The degree of hunting pressure, nutrition, buck-to-doe ratios, management, genetics and weather can influence not just the rut’s timing, but whitetail social interactions as well. Even so, by instinct, rutting bucks usually follow the same behavioral traits — even when immature bucks get in on the action. […]
Randy Pope climbed into his elevated tree stand well before dawn on a recent hunt and prepared for the morning. Pope has hunted big-game animals all over the world and is an expert at finding, hunting and harvesting trophy whitetail bucks. […]
Elmer Busby was just enjoying an afternoon in the woods last Friday (Dec. 16), watching a group of does feeding in the green patch stretching down the Leake County gas line in front of the box stand.
He didn’t even lift his rifle when a 5-point walked out to join the crowd.
But Busby couldn’t get his hands on the gun fast enough when a huge buck stepped out of the woods about 5 p.m. That deer later scored 178 4/8 inches Boone & Crockett. […]
Stephen Henderson was distracted at work the entire week of Dec. 12, but it wasn’t because of Christmas preparations. Nope, it was because he couldn’t help thinking he had missed his opportunity the previous weekend to bag a big buck he and his buddies had been chasing for a couple of years.
“He was 20 yards from me,” Henderson said.
The Madison County hunter resolved the issue on the afternoon of Dec. 16 when the big buck, which has been green scored at nearly 190 inches Boone & Crockett, made a fatal mistake. […]
Gary Counts couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
Hunting the afternoon of Dec. 8 with his boss on private land in Yazoo County, Counts watched several does and small yearlings being chased by a doe. She zoomed around the planted food plot, running off one deer after another. […]
Hunter Champagne readily admits he is a bit on the competitive side, and there’s no one he enjoys besting than his father with whom he spends untold hours in the woods and on the water.
So when dad Scott Champagne plugged a 220-inch Jefferson County buck on Dec. 8, the younger Champagne was dying to get in on the big-buck action.
It only took until Dec. 10 for 14-year-old Hunter Champagne to do just that by taking a 140-class 10-point, thanks to some help from a buddy and his lucky hat. […]
Scott Champagne almost didn’t hunt the stand on Thursday (Dec. 8). But he saw a doe jumping his fence and heading toward an old, grown-up food plot and knew Jefferson County bucks were probably starting to look at the females of the species with lust.
“I kind of had a suspicion based on the signs in the woods that the deer were about to get into the pre-rut,” Champagne said. “When you see those does moving around, that’s about as good a chance as you’re going to get to get on a buck.”
So he climbed into the box stand about 3:30 p.m. and settled in to see what would happen. It was fortunate he did, as he nailed a 17-point that has been rough scored at 220 inches Boone & Crockett just before shooting hours closed. […]
For two years, Andy Lloyd hunted the big buck that his brother Jeff had seen at Morgan Brake National Wildlife Refuge in Holmes County — a small-bodied deer with antlers lacking mass but possessing great length.
“Jeff was ranting about this buck he’d seen, a very tall and very wide rack that he said would go about 160 inches then,” Lloyd said. “I remember he told me, ‘If anyone ever kills that buck, don’t worry, we’ll hear about it.’”
Now, everybody is hearing — and talking — about the big 180-class buck, which Andy Lloyd punched a hole in during an afternoon hunt on Dec. 7 during the NWR’s annual muzzleloader hunt. […]
Canton’s Elizabeth Ratcliff didn’t want to shoot the huge Madison County buck. Well, more accurately she really wanted her boyfriend Jimmy Greer to kill it. […]
Ricky Rogillio saw that huge buck the first time during an early season bow hunt, when he took a client to Giles Island Hunting Club. It was monstrous, with two drop tines dripping from the left main beam.
“I saw videos of it, and I knew I wanted to come back,” the Walker hunter said. “I worried it wouldn’t be there when I got back.”
He left the island last Wednesday (Nov. 30) with the 175-inch rack cooling in the back of his truck. […]
John Thomason’s emotions ran the gauntlet during the hours he spent planning his hunt, sitting in the stand and waiting to see if his shot was true. […]
Mississippi deer hunters are blessed in many ways. To begin with, we have an extremely long season when compared to other states — Oct. 1-Jan. 31, except for Zone 2, which doesn’t close until Feb. 15. […]
Copyright 1998 - 2026 Mississippi Sportsman, Inc. All rights reserved.