Is eating wild venison truly better than eating beef? Or is that just something hunters say when they feel the need to justify killing deer? We conducted an objective (and partially subjective) investigation to find out.
Craig Dougherty investigates the ugly side of deer farming, including this outrageous 561-inch buck.
Insider access, tips, new gear and more in our Whitetail Deer Hunter's Playbook. 
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This is a great time of year to get out there on your property and do something for whitetails. One of our favorite projects is to create living brush piles for wildlife. As you might guess, living brush piles are piles of limbs and brush that still produce stems, buds, sprouts and leaves for wildlife food and cover and are virtual wildlife magnets. Let me explain.
Unlike traditional brushpiles comprised of stacked dead limbs and brush, living brushpiles are made by stacking living trees. You cut three-quarters of the way through 4- to 8-inch tree and letting it tip over without breaking totally free from the stump. We call this hinge cutting and the trick is to create a living hinge that still allows nutrition to pass from the roots to the rest of the felled tree. In essence, it lives on its side before eventually dying. [ Read Full Post ]
Any venison recipe that starts with taking a head shot on a deer is worth investigating. So when butcher extraordinaire Pat LaFrieda invited Senior Editor John Taranto and me to his New Jersey home for a Caja China deer roast, we couldn't refuse.
LaFrieda had never roasted a whole deer before, but he has plenty of experience with venison and Caja China boxes. As one of New York City's most well-established meat purveyors and a fourth-generation butcher, he also knows his way around a carcass.
After a few hours of cooking and filming, Pat sliced up the most delicious venison I have ever eaten. The meat was perfectly tender and moist, it tasted wild but not overpowering, and was cooked to an ideal medium-rare. Here's LaFrieda's recipe. [ Read Full Post ]
Successful food plots start with the right vegetation. Choosing the perfect plant to put in the ground in the spring and summer can be confusing. But it doesn’t have to be—at least, not if you plant white clover.
“It’s the workhorse of food-plot plants,” says Whitetail Institute vice president Steve Scott. “One planting can last three to five years, and in some regions it provides high-protein forage 12 months of the year.”
Even better, it’s easy to grow and requires virtually no maintenance. In most soil types, a tiller pulled behind a tractor will produce an adequate seedbed. But a small disc pulled by an ATV can work fine too, making clover a good choice for small plots. Clover seeds will sprout and root as soon as they come in contact with soil. There’s no need to cover them, either. Spread five pounds of seed per acre and wait for a good rain to push it into the loose dirt. [ Read Full Post ]
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 ]
Won’t be long before the woods are bursting with blooms. Some of the most spectacular are more than just pretty; they are the precursor of better things to come. That is, if you’re a savvy deer hunter, who thinks deer every time he is in the woods. These bright white and pink flowers mean wonderful whitetails munching on apples and pears and any other fruit that happens to grow in your hunting area. We all know that deer simply love apples, and pears and peaches and persimmons and just about any kind of fruit they can find. Fruit-bearing trees are real whitetail magnets in the fall and deer will work them until the last fruit has fallen.
[ 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 ]
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 ]
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