Mossy Oak's Top 10 Articles of 2017

Twenty years of research, including 35,000 hunter days and statistics from the National Weather Service about the weather conditions on both morning and afternoon hunts, brings us all startling new information about when deer move. 

Back in the “olden days” we needed to learn how to “read sign” to determine deer movement. Learning how to examine and then interpret the meaning of rubs, scrapes, beds, tracks, trails and even droppings was vital for consistent success. Now, instead, we just stick up a camera. Don’t get me wrong, I believe trail cameras are one of the most important pieces of technology to hit our industry in the past thirty years, but the best hunters will use the data collected from trail-cam photos in correlation with what they learn from physical sign.

Moon phase can affect your deer hunting, but probably not in the way you think. New research may change your opinion about when to hunt and when not to hunt according to moon phase. Many hunters believe that moon phase is the critical ingredient to determine when deer move and have believed that on the day before a full moon, the day of a full moon and the day after a full moon that deer don't move as much. We've always thought that on bright nights deer feed, and on dark nights deer don't feed. But 20 years of research by Dr Robert Sheppard with more than 35,000 hunters at Bent Creek Lodge in Jachin, Alabama, may change your opinion.

When you catch someone on your property during hunting season who isn’t supposed to be there, what do they always tell you? “I’m tracking a wounded deer.” They say this because in most states it is legal to follow a wounded animal across a property border to try and recover it. The problem is that habitual trespassers have learned this defense and use it for an excuse to go wherever they please. On the chance that they’re telling the truth the first step is to debunk the claim. But once they’re exposed what should you do?

Many novice land managers will have food plot failures this year. Next year, they’ll go out and plant the same thing, the same way and expect it to work. I’m sorry, but there are no “magic beans!” Yes, Mother Nature has a lot to do with food plot success, but “know-how” is the unambiguous solution when it comes to planting seeds.

Mossy Oak introduces its innovative Eclipse pattern, the first ever design created specifically for hunting from inside a ground blind.  Eclipse features a black overlay version of Mossy Oak’s popular Break-Up Country pattern with cutout portions exposing the pattern, erasing the human outline inside a blind. Where lighter camo options stand out when worn inside a ground blind, Eclipse disappears.

For much of my adult life I have sought the El Dorado of venison chili recipes, the Bowl of Red where the emphasis was on its ease of preparation, its authenticity and its high degree of can’t miss. During this exaggerated period of dissatisfaction, I’ve eaten spoonfuls of really terrible chilies and I’ve gluttonized a handful of really spectacular ones. Until very recently, all of my personal attempts at the creation of chili had run the gamut of eatable: from rather putrid plops of over-spiced craziness to the margins of “no one was killed.”

Some may argue that the ability to increase the quality of the deer herd is limited to those with an abundance of expendable income, large pieces of property and heavy equipment to complete the chore. No doubt, all these extras help tremendously, but anyone with the determination to improve the quality of hunting on any ground, regardless of equipment availability or the size of the property, can do so. 

What about that apple tree on the old homeplace down the road from your farm? The tree that, for whatever reason, produces tons of fruit every year despite the fact it’s never fertilized or sprayed. How cool would it be to have five or six of those in the corner of every food plot? 

The most anticipated phases of deer season have come and gone and many hunters have unwillingly found themselves with nothing but “tag soup” in their freezers.  Don’t quit yet!  With plenty of time left in most states and cold weather on the way, the pieces could be falling into place to experience the best deer movement yet.  Make the following steps part of your game plan to salvage your season and fill a late-season buck tag.