Deer

DEER SEASON, DONE RIGHT.

Before you head into the whitetail woods, browse our extensive collection of deer hunting videos and articles. For beginners and experts alike. From thrilling hunts to helpful hints, there’s always something to learn from watching the country’s top whitetail hunters ply their craft — and whole a lot to enjoy.

Filter

First Deer Hunts Stay with Us for a Lifetime

Dry leaves covered the ground, thinner along the crests of ridges, then deeper in the valleys between. The air smelled like wood smoke, anticipation and December. The deer hunter among my Old Men walked at a brisk clip and I panted and hustled to keep up, a heavy rifle weighing on my shoulder, my heavy clothes already filling with sweat.

Big Game, Deer

The Day Outdoor Writer John E. Phillips Almost Died

As we both lay on the ground together, I tried to determine what had happened. I also wanted to make a quick check of my body parts to make sure they were all intact. I could hear Dixon asking, “Bubba are you okay? Bubba are you okay?”

Big Game, Deer, Mossy Oak, Bow

The Albino Whitetail Deer: A Guide

Discover the mystique of the albino whitetail deer with this guide. Join Mossy Oak for captivating stories and insights into these enchanting creatures.

Big Game, Deer, Mossy Oak Gamekeepers

Cuz's Grandson Matt Takes His First Deer

He could look at the deer and then the drawing with the X drawn right behind the shoulder. He did that a couple of times and whispered, “Pop, I can shoot him right there.” I leaned over, so I could see he was indeed on the doe and told him, “Whenever you’re ready, squeeze the trigger on the crossbow.” I pushed the safety off the crossbow and watched almost in disbelief as the arrow disappeared

Big Game, Deer, Bow

Tales from the Field

My deer hunting trip with my grandson Matt Ellis was supposed to be just a dry run. I’d been introducing myself to the ins and outs of a crossbow with the hopes of getting some family members to go bowhunting. I never even had held a crossbow or shot one. But I quickly learned I may have been missing something. In the process of getting myself and other family members familiar with the horizontal archery

Big Game, Deer, BioLogic, Mossy Oak

Bringing Bucks to Decoys

When using decoys it is important that you use the right decoy and accompanying stimuli to influence the specific deer you’re after to interact with your set-up scenario. These tips should help.

Big Game, Deer, How-To, Mossy Oak Gamekeepers

Curtis Goettsch on Tactics for Hunting Iowa’s Late Season Agriculture

Late season in Iowa usually occurs after shotgun season - from Christmas until January 10. This time usually includes late muzzleloader season, but for me it’s bowhunting only. At that time of the year, the rut is usually over, the weather is extremely cold, and most often our area has snow. The bucks have about depleted their fat content from chasing does so much during the rut. Now they're in survival mode and need high-energy

Big Game, Deer, Mossy Oak

Curtis Goettsch on Hunting the Rut on Small Woodlots Adjacent to Agricultural Fields

From the last week of October until the second week of November - give or take a few days on either side of these two dates - is when I'm hunting for rutting bucks in Iowa. My favorite time to hunt the rut is just before the beginning of the rut. I target my rut hunting around Halloween - the last few days of October and the first few days of November, and that’s when

Big Game, Deer, Mossy Oak

Curtis Goettsch Tells About Early Season Deer Ice Cream – Green Browse Food Plots

Although the deer where I hunt in Iowa have plenty of crop fields to feed on, bowhunters who hunt agricultural fields often make the mistake of forgetting that deer are browsers and like a wide variety of food. Just like hunters eat steak, they’ll get tired of eating steak all day every day. I plant what I call green browse food plots - small food plots for deer that are a mix of clovers.

Big Game, Deer, Mossy Oak

Curtis Goettsch on the Secret to Early Season Agricultural Bow Bucks

Even though quite a few deer bed in the crops in the early season, still some deer prefer to bed in the woodlots. Also when the acorns start dropping, there will even be more deer activity moving back and forth from the timber to the crops.

Big Game, Deer, Mossy Oak, Bow

Curtis Goettsch on Deer Hunting Iowa

Curtis Goettsch, who lives in Cresco, Iowa, first wore military camo given to him by a friend. “I wore that army camouflage until I could save enough money to buy real camouflage,” Goettsch says. Then he purchased a Mossy Oak suit, and he's never changed his choice of camo. He joined the Mossy Oak Pro Staff in 2010 and is a nationally-recognized turkey caller and avid deer hunter. “I feel extremely fortunate to have been

Big Game, Deer, Mossy Oak

Secrets for Consistently Taking Bucks off Small Properties

Most of the time trees will drop acorns about the same time every year. Although the time may vary somewhat, I at least know when to start looking for the nuts to fall. Then some years certain trees won’t produce nuts. I’ve learned that as soon as trees start dropping their acorns, that’s when the deer will show up. I want a tree stand I can hunt from when each individual tree is dropping its

Big Game, Deer, Land Management, Mossy Oak, Firearm

Fooling Whitetails

Allen Conners of Gadsden, Alabama, has won the title of World Champion Target Archer numerous times. He’s captured the Archery Shooters Association Shooter of the Year award, the Cabela’s Championship and the Buckmasters World Championship. The pro notes that over the years he’s learned that some little, simple things often cause hunters to miss chip shots at big bucks in front of their broadheads. Here, he helps us fix a few of those things so

Big Game, Deer, Bow

Parrish Elliott on the Hunting Aids He Uses and Why

What I have the most confidence in and have been using the most often is the Mossy Oak ScoutLook Weather DeerLog app that I have on my cell phone and on my laptop computer. I won’t go hunting without it. When I put up a stand, I mark that stand site location with the ScoutLook app. In the morning when I’m getting ready to go hunting, I can click on the Scoutlook app. It will

Big Game, Deer, Mossy Oak

Parrish Elliott Believes You Never Can Know Everything - Even about Small Hunting Properties

Besides minerals, I think the abundance of white oak acorns and red oak acorns and keeping hunting pressure to a minimum were the reasons we attracted and held older-age-class bucks on this 220 acres. The other advantage we have is we know the wind direction we’ll have on each stand before we hunt there. We won’t hunt from a stand when the wind is wrong. We have certain bedding areas on this property that we

Big Game, Deer, Mossy Oak Bottomland, Mossy Oak