Tiny tracts can give up giant bucks—and have advantages big acreages don’t. Follow this fourstep plan for hunting one
In the fall of 2014, Mike Chamberlain killed one of the largest bucks tagged during the Minnesota season. The rack of the behemoth whitetail stood in stark contrast to the size of Chamberlain’s hunting property: The buck scored 198 B&C, yet Chamberlain arrowed the giant on a 5-acre chunk of timber that bordered his backyard.
Whitetail aficionados share a common fantasy—hunting a massive farm crammed with prime habitat, abundant food, and giant deer. Reality paints a different picture for many of us. Due to a number of factors (urban sprawl, rural development, a challenging farm economy, etc.), the large acreages that once dominated rural America are now parceled up. More and more of us are forced to hunt small, or not at all.
This story is from the August 2017 edition of Field & Stream.
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This story is from the August 2017 edition of Field & Stream.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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LIVING THE DREAM
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A Hop and a Pump
Jump-shooting rabbits with classic upland guns is about as good a time as you can have in the outdoors
Welcome TO camp
Is there any place better than a good hunting camp? It has everything: great food, games and pranks, and of course, hunting. Shoot, we don’t even mind going to camp for grueling work days in the summer. Here, our contributors share their favorite stories, traditions, and lessons learned from camps they’ve shared. So come on in and join us. The door’s open.
THE DEERSLAYERS
Before you even claim a bunk, you need to eyeball the hardware your buddies have brought. In the process, you’ll see that the guns at deer camp are changing. What was walnut and blued steel may now be Kevlar and carbon fiber. The 10 rifles featured here aren’t your father’s deer guns. They’re today’s new camp classics
THE JOURNEY TO PIKE'S PEAK
Last summer, the author and three friends ventured off the grid to a remote fish camp in Canada. They hoped for great fishing, but what they experienced was truly something else
Stage Directions
When early-season whitetails vanish from open feeding areas, follow this woods-edge ambush plan
Rookie Season
A pup’s first year, from preseason training to fall’s big show
