Whitetail Hunting Guide

5/21/2018 Whitetail Hunting Guide

1/10


2/10

1 Know the 5 Basic Types of

Deer Habitat

2 Start with a Scouting Walk

3 Know the 5 Basic Methods

4 Make the Call

5 Gear Up for Deer

6 Be Ultrasafe

7 Strap Yourself In

8 Commit These 10 Rules toMemory

9 Now Hear This

10 Get a Grip on Deer Senses

11 Know that the Nose Knows

12 Dont Move . . . or Wear

Blue

13 Cover Your Scent

14 Call Him Out

15 Read a Tale from the Tail

16 Think Different for Big

Bucks

17 Take a Personality Test

18 Know the Big 5 Deer

Foods 19 Seek Secondary Foods

20 Go to Grass

21 Dont Walk Past That Plow

22 Look High and Low for

Buck Beds

23 Know Your Rub

24 Read the Rub

25 Score During Scrape Week

26 Get the Dirt on Scrapes

27 Find Early Rubs and Scrapes

28 Use the Old .30-06 Trick

29 Take a Survey

30 Find a Monster Buck

at Home

31 Crash the Bachelor Party

32 Wait for the Prodigal Buck

33 Pick Your Fights

34 Know Your Deer

35 Dont Give Up 36 Check the Deer Forecast

37 Study the Storm

38 Nail Down Northern

Deer Yards

39 Bone Up on Winter

Bedding Areas

40 Study the Winter Shift

41 Find Those Winter Beds

42 Get on the White Track

43 Spring Into Action

44 Get the Right Stand for You

45 Find the Perfect Stand Tree

46 Hand a Treestand in

7 Minutes 47 Find Fall Beds in Spring

48 Hang It and Hunt It

49 Follow the Ground Rules

50 Cut It Out!

51 Get Good Glass Cheap

52 Assemble a $1,000

Deer Combo

53 Achieve Affordable Accuracy

54 Hunt Deer with an AR

55 Choose the Right Bullet

56 Choose the Right

Compound Bow

57 Dont Trade Accuracy

for Speed

58 Shoot a Stick and String

59 Get Off the Bench

60 Know Your Limits

61 Keep Shooting Simple

62 Dont Get Too Far Away 63 Get Good Form

64 Pay Attention to the Details

65 Go Long

66 Match the Arrow Spine

67 Make the Most of Practice

68 Shoot for the Heart

and Lungs

69 Take the Neck Shot, If

You Must

70 Watch that Front Shoulder,

Bowhunters

71 Age a Buck in the Field

72 Form a Hunting Group

73 Challenge the Boss Bachelors 74 Go Local if You Can

75 Hunt in the Heat

76 See a Good Moon Rising

77 Follow the Fake Deer Rules

78 Blow a Bleat

79 Know When Not to Use

a Decoy

80 Be Ready for the

Wide-Circling Buck

81 Tote a Rack

82 Get Real (or Not)

83 Creep In for the Kill

84 Get Down

85 Go Gillie

86 Try the Easy Oak Hunt

87 Hunt Rut Rubs and Scrapes

88 Hunt the High Wind

89 Get a Jump on the Chase

90 Kill a Midday Giant 91 Call the Chase

92 Learn 5 Lockdown Secrets

93 Take the Wheel

94 Take Driving Lessons

95 Find the Superfield

96 Hide in the Corn

97 Crowd a Buck

98 Wake Up Bucks

99 Shove Up a Buck

100 Get a Snowbound Buck

101 Meet Bucks for a Cold Lunch

102 Go Field Hopping

103 Walk in Circles

104 Get a Friend105 Stay on the Blood

106 Get Your Buck Out

107 Skin Your Deer

108 Get the Good Cuts

109 Bone Out the Best Cuts

CONTENTS


3/10

007

006005

008One of the many sea changes in deerhunting during the last 20 years is ahuge increase in the use of treestands.These treestands carry inherent risks.and you should know what they are.Should you fall out of a stand, theres achance you will walk away a littlebruised. Theres a better chance youllsprain or break something. And theresa real chance you will be evisceratedby your tree steps on the way down,break a leg when you hit the ground,

and be left to die in the woods, alone.So while we are on the subject of

stupid things, Ill point out that one ofthe very dumbest a deer hunter can dois to go hunt from a treestand withoutusing a safety harness, which, whenattached to the tree, prevents you f romfalling. Last year, far fewer hunterswere injured by bullets or broadheadsthan those who ended up injured intreestand accidents. Most of thoseinjured were not wearing a harness.

GEAR UP FOR DEER

STRAP

YOURSELF IN

In hunting, the soundest policy is to be overly cautious. The first rule in gun safety, forexample, is to always treat a gun as if it were loaded even when you know perfectly wellthat it is not (see above). Why? Because it guards against stupidity. Why? Because theaverage person does something stupid between, like, 8 to 10 times a day. Just go on theInternet. As research for this, I killed a hal f hour on YouTube watching people fell treesdirectly onto their cars and houses.

The most dangerous thing in the deer woods is swagger, or overconfidence. Neverassume that you cant do something dumb. Dont think, I could never mistake a personfor a deer or I could never pull the trigger without meaning to. Instead, double- andtriple-check your target. Keep your safety on until the moment before you shoot. Alwaysassume you could do something s tupid, and guard against it by being overly cautious.

BE ULTRASAFE

Heard them before? Good. Theyshould never escape your mind.

RULE 1Assume every gun is loadedand treat it accordingly.RULE 2Unload your gun wheneverits not in use.RULE 3Be certain of your targetand what lies beyond.RULE 4Keep your guns safety on

until youre ready to shoot.RULE 5Keep your finger off of thetrigger until youre ready to shoot.RULE 6Wear at least the requiredamount of hunter-orange clothing.RULE 7Know your safe shootinglanes, especially when conducting adeer drive.RULE 8Never walk around with anocked arrow.RULE 9Never drink and hunt.RULE 10Bring a cell phone andmake sure someone knows whereyou are and when youll be back.

COMMIT THESE 10

RULES TO MEMORY

You can go hunt deer with only a rifle, acartridge, some clothes (please), and a pairof boots. But you will do better and havean easier time of it if you also have, at aminimum, these accessories.

BINOCULARTo see a deer before theysee you. Get the best model that you canafford. A 10x42 binocular is best for opencountry. A light, compact 6x32 is perfectfor tracking or still-hunting in the big

woods. An 8x42 is a great all-purposechoice for deer hunting.

TREESTANDTo get you above a deersline of sight and to get your stink aboveits nose. It doesnt mean you wont getbusted, but it can certainly help you. Themore treestands you have, the better. Ifyou own just one, get a climbing stand,which will help you out in hunting manydifferent spots.

DEER CALLSTo lure deer into shootingrange or stop moving deer for a standingshot. At the very least, you should have avariable grunt call, a bleat call, and a setof rattling antlers.

THREE COMPASSESAs Maine guideand friend Randy Flannery says, A GPSis powered by batteries. But the Earthsmagnetic field is powered by God. Whythree? If one breaks, which do you trust?

ROPEIf you are only going to carry onerope, make it 25 feet of 3/8-inch braidedpoly rope. This is the most versatile fordeer huntingnot too thick for pullingup a treestand, gun, or bow; not to thinfor dragging out a buck.

KNIFEA f ull-tang drop-point with afixed 21/2- to 4-inch blade and wood orbone handle is the traditional choice. Itswhat I carry. That said, a folder with a

good saw blade and extra tools sure ishandy.

FOLDING SAW AND CLIPPERSToclear out shooting lanes, build a naturalblind, quarter or bone out a buck in thebackwoods, cut a limb for a drag handle,and the list goes on.

TWO HEADLAMPSWhy headlamps?Because you are carrying too much othergear to have a hand left free to hold yourflashlight. Why two? Because the firstone is guaranteed to crap out at the verymoment you need it most.

DAY OR FANNY PACKYou need

something to carry all this stuff in.


4/10

032

033

If youve nailed down that big bucks corearea, the rut can leave you feeling like theprodigal sons father. Sunday-school lessonsa little hazy? Just like the rutting buck, theprodigal son left home, vamoosed, went outto sow his wild oats. But he returned, andso will your buck, most likely.

Whats the proof? In a recent study atChesapeake Farms, by wildlife managerMark Conner, bucks began moving more

extensively as the rut kicked in, frequentlyabandoning their original core areas andoccasionally roaming beyond their homeranges. But heres the kicker: Most of themreturned within 8 to 32 hours. If a buckwas faithful to a core area in the pre-rut,said Conner, he was coming back. Also,since the activity recorded by sensors onthe GPS collars indicated that returningbucks were mostly idle, its safe to assumethat those bucks came back to their coreareas to rest up. A nd theres one more bigthing. Are you sitting down? The data alsoshowed that most bucks made the returntrip during daylight hours.

In other words, two of the most widelyheld assumptionsfirst, that rutting buckswill not return to their core areas until therut is over, and second, that hunting coreareas is a waste of time during the rutaredead wrong. So if youre among the manyhard-core whitetail hunters who work hardat nailing down the core areas of individualbucks, you can rejoice! The rut isnt a timeof despair. You just need to keep the faith,brother. Set up in a funnel leading in andout of a core areas best bedding cover, beprepared to sit all day, and wait your buckout. According to this study, theres a greatchance youll kill something far bigger thanthe fatted calf.

WAIT FOR THE

PRODIGAL BUCK

PICK YOUR FIGHTS

If you think the peak of the rut is the besttime to rattle in a buck, youre rightbutmaybe not the biggest buck. This is justone of the things that whitetail researcherMickey Hellickson proved during a two-year study conducted on an 8,000-acreTexas ranch. Hellickson placed observersin elevated blinds, and then had someonerattle a set of antlers at ground level. Histeams conducted three 10-minute rattlingsessions in a wide variety of areas and inall kinds of weather. Here are five keylessons they learned that you can put touse for yourself this fall.

1. GET UP EARLYRattling sessions inthe morning got the most responses frombucks, followed by afternoons. Middaywas the worst time to rattle.

2. CHECK THE WEATHERLow windspeed, cool temps, and 75 percent cloudcover proved to be the ideal conditions forproductive rattling.

3. WAIT FOR A GIANTDuring the pre-rut, the first responders were the yearlingbucks, followed by some of the old bucks.During the peak rut, middle-aged bucks(3 1/2to 4 1/2years of age) responded best.The really old boys came in during thepost-rut period.

4. PLAY IT LOUD, MOSTLYAs a rule,loud rattling brought in the most bucks, asyou might expectwith one fascinatingexception. When truly old bucks came tothe antlers in the post-rut, softer rattling(ticking the horns and grinding the bases)was more effective.

5. GET HIGHGround-level rattlers onlylaid eyes on 33 percent of the bucks thatwere spotted by the elevated observers,which just goes to show that many bucksmay approach the sounds of a f ight butnot totally commit. This makes rattlingfrom a treestand a good idea.


5/10

053

054

ACHIEVE AFFORDABLE

ACCURACY

By happy coincidence, this is also the Hyper-Accuracy for Peanuts era of bolt-actionrifles. I declare this because, after spotting an emerging trend at the 2012 Shot Show,David E. Petzal and I tested five new or newish bolt-action rifles that retail for around$500 or less. At the range, two of the five guns averaged three-shot groups of nearly aminute of angle. The other three shot well underunder, I saya minute of angle.And they just so happened to be the three least expensive guns.

They were, in ascending order by accuracy:

HUNT DEER

WITH AN AR

The first hunting AR-15s to hit the market were works inprogress at best. But with the feedback from a growingnumber of AR-toting deer hunters, the manufacturers arestarting to get it all right. The latest stocks are adjustable;triggers are infinitely crisper; and hand guards are free ofPicatinny rails except where needed. Whats more, as thebest new hunting ARs have slimmed down to a nimble 7pounds or less, the number of available calibers has been

beefed up to include a handful of deer-perfect rounds,including the 6.5 Grendel, 6.8 mm SPC, .30 RAR, and.300 Blackout. None of these three excellent examples ischeap, but you only need to buy a new upper to make ityour plinker or varmint rifle, too.

AMBUSH FIREARMS 6.8This camo carbine weighsjust 6 pounds and is chambered for 6.8 mm SPC, whichhas become a huge hit with hunters wanting a low-recoil,moderate-range whitetail cartridge. The Magpul MOEstock is adjustable, and the Geissele SSA trigger is justthis side of perfect. The hammer-forged barrel isguaranteed to produce MOA accuracy.

ALEXANDER ARMS LIGHTWEIGHT 18-INCH 6.5

GRENDELPushing 120- to 130-grain bullets, the 6.5mm Grendel has mild recoil but enough horsepower for

any whitetail, even at long ranges. This 7.5-pound riflehas a lightweight, carbon-fiber fore-end and adjustablestock, a great trigger, and a quality barrel cut to just theright length to make it a great a ll-around deer rifle.

PRIMARY WEAPON SYSTEMS MK116 MOD 1

RIFLE .300 BLK Weighing just 6 pounds, 7 ounces,the MK116 Mod 1 is lightweight, quick-handling, and isavailable in one of the newest AR cartridges, the .300Blackout, which shines as a mid-range, light-recoil roundfor whitetails and uses standard .223/5.56 mm magazinesto boot. The Geissele trigger is outstanding; the MagpulMOE stock and grip make for comfortable shooting; andthe free-floating fore-end enhances accuracy.

Each of these rifles has a real-world price tag of under $400, and the most accurate,the Marlin, sells at most shops for a paltry $330 or so. Not too long ago, sub-minute-of-angle performance cost big bucks, and so the dawning of the HAFP era may bring painto those whove already spent thousands for gilt-edged accuracy. However, especially inthe wake of the Great Recession, it should bring unbridled jubilation to any practical-minded hunter looking to buy a tack-driving deer rifle today.

If we are not debatingthe best deer rifles onthe Whitetail 365 blog,we are debating thebest deer cartridges. In2010 we launched ourfirst March bracket withthe Sweet Sixteen ofDeer Cartridges, as ingeneral-purpose riflecartridges. We put 16popular rounds head-to-head, and readersvoted for the winners.

Heres how the FinalFour went down.

BEST

DEER

CARTRIDGES

.270 WSM

.270 WIN

.30-06

.308

.30-06

CHAMPION

.30-06

.270 WIN

F & S

POLL

AVERAGE GROUP: .816"

SMALLEST GROUP: .446"





THOMPSON CENTER VENTURE

RUGER AMERICAN

RIFLE

MARLIN X7

G

OOD

BETTER

B

EST


6/10

068

069

070

SHOOT FOR THEHEART AND LUNGS

TAKE THE NECK SHOT,IF YOU MUST

The heart-lung arealocated between and extending behind the front shoulders of abroadside deeris the deadliest target for the vast majority of shooters. Thats becauseif you make the shot, the deer is dead, period, and because it is the most easily made ofthe deadly shots.

Compared to the throat patch, lower neck, or head (God forbid), the heart-lung areais a larger targetabout the size of a rugby ball with its nose wedged tightly betweenthe deers shoulder blades. Pop it, and you go home with venison.

With a gun and a good bullet you ca n shoot through the shoulder or brisket to getto those vitals, making broadside, quartering-away, quartering-to, or head-on shots allquite lethal. An arrow, however, may or may not penetrate through the shoulder, and tokill quickly it must either pierce the heart or puncture both lungs. This means that thebroadside and quartering-away shots are the only real high-odds opportunities. So, besure to wait for them.

In his book Shots at Whitetails, LarryKoller praised the throat patch shot to gunhunters. Any shot into the upper third ofthe deers neck, he wrote, is so decisive inresult that this writer has yet to hear of adeer moving from its tracks after being hitin this area . . . [L]ower neck shots seem tohave much the same effect on deer as the

quick removal of a head with an axe has onthe Thanksgiving turkey. A good neckshot does the job, but its a small target formost hunters If all you have is a neck shot,and youre confident you can make it, fine.Otherwise, shoot for the heart-lung area.

I hear a lot of deer hunting stories fromfellow bowhunters. Inevitably, a small butnot insignificant percentage of them startsomething like this: I thought I hit himperfectly, right behind the shoulder . . .Yet the hunter couldnt have hit the deerperfectly because he either failed to recover

the animal or only found it after an arduoustracking job.Bowhunters need to redefine a perfect

shot, which has likely been influenced bythe 3-D targets we use for practice. Mostfull-body deer targets sport a neat little 10-ring immediately behind the animalsfront elbow, over an area that would resultin a heart-shot deer. No doubt, putting anarrow in a real buck here is a quick kill.

But there is something critically wrongwith this shot: It leaves too little room forerror. And when your eyes are tearing fromthe cold and your knees wobbling under the

influence of buck fever, errors are all toocommon in the field. If you do not makethis perfect shot perfectly, the likelihoodof disaster becomes roughly a coin toss. Ifyou miss too far back, youll probably beokay. But if you miss forward, the arrowwill find the shoulder, the brisket, or leg

none of which are at all good.The solution is simple. Forget the 10-ring on a 3-D target. Erase that perfectshot from your mind and replace it withone a few inches farther backthat is,roughly on the center of the lungs, whichare about the size of a basketball, perhaps,or slightly smaller.

If your arrow flies perfectly, your deeris dead. If the shot is a little off, theres alot of lung surrounding your new 10-ring.Get anywhere close to it with a sharpbroadhead and you will find your deer.

WATCH THAT FRONTSHOULDER, BOWHUNTERS

SHOT WITH A BOW OR A GUN

SHOT WITH A GUN

SHOOT THE HEART AND LUNGS


7/10

086 087 088HUNT RUT RUBS

AND SCRAPES

Youve heard many times that bucksabandon rubs and scrapes once thebreeding season kicks into full swing.Thats largely true. But there are someimportant exceptions that can helpput a rutting buck in your sights now.They are as follows.

CORE-AREA SIGN

Most of the rubsand scrapes that a buck made in andaround his core area during the pre-rut are ignored now. But even at thepeak of the rut, a buck will still makeregular return visits to his core areaand he may freshen those rubs andscrapes, or make new ones.

DOE-AREA SIGNRutting bucks doalso open new rubs and scrapes justoff of prime doe feeding and beddingareas. This sign may be active for onlyfor a short time, but it can draw visitsfrom multiple bucks when a memberof a doe family group is nearing or inestrus. Remember to keep an eye outfor steaming hot rubs and scrapes totip you off that bucks are active in thearea right now, and to help pinpointthat activity. This can be a great placeto hang your stand or to still-hunt ifthe wind is right. As with core areas,use trail cameras or speed-scout atmidday to check for freshened sp oor.With bucks preoccupied with doesand moving unpredictably, you canget away with more intrusionsandhunting that fresh sign as soon as youfind it can really pay off.

HUNT THE

HIGH WIND

A stiff breeze is the kiss of death forhunting on most days, according toTim Walmsley, an Illinois whitetailexpert. But during the rut, I makesure Im in the woods on a blusteryday. Big deer will be moving.

But why would a rocking wind getbucks rolling? First, says Walmsley,high winds typically usher in a coldfront following hot weather, offering

physical relief for deer. Second, pre-estrus does, tired of being harassed bybucks, figure that they can escape theirsuitors more easily when wind coverstheir movement and noise, so theyreup and about. Bucks will start catchingwhiffs of doe scent all over and will runaround trying to find the females. Thisbuilds upon itself in layers until youget a kind of chaos.

Meanwhile, gusty conditions makeit harder for deer to hear and easier forany hunters to go undetected. What smore, windy-day bucks tend to takerefuge in predictable places, makingthem simpler to find. They head to avalley, bowl, creekbottom, a stand of

dense timber, or the lee side of a hill,Walmsley says.When the wind is pushing hard in

one direction, I head straight towardthese spots, he adds. Walmsley hasfound that its helpful for him to listento a radio to learn when the wind willhit. As soon as it does, I pile out of mystand and nearly run to get closer toprotected bedding cover, expectingbucks will move. I settle in until theaction stops or I stop a buck.

TRY THE EASY OAK HUNT

Ironically, smack in the middle of one of the seasons toughest times (Octoberlull) is one of the seasons easiest opportunities. You can miss it completely ifyoure not paying attention. But if you are, if you monitor the oaks closely andare quick to notice when the deer suddenly shift their feeding focus to acorns,acorns, acornsthen you are in for a simple, high-odds hunt.

When deer start hammering the oaks, they usually tend to favor a single treeor clump of trees above al l others. Its not hard to see it. Leaves are turned over,pawed, and indented with heavy tracks. The area is littered with droppings andpartially eaten acorns. And this is key: Bucks often open brand-spanking newrubs and/or scrapes nearbyand at a time when only larger bucks are making

such sign. The plan is simple. Hang up a stand right over the best sign in theafternoon and wait.


8/10

106GET YOUR

BUCK OUT

Youve probably heard that the real workof deer hunting doesnt begin until yourbuck is down. Thats often true. But withgood planning, getting your deer out canstill be relatively painless. The first thingto do is carefully map out the easiest wayback to your vehicle or camp. Keep inmind that this is rarely the straightestpath. Use the terrain and available trails toyour advantage. If you expect the drag tobe difficult, remember: This is why you

have hunting buddies. Any of these threetools can help, too.

DRAGSThe simplest commercial dragsare basically a 9-inch rubber-coatedhandle attached to a loop of braidednylon. Wrap the loop around the base of abucks antlers, pass the handle through theopen end, and pull. Deluxe models mayuse an adjustable shoulder harness of2-inch webbing, leaving your hands freeto carry a gun or bow.

SLEDSLess compact but far more helpfulare sleds. The best are constructed ofsmooth, durable plastic that rolls up into apackable, lightweight scroll. When

unrolled and loaded down with a deer,they make bare ground feel as slick assnow and snow as slick as ice.

CARTSWheeled game carts are theheaviest and most expensive haulers, buton relatively level ground, they providethe easiest going, and most fold up into acomparatively small and lightweightpackage that you can carry on your backinto a wilderness base camp. With anyluck, youll be wheeling it out.


9/10

107

109

108

BONE OUT

THE BEST CUTS

SKIN YOUR DEER

I hang my deer head down from a gambrel for cooling and aging, which keeps theblood from draining into the best meat. And I skin it that way, too, using these steps.

STEP 1Lower the carcass so the hams are roughly eye level and the head is touchingthe ground, which helps keep the critter f rom swinging as you work.

STEP 2Starting at the groin, slip your knifes point under the skin, blade up, and cuta long slit up from the bottom of one ham past the knee. Repeat on the other side.(Dont worry about hair on the meat during the skinning process, youll rinse it beforemoving on to trimming.)

STEP 3Loosen the skin around each knee and cut all the way around each joint.Grab and peel the skin off the back legs anddown to the tail.

STEP 4Sever the tailbone and then keeppeeling all the way down to the frontshoulders, using your knife when necessaryto help free the skin.

STEP 5Cut the front legs off at theknee. (Its good to have some sharp loppingshears handy for this.)

STEP 6Starting at the chest opening,slip your knife under the skin and cut along slit along the inside of each frontleg to the severed end. Peel the skin off

the legs, then over the shoulders, thenall the way down to the base of theneck, using your knife as necessary.

STEP 7Slice through the meat of theneck with a knife and cut through thespine with a saw.

GET THE GOOD CUTS

Many processors offer bone-in cuts,but most do-it-yourselfers totallydebone their meat instead. Hereswhat works for me. Start with twolarge, clean pans. One is for meatwell categorize as goodthetougher, fattier, more sinewyportions that will become burger,sausage, jerky, stew meat, and pot

roast. The second is for bestthelarger, leaner, more tender cuts forsteaks, dry roasts, and kabobs. Setthat one aside for now.

STEP 1Detach the front legs bypulling one away from the bodywhile slicing between the leg andthe rib cage. Continue cuttingaround the leg, eventually between

the shoulder blade and the back.Repeat on the other side and setfront legs aside.

STEP 2Remove neck meat,brisket, and flank and toss into thepan. Since this will all be scrapmeat, its not important that you getit off in one nice piece. Hack it off

the best you can.

STEP 3Remove the shank meaton each hind leg. Now grab andremove all the meat from the frontlegs, putting it all, as well as anyremaining edible meat on thecarcass, into the good pan. Later,you can separate the best of it forstew meat and jerky.

After youve separated out the good-quality meat, its time to grab thatbest pan. Start by removing the backstraps. For each, cut long slits fromthe rump to the base of the neckone tight along the backbone, the othertight along the top of the ribs. Make a horizontal cut across these two slitsat the base of the neck and lift the backstrap while scraping along the bonebeneath with your knife to collect as much meat as possible.

On the rest of the hindquarter, natural seams of silverskin run betweenlarge muscles. Separate these muscles as much as possible by workingwetted fingers into the seams. Then just cut the muscles off the bone to getlargely seamless hunks of meat.


10/10

EditorAnthony Licata

VP, Group PublisherEric Zinczenko

2 Park Avenue

New York, NY 10016www.fieldandstream.com

President, CEO Terry Newell

VP, Publisher Roger Shaw

Associate Publisher Mariah Bear

Project Editor Ian Cannon

Creative Director Kelly Booth

Art DirectorWilliam Mack

DesignerBarbara GenetinCover DesignWilliam Mack

Illustration Coordinator Conor Buckley

Production Director Chris Hemesath

Associate Production Director

Michelle Duggan

All of the material in this book was originally

published in The Total Deer Hunter Manual,

by Scott Bestul and Dave Hurteau.

Weldon Owen would like to thank

Bridget Fitzgerald for editorial assistance.

2014 Weldon Owen Inc.

415 Jackson Street

San Francisco, CA 94111

www.weldonowen.com

All rights reserved, including the right

of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

Field & Streamand Weldon Owen are divisions of

Library of Congress Control Number

on file with the publisher.

ISBN 13: 978-1-61628-725-2

ISBN 10: 1-61628-725-x

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2014 2015 2016 2017

Printed in China by 1010

Documents

Whitetail Hunting Guide