Each year, we round up photos of the country's biggest bucks and most thrilling hunting stories for the Outdoor Life Deer of the Year contest. Now, we're calling on you to help us pick America's best buck. We've selected the 24 finalists and divided them by region. Twice a week we'll run a March Madness-style bracket asking you to select the winner of each matchup. Today we feature the 8 best deer from the West region. The overall winner will be awarded a Cabela's gift card and a Weaver range finder in addition to eternal bragging rights. So click through the match-ups (we'll feature new round every Wednesday and Friday) and help us find a winner of Outdoor Life's Battle of the Bucks 2013! Select your favorite buck from each match-up and then hit the submit button at the bottom to enter your votes. [ Read Full Post ]

If you are like most of the whitetail freaks out there, you have started thinking food plots. It happens every year, the spring thaw comes and deer property managers start thinking about what to plant for the deer. Note; I said “for the deer”, not “for the deer hunter.”  Let me explain.

Over the past few years I’ve noticed an increase in the use of fall attractant annual food plot products. Seems like every seed manufacturer has come up with a new whiz-bang seed mix to attract whitetails to a hunting plot and everybody is planting them. The trouble is, some of them are just that, fall attractants. They are planted in late summer to early fall, grow a couple of months, and die. They are one-year wonders; feeding deer just when they need it least. By fall, fawns are grown and weaned, antlers are formed, and the countryside is covered up with foods. [ Read Full Post ]

Locating late-season deer can be baffling. Worn from the rigors of the rut and from weeks of trying to evade hunters, whitetails dig deep for cover in places where they can also gain access to food sources so necessary while rebuilding their bodies. So what does spring green-up have to do with rut recovery behavior patterns? Everything.

As spring approaches, you will find whitetails hanging out on the earliest areas to green up. These are usually on warm, southern exposures where whitetails will be munching on fresh green plant growth. New shoots almost always pop up first on south-facing slopes, as these areas get plenty of direct spring sunshine. Protected valleys and river bottoms will always green up before the higher areas overlooking them. These areas will concentrate deer for a few weeks until the rest of the area greens up. [ Read Full Post ]