed Products, planted white flowered peas in August to see what type of response he would get from the local whtetails he was hoping they would honor him with a visit or two in the fall.

'Fit for a Queen'


By Linda Kistler Burch, copyright June 2010


Product review of Antler King Trophy Products Inc..
Back in 2003, I bought a product called 'Honey Hole' by Antler King Trophy Products, Inc. I had no idea what it was at the time. I had educated myself by reading and research about developing and farming food plots, and I had hunted several seasons and knew where I needed help. The Honey Hole packaging promised results without a lot of hoopla, so I decided to try it.

Written by Ed Haag




Just ask any rural gardener what not to plant when you have hungry deer in the neighborhood and the most likely response will be peas. That significance of that relationship between peas and deer is not lost on a growing number of savvy hunters who are now using the succulent annual as the primary buck attractant in their food plots. Mark Turner of Turner Seed Co, Winchester, Kentucky has watched the popularity of peas, as food plot fodder; grow, as the word on its effectiveness has spread across his state. 'Even though we increase our orders every year we have trouble keeping everyone supplied, he says. We have got customers who put in food plots every year who are crazy about these peas.

By Linda Kistler BurchPresident

WildTech Corporationcopyright May 2010


Last year I got an email from a customer in Japan, of all places, scolding me for alleged tree damage cause by all tack trail markers. He heard this through the grapevine but had no reference or scientific proof. At first I was defensive. But then, I always strive to consider the impassioned views of others, so I listened seeking to understand, but ready to refute. He was doing nighttime treasure hunt with friends and wanted to use FireTacks trail markers to guide him and his friends through remote areas in the dark. However, he understood that FireTacks are just that tiny tacks, with pins that affix to trees for forest navigation purposes.

Chasing Big Hogs in the Mountains with Stick and String
By Chuck Smick

Does a late season bowhunt for big stinky critters excite you? With deer season over; and turkey season a month or two away; do you still have a hankering to pursue big game still? If the answer is a resounding 'YES!'? then chasing wild hogs in the mountains of East Tennessee is what you may be searching for this winter, for some extra excitement and fun this year. Getting eyeball-to-eyeball with a big tusker will get your adrenalin going'? and maybe have you looking for a tree too! Another great attribute to this late season hunt is if you are successful, you'll have a cooler full of fresh fixings for barbeque and some great breakfast meals too.

It was November 5th 2009 and I was looking out the window at work. Sheets of rain were coming down almost horizontal with the strong wind. Trees were bending to the breaking point. I wondered if my special 3 day local Metro hunt the next day would be postponed. I am a diehard bowhunter some say but even I was hesitant to climb a tree in this down pour. I decided to get a second opinion. I am just dumb enough to hunt regardless of the weather. This time we had 15 hunters participating so we had more responsibility than just us few running the special hunt. I got on the internet and navigated to a local weather stations web site. I contacted the head meteorologist by sending him a quick email hoping some how he would make the bad weather go away. My email said:

Blood Trailing a Deer Can Take a Dedicated Effort



Written By Chuck Smick



Ben called and said 'Dad, I just stuck a six pointer; can you and Chuck come help me trail it?'? I quickly told Carroll that I would gladly come help him and Ben trail the wounded buck. Three people trailing a deer can be more successful than one can, at times. Three people dragging a deer out is DEFINITELY a big plus. This is especially true, if you have to drag a deer very far.

Minnesota Archery Opener 2009

By Linda Kistler Burch, copyright September 2009

Having taken just enough college psychology to be dangerous and irritating, my favorite crash test dummy for armchair analysis is myself. Understanding people is a fascination of mine and trying to figure myself out is too.

Why You Should Consider Using Tapered Arrows This Season

Written By Chuck Smick

Tapered arrows, with the weight forward of center on the front end of a shaft offer bowhunters many advantages, which parallel shafts do not offer. Traditional bowhunters and archers should seriously consider always using tapered shafts, whether they shoot wooden arrows or carbon arrows. Tapered arrows offer the advantages of better arrow flight, improved consistency of shots, extreme forward of center shaft mid-point (when set up correctly) and better penetration capabilities on game, when the correct broadhead is used for hunting. Compound bow shooters should also give tapered arrows the same consideration of choice as traditional bowhunters, for the same reasons.

Written By Jon Nystrom

All the planets aligned I was thinking. The bruin we had on camera was on his way into the bait. I could see him walk with confidence and without hesitation. It was clear he was the big bear on the bait. He was a good bear, too much of a bear to pass on. He walked to the bait and threw the logs aside. His head disappeared into the hole where the bait was. I came to full draw only to have the bear quickly swing around and quarter away from me. The stand off was on.

Written By Jon Nystrom

30 yards, 33 yards, 35 yards my hunting companion whispered to me. I can't see him I whispered back. I came to full draw waiting for the buck to enter my shooting lane. The hot doe walked in first. I strained to see the buck following her. Then he appeared. Now the dilemma should I take him or wait for a bigger one.

Bear Season 2009
By Linda K Burch copyright September 2009

The walk out was dark, through high grass, swamps and deep mud sometimes up to my knees. This egress was a wormhole through thick cover with branches grabbing at my face net, hat, gun and backpack, pulling me off balance. A couple times, I nearly belly flopped in the quicksand-like guckum. I heard coyotes howling a few hundred yards away. I imagined getting boogered down in mud up to my thighs, surrounded by coyotes who intended to make me their supper. My imagination is a good thing actually. Two hours before I thought I heard that familiar swooshing of forest understory, the only sound one hears when a bear is approaching, if one hears anything at all. I went to fever pitch adrenalin with my heart pounding in my ears in three seconds flat. Alas. It was only raccoons. Afterwards, I wilted from the lighting jolt of the excitement. Yes, I like my vivid imagination. And yes, I am a weekend adrenalin junkie.