How To Hunt Deer

Fall archery openers are right around the corner. Do you have a bead on the caliber of deer you’re after yet? Trail camera intel can be hit or miss, and can leave you scratching your head, wondering where the bucks might be. But have you really put much thought into your trail camera strategy? Why do you have your cameras where you have them? What intel are you hoping to see? Once you get a pictur...

The month of July is full of excitement for the deer hunter. Fall hunting seasons are just around the corner and the bucks are really beginning to show their potential for the fall. One really helpful tool for summer scouting that has come to market in the last few years is the cellular trail camera. These cameras provide you with real time data so you can make informed decisions when scouting and...

With hunting season only a couple months away, it’s time to start thinking about food plots. Some hunters believe they’re the ticket to tagging mature bucks each fall. Others avoid them, supposing daylight sightings of bucks are few and far between on food plots. What role should they play in your hunting strategy? And what goes into establishing a food plot that will attract deer? In this episode...

It’s officially summer. It’s hot, the woods are thick, and the water is calling your name. But for the die-hard whitetail hunter, the work never stops. It’s time to get boots on the ground for some summer scouting. While fighting ticks, thick vegetation and a three-digit heat index may not sound like a lot of fun, summer scouting can set you up for success this fall, especially if you’re covering...

Here in mid-June, many whitetail bucks are starting to pack on inches of antler growth at a steady rate. That means it’s time to get your trail cameras ready and in the field so you can formulate your game plan for the fall! We all love getting photos of big bucks, but are you really getting the most out of your trail camera photos? What if there’s a way to learn more from the data you collect? Th...

Over the last couple of years, saddle hunting has take the deer hunting industry by storm. What was the tool of choice for a rag-tag bunch of DIY tinkerers has quickly become mainstream with the surge of commercially available tree saddle options. If you’ve put much time into researching good tree stand options, you’ve probably come across tree saddles at some point. So it’s time to ask the questi...

Most whitetail hunters today, especially archery hunters, hunt from a tree stand of some sort. The days of nailing 2x4s to a tree and calling it good are behind us as deer hunters have rightly become a more safety conscious bunch. There are a ton of commercially available options today, but they aren’t all created equal. When choosing a tree stand, a little research and thought goes a long way tow...

Thanks to today’s high quality mapping technology, mapping apps have become an essential part of the serious whitetail hunter’s kit. Many of these apps now offer multiple mapping layers, live weather reports for your area, customizable pins, and even month by month aerial imagery. There’s no question that a great mapping app can help you be more confident and successful in the field. Unfortunately...

Choosing the right bow for you is really important. But don’t overlook the accessories! Quality accessories can go a long way in enhancing your bow’s performance and making the entire archery and bowhunting experience more enjoyable. But should you shoot a three pin or single pin sight? Drop-away rest or whisker biscuit? Stabilizer or no stabilizer? And what kind of release should you shoot? The c...

Ask ten different guys to name the best bow on the market for hunting whitetails and you’ll probably get ten different answers. When it comes to archery equipment, there is no such thing as one size fits all. There are a ton of variables to consider when choosing the right bow for you and the way you hunt. So how do you go about narrowing the field and finding the right bow? In this episode of the...

One of the most intimidating parts of getting into deer hunting is the buying gear. The options are endless, and almost everyone has strong opinions about go-to gear you simply can’t live without. Pair this with the top notch marketing of many great brands, and a guy or gal looking to get into the sport can feel lost. This is certainly true when it comes to selecting camouflage. So how do you pick...

In recent years, hunting terrain features has garnered tons of attention in the whitetail hunting world. Benches, saddles, draws, ridges, these words are often thrown around. But are we really capitalizing on them and how they influence the way whitetails flow through the properties we hunt? In this episode of the How to Hunt Deer podcast, Josh is joined by Dan Johnson, host of the Nine Finger Chr...

In recent years, many in the hunting industry have promoted a hardcore, laser focused, guerrilla warfare style of whitetail hunting. While there’s a lot to be said for this king of intensity, many folks would be well served by a healthy dose of diversification in their outdoor pursuits. Whether you’re hiking, foraging, fishing, hunting small game, or enjoying some other kind of outdoor recreation,...

In this episode of the How to Hunt Deer Podcast, Josh talks with Zach Ferenbaugh of The Hunting Public about how spring turkey hunting can make you a better deer hunter. Zach and the rest of the THP crew spend each spring on the THP Turkey Tour, traveling state to state hunting turkeys in lots different landscapes. Much of what they learn each spring while chasing longbeards serves them well each...

Sooner or later, every deer hunter wants to find a way to share the experiences they have in the field with others. Some will just tell stories, some will write about it, some will take photos, and a few will tackle filming their hunts. Filming hunts requires a whole new level of dedication and skill and can be extremely rewarding, or extremely frustrating.  In this episode of the How to Hunt Deer...

In this episode of the How to Hunt Deer podcast, Josh talks with Alabama big buck killing machine Michael Perry. Michael has had great success killing above average deer on heavily pressured public land in unforgiving terrain. Just last season he was fortunate enough to connect on the current Alabama muzzleloader record, a 195 6/8” bruiser. To what does Michael owe his success? Scouting, scouting,...

In this episode of the How to Hunt Deer podcast, Josh talks with K.C. Smith about how K.C. uses maps to scout for deer in the more open terrain west of the Mississippi. Map scouting can be a challenge in more open regions. As K.C. explains in this episode, areas often provide better cover and forage than what it appears to provide on the map. This means relating boots-on-the-ground scouting to map...

In this episode of the How to Hunt Deer Podcast, I catch up with Greg Litzinger to hear what he keys in on when map scouting for deer in the big woods and salt marshes of New Jersey. Greg, aka the Bowhunting Fiend, hunts highly pressured public land in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. All the competition means Greg needs every edge he can get to seal the deal on big bucks. Map scouting is one of the t...

On this episode of the How to Hunt Deer Podcast, Josh talks with Zach Ferenbaugh from The Hunting Public about map scouting for whitetails. Map scouting has become an indispensable tool for serious whitetail hunters. Mapping apps allow you to dissect aerial and topo imagery to  locate potential bedding areas, feeding areas, and travel routes the deer prefer. Until you actually put boots on the gro...

Serious whitetail hunters across the nation are hitting the woods in search of shed antlers. While our social media feeds fill up with piles of bone, it can be easy to become discouraged if we don’t have much to show for our efforts. If you want to become a better shed hunter, then this episode is for you! In this episode of the How to Hunt Deer podcast, Josh talks with Dwayne Jones of Shed Season...

This episode is part two of the conversation with Clint Campbell of the Truth from the Stand podcast. If you didn’t catch last week’s episode, we covered the ins and outs of building on your experience to help you become a better deer hunter. In this episode, we’re talking about expanding your property portfolio. One of the best things you can do to grow as a hunter and increase your effectiveness...

It’s February and deer-pression is setting in. While deer season is fading into the rearview, it’s time to pause and capitalize on all the experience gained during the 2021-22 season. Did you have the kind of deer season you wanted to have? Did you have the success you wanted? Did you perform at your best? Did you put yourself in the game? In this episode of the How to Hunt Deer Podcast, Josh catc...

On this episode of the How to Hunt Deer Podcast, Dan talks with the host of the Wisconsin Sportsman Podcast, Josh Raley, about some exciting transitions for the How to Hunt Deer Podcast. The guys also discuss post-season scouting, why Josh sucks at finding shed antlers, and what kind of content you can look forward to from the How to Hunt Deer Podcast in the months ahead.   How To Hunt Deer is Pow...

On this episode of the How To Hunt Deer podcast, Dan talks with deer biologist Matt Ross about deer behavior during the winter months. This is a very interesting episode for even the most seasoned hunters.  This whole episode revolves around how deer behavior changes after the breading season is over and they return to more of a bedding to feeding pattern. Matt goes in to detail about how their bo...

On this episode of the How To Hunt Deer podcast, Dan talks with Josh Honeycutt about the highs and lows of his hunting season thus far. Josh also walks us through how he plans to approach this late season timeframe to fill his remaining tags. Topics of discussion include what deer are eating this time of year, where they are living, and how and when they are moving. Another great episode full of i...