This year, on Halloween morning. Tim Wells brings out his rattling horns to call out to the huge buck he calls the “Gladiator,” and it works.
Tim Wells admires the Big Gladiator Buck.
Tim Wells Bow Hunter
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Hunting and Fishing News & Blog Articles
Stay up-to-date on hunting, fishing and camping products, trends and news.
Tex-Mex Venison with Meatballs is packed with flavors of onion, jalapeño, cumin and garlic then smothered in a cheesy enchilada sauce and topped with fresh cilantro. This dish is about as versatile as it gets. I used venison to make this dish but this recipe works well swapped out with wild boar, elk or virtually any other game meat! It can be served as a quick dinner or makes a great game-day appetizer.
RECIPE DIRECTIONS
Combine all meatball ingredients, except olive oil, in a large bowl. Mix together.Shape into meatballs using an ice cream scooper to measure out equal portions.Heat about a 12-inch cast iron pan over medium-high heat. Add in enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Once warmed, add meatballs and cook until browned on all sides.Once browned, remove the meatballs from the pan and transfer to a paper towel lined plate.Drain off most of the oil, leaving a small amount and any loose onion pieces that fell off the meatballs.Add red enchilada sauce, chicken broth, and chipotle peppers. Mix the sauce together then add the meatballs back into the skillet. Bring to a simmer then cook uncovered for 10-12 minutes.Sprinkle cheese and cilantro on top and serve once cheese has slightly melted.INGREDIENTS
Meatballs
1 pound ground venison1/3 cup panko bread crumbs (plain)1 small onion finely diced1.5 tablespoons diced jalapeno1 large egg, lightly beaten1 teaspoon ground cumin1 teaspoon garlic powder1/2 teaspoon salt1/4 teaspoon black pepperOlive Oil, for fryingTex Mex Sauce
1 (19 ounce) can mild red enchilada sauce1/2 cup chicken broth2 chipotle peppers in adobo, chopped1 cup shredded Mexican Cheese1 tablespoon fresh cilantroHey! I’m Jenn Danella. I am a sportswoman, hunter, and wild-game chef with a strong passion for the great outdoors. To me, there’s no greater reward than to be able to provide for myself and my family through hunting and fishing. Check out my cookbooks and more at jenndanella.com.
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By: M.R. James
Not long ago I saw a Facebook photo of a dead elk some happy bowhunter had arrowed in the late season. What snagged my attention was his offhand comment that he’d shot the bull at just over 120 yards.
Sometimes I simply don’t understand.
Yeah, I’ll admit that I’m both a geezer and an old school bowhunter. And I realize that over the decades I’ve witnessed amazing changes in a sport I’ve loved since releasing my first arrow back in the late 1940s. Likely, the most significant change centers on the gear we now use. Namely bows. Arrows. And broadheads.
Think about it. What longbow or recurve shooter from the middle of the last century could have envisioned today’s variety of modern hunting bows? Not me, for sure. And even though Easton had introduced aluminum arrows in 1939, fiberglass and carbon shafts – not to mention plastic fletching – were still years away from widespread use back when I shot my first cedar arrow.
But these obvious equipment changes notwithstanding, hunting with the bow and arrow still stirs the imagination of millions who willingly accept the challenge of what Howard Hill called “hunting the hard way.” I know without a doubt that my own reason for picking up a bow instead of a firearm was and is the challenge of hunting with “sticks and strings.”
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Hunting hunting season begins February 4th in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania at the NRA Great American Outdoor Show. It’s the largest outdoor show in the USA and the information within its walls can be life-changing. You will find information about hunting and fishing trips from around the country and world as well as the gear you need to succeed.
Mark Kayser specializes in public land hunts and will share his expertise.Learn from the Experts
Mark Kayser helped me land a bison hunt in South Dakota 20 years ago while working for South Dakota Tourism. He’s a native of the West and his knowledge of hunting on public land is unmatched. Mark will give seminars February 4-6 and you will get accurate, easy-to-use information on a host of hunting opportunities from coyotes to deer, to elk.
You bagged an elk. Now what?The Big Picture
With hunting prices rising with inflation, more and more hunters look to public land and DYI hunts. Bagging a bull elk on public land is a tremendous achievement, but then what? Kayser knows the ins and outs of Western hunting including tips and shortcuts to getting your game out in top shape. By hearing his seminars you’ll learn shortcuts and be able to ask questions.
Mr. Turkey Makes it HappenNext Up- Turkey Season
Want to bag a turkey with your bow this spring? No one knows turkeys like Eddie Salter and he will not only sell you the exact call you need but demonstrate and autograph it. I’ve been trying to use a standard box to make gobble sounds for decades. Salter showed me how to do it in two minutes. Whether you want to call coyotes, ducks, geese, turkeys, deer, or elk, the GAOS has a call for you.
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Ingredients
by Jennifer Danella
Recipe Directions
Pound wild turkey breast to an even thickness (approximately 1/2 inch)Prepare three stations: 1 with the flour, the second station with the egg wash and the third with panko. Add onion powder, garlic powder and 1 tablespoon of Cajun seasoning to the panko. Mix until even. Dredge the wild turkey breast into the three stations, starting with flour and ending in the breadcrumbs. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a large deep skillet. Once hot, place the breaded wild turkey breast and cook for about 3 minutes each side, or until each side is golden brown. Remove from skillet and place into the oven until the temperature reads 165°FHeat the oil over medium-high until the skillet is hot. Add the diced onion and bell pepper to the skillet and sauté just until the onion begins to soften. Next, add the pasta, diced tomatoes (with the juices), and chicken broth to the skillet. Stir just until everything is evenly combined, then place a lid on top and allow the broth to come up to a boil.Once boiling, turn the heat down to medium-low and let the pasta simmer for about ten minutes, stirring every couple of minutes, until the pasta is tender and the liquid is thick and saucy.Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of Cajun seasoning, cream cheese and sour cream to the skillet, then stir until it has melted into the sauce. Top with chopped parsley and serveThis recipe was brought to you by DSGouterwear.com !
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Almost any archer will tell you that it’s important to shoot your bow the same way for each shot. Chris Bee takes it further and discusses and shows you how to shoot a bow properly and how you can Fix the 3 Most Common archery mistakes. This video will help you shoot properly as well as significantly improve accurately.
Chris Bee
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Direct from the floor of our industries 2023 ‘ATA Archery Trade Show’ here is the latest interview with Jay Liechty and Matt Bateman of Grim Reaper Broadheads covering the new developments and broadhead design improvements for 2023.
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Deer season is not over in many states and as this picture shows, some decent bucks have survived the firearm seasons and are still “available.” In bad weather situations, a cellular camera is an ideal way to keep tabs on your stands and animal activity in the area. Unfortunately, freezing temperatures are battery killers, and getting there to replace them is difficult and expensive when you must replace 8-12 batteries.
Technically a security camera, this V200 model has performed well for two years.Security and Wildlife
Vosker cameras are sold as security devices, yet they caught my eye due to their price and built-in solar panel. My deer stands are difficult to access and I wanted a camera that would send images instantly and not require frequent visits to replace batteries. This V200 model works day and night and extends the life of 8 AA batteries to a year in my experience.
This camera is easy to set up and operate.Technology and I do not do well. Fortunately, the camera was very easy to set up and the digital screen and minimal buttons were easy to navigate. You scan a QR code with your cell phone which loads the app and installs the camera. Once done you get this screen that will allow you to make sure that the camera is working and you get a preview of what it sees. Notice the “searching network” tab and the battery charge which are visibly displayed. You toggle up and down the menu with the buttons and then push “OK” when you want to read them.
This small solar panel powers the camera very well.Solar Power
Solar panels work best when they face the sun for long periods of time. Both of my stand sites are on northwest slopes where getting direct sunlight is difficult. Despite this disadvantage, the camera extended the life of my batteries for about a year. the camera takes photos, time-lapse photos, video, and photos plus time-lapse images.
The battery compartment is easy to load.Easy Peasy
The battery compartments of some cameras are difficult to load. Not this one. Push a button and the back of the camera pops open with a diagram so that you don’t get the polarity of the batteries mixed up. You will note dirt and debris in this camera, the reason for which will be clear in the next image. This camera has been in the field for two full years in very harsh conditions.
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A few days after I tagged ‘Big-8’, the Buck that Robbie Cramer was after this year, the buck we call ‘Big 10’, popped up in my nightime Moultree celular photos from my Tin Shed stand site. Below is a picture of Champ, ‘Big 8’and myself near my house.
This is my youngest ever deer hunting buddy “Champ.” He was the first one to follow the trail to the Big-8 buck that I had hunted for and arrowed this year. This picture was taken right after the recovery.After seeing the Moultrie game camera pictures I texted my buddy Robbie Cramer that ‘Big 10’ was in the immediate area. Robbie came down to our deer lease promptly. That afternoon he hunted a Pop-up ground blind that’s in the same strip of woods I where was hunting. He is in a small opening surrounded by cedar trees, half a mile from my stand.
A picture I took with my iPhone as soon as I was situated in the Shed stand site.An hour before sunset I noticed a buck come out of the trees to the North West. He looked over the area. A doe was 30 yards from my Shed’s shooting window, she saw the buck, but ignored him.
But the buck didn’t ignore the doe. He came at a steady pace and I took his picture when he got to the doe out in front of me.
The doe backed up, giving the buck plenty of room. And, I suppose I should mention, that this buck was the ‘Big 10’ buck.
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HOW TO BUILD A SCRAPE TREE
How can you bring a big buck in bow range of your blind or treestand that is currently passing within view, but unfortunately is too far for a shot. One thing that land manager and hunting TV personality Steve Bartylla does to increase the odds of a bringing bucks within bow range is to build scrape trees.
“Bucks are like male dogs, they like to mark their territory,” Bartylla told me. “Years ago, I started putting treated posts in the ground near blinds and stands and I attached a licking branch to the post. Often bucks would start building scrapes within days of putting in the scrape tree.”
Bartylla often creates scrape trees weeks or months before deer season starts. Because deer season has already started, he suggests if you want to put in the scrape tree, you should use an actual tree. “Treated posts give off a strange odor so hunters who want to put in a scrape tree should cut a tree down, dig a hole, and bury the base of the tree.”
Scrape trees located on the edge of a field, in the middle of a food plot, or near an area deer regularly travel quickly grab the attention of bucks. “I have had deer hit my new scrape trees the same day I put them in,” Bartylla said. Bartylla likes to position the tree so when a buck comes in to freshen the scrape and lick the licking branch, the buck offers a broadside or quartering away shot.
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Are you traveling out of state to Turkey Hunt? Whether this will be your very first wild turkey hunt, an additional turkey hunt, or you’re after your your “Grand Slam;” here is what you need to do ahead of time.
1) Proper License Requirements
Before traveling out of state to hunt check with the appropriate Game and Fish Department to make sure to you have the required licenses and tags. Also, see if Hunter Education is required for certain age groups.
2) Learn Hunting Regulations
Game laws can differ from your home state’s regulations. Certain states, such as Missouri, only offer legal hunting from one half hour before sunrise until 1:00 PM daily during spring turkey season. However, other states offer all day hunting.
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The SlockMaster Jr. Sydnie Wells takes us with her as she tags a Texas Whitetal buck, a Rio Grande Wild Turkey gobbler and arrows Wild hogs too.
Tim Wells Bow Hunter
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The Outdoorsmans Butte 25 pack is a versatile hunting pack designed for the serious hunter on the go who wants a lightweight pack for an all day hunt but doesn’t want a heavy pack. The Butte 25 is built with a durable waist belt and shoulder strap system so the pack doesn’t sag or bounce around when completey loaded with gear.
It has a large main pouch with two accessory pouches on each side and two lashing points on the top of the lid. With a spacious 1500 cubic inches, it can handle anything from a quick stalk to a full day of glassing. It also has accessory pockets and two water bottle holders.
Best of all the Butte 25 can be used in Conjunction with an Outdoorsmans Pack frame, making the system perfect for the hunter that needs to pack out meat after a hunt.
Hunters looking for a larger backpack designed for long overnight trips should go to https://outdoorsmans.com/pages/packs and consider the Outdoorsmans Palisade 90 pack or the Long Range Pack System. All of the Outdoorsmans packs are built on a one of a kind polypropylene frame that is designed to handle up to 200 pounds.
Best of all the Butte 25 is made in the U.S.A. and built to last.
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In this new episode of Whitetail Habitat Mythbusting, you will explore the latest and greatest ways to get water into your deer woods so that it brings bucks to where you are deer hunting.
Today, we take aim at creating waterholes for Whitetail deer and putting effective Tips to work that will help you develop an effective waterhole strategy where you hunt. To learn more, visit, https://www.whitetailhabitatsolutions…
Whitetail Habitat Solutions
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Eightgh-grader Ian Meredith picked the perfect day to play hooky on Monday, Sept. 26. Meredith had his sights set on a giant whitetail he’d nicknamed “Tackle Box”, and he’d seen the huge buck on a trail camera on his family’s 400-acre property in Kentucky. His mother, Beth, wasn’t so keen about Ian skipping school, but one of Ian’s teachers encouraged her to allow him to hunt that morning.
“He was coming into my stand just about every morning in daylight, and it was the first day that the wind was right,” Ian told Drury Outdoors Deercast. “So I just had to hunt.”
The faculty member who nudged Ian’s mom in the right direction is Adam French, an orchestra teacher at Grayson County Middle School. French had gotten to know Ian through his music class, but his role changed in 2020, when Ian and his brother Will lost their father to pancreatic cancer and French became a mentor for the two boys.
Adam French and Ian Meredith with the amazing whitetail buck ‘Tackle Box.’Adam went with the boys to the Whitetail woods that fall and helped them set up trail cameras. Soon they noticed a big mainframe 10-point.
The buck was in the trail camera pictures again in 2021, but now his rack was much larger. His rack was a maize of antlers, including a couple of drop tines. The twisted appearance of the buck’s antlers reminded Ian of a messy fishing tackle box and he named him “Tackle Box.”
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Corned Venison
Lovers of corned beef hash will want to corn shoulder or neck roasts, then simmer them long enough they begin to fall apart. The extra connective tissue in these cuts makes for a moister hash.
The technique is simple: Brine your meat, then simmer it into tenderness. It takes several days, but it isn’t labor-intensive at all. Once made, corned venison is great hot or cold, with root vegetables, cabbage, or cold in sandwiches or chopped into hash.
This recipe works with antelope, deer, moose and elk. It will also work with beef and lamb, of course, but also bear and pork.
Prep Time: 20 minsCook Time: 3 hrsTotal Time: 3 hrs 20 mins
Ingredients
1/2 gallon water1/2 cup kosher salt1/3 cup sugar1/2 ounce Instacure No. 1 (sodium nitrite)1 tablespoon cracked black pepper1 tablespoon toasted coriander seeds6 bay leaves, crushed1 tablespoon mustard seeds1 tablespoon dried thyme1 teaspoon caraway seeds1 cinnamon stick5 chopped garlic cloves3 to 5 pound venison roast
Instructions
Add all ingrediants, except the roast, to a pot and bring it to a boil. Turn off the heat and cover, then let it cool to room temperature while covered. This will take a few hours. Meanwhile, trim all silverskin you find on the roast. Leave the fat. Once the brine is cool, find a container just about large enough to hold the roast, place the meat inside and cover with the brine. You might have extra, which you can discard.
Photo by Chef Hank Shaw
Make sure the roast is completely submerged in the brine; I use a clean stone to weigh the meat down. You can also just flip the meat every day. Cover and put in the fridge for 5 to 7 days, depending on the roast’s size. A 2-pound roast might only need 4 days. The longer you soak, the saltier it will get — but you want the salt and nitrate to work its way to the center of the roast, and that takes time. Err on extra days, not fewer days.
After the allotted time has passed, you have corned venison. To cook and eat, rinse off the meat, then put the roast in a pot just large enough to hold it and cover with fresh water. You don’t want too large a pot or the fresh water will leach out too much flavor from the meat — it’s an osmosis thing.
Partially cover the pot and simmer gently — don’t boil — for at least 3 hours and up to 5 hours. The venison itself will be cooked in an hour or less, but you want the sinews and connective tissue in the roast to soften and that takes time.
Eat hot or cold. It is absolutely fantastic with good mustard and some sauerkraut on a sandwich.
Notes
One final tip: When you are done with the corned venison, leave it in the cooking broth. Store that in the fridge. Why? The broth keeps the venison moist. Without fat, if you leave it out of the brine it can get very dry and even crumbly.
Nutrition
Calories: 32kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 4725mg | Potassium: 26mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 22IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 27mg | Iron: 1mg
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Is the Second Rut A Real Thing? Deer Research informs us that there definitely is one. So, is that a good thing or a bad thing? Here is Lindsay Thomas Jr. of the National Deer Assn. with the facts you need to know.
National Deer Association
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You can see more deer … quickly! It doesn’t take long, and it isn’t terribly hard either; but you will need to follow these tips no matter, whether you are hunting public or private land. Here is what it takes to find better deer hunting.
Whitetail Habitat Solutions
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When you’re rattling Texas deer be ready cause you might get run over!! Sydnie Wells and her dad Tim Wells releases mayhem on Texas Whitetail Deer and Wild Feral Hogs. WARNING: This video has Close shots that open em up and it gets bloody in a couple of places! Wild free range deer with plenty of wild hogs to release Grim Reaper Broadheads on.
Follow along on video as Sydnie and her dad Tim Wells bowhunt south Texas and successfully bring in Whitetail bucks and does as well as several Wild Hogs.
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Jeff Harrison is a suburban deer specialist. He’s a painter by trade which brings him into many neighborhoods where homeowners own one-to-three acres of land that makes ideal whitetail habitat. Sometimes these small tracts adjoin along a creek or stream where a building is prohibited. Add a nearby state park, commercial site, or sanctuary and you have the perfect formula for older age class and big antlers.
Suburban Scouting
Scouting in suburban and rural areas is easier than you may think. When Harrison approached homeowners about hunting their small tract, he frequently was met with the response, “Kill them all.” Whitetail deer, bucks especially, can consume or destroy $1000 of shrubbery in a single night. Homes with deer problems are easy to spot because they often deploy nets, fences, or wire to keep deer at bay. Because deer cruise between these small plots, you only need permission to hunt one to succeed.
Shed Hunting is a Great Intro
Knocking on a stranger’s door intimidates many hunters and Harrison has had good success first asking to hunt sheds. He often carries a small antler with him because many suburbanites don’t know that deer shed antlers. If you find a good bone, offer to share it with the homeowner which enables you to make contact again. During the conversation, you can make your pitch to hunt in the fall. While looking for sheds, you can search for deer trails and last fall’s rubs and scrapes.
Recycle Pumpkins
Pumpkins are a great food for deer that is readily available. If you cruise around your neighbors, you will often find pumpkins getting soft and rotting because the owners don’t know what to do with them. It may take deer a few days to investigate these orange invaders, yet once they get a taste for them, they will be quickly consumed. It is important to break the pumpkins open so that the seeds are exposed. Best of all pumpkins won’t attract raccoons, wild turkeys, and other critters that eat expensive deer corn.
398,256,520,36190961,1853498:0:14285857,142,8Plan for Next Fall
Even at midnight, this doe took a hard look at these two strange objects that suddenly appeared in her territory. I received permission from a landowner to hunt a farmland property barely an acre in size. It’s located among crop fields with a few scattered houses and I’ve been surveilling the property with the fall of 2023 in mind. The homeowner suffers deer damage every year and was most happy to have me “help out.”
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