Author: Dennis Dunn

When I invited my son, Bryant, to join me for the last week of August 2022, on a “do-it-ourselves,” Alaskan caribou hunt, I could never have guessed that the biggest excitement of our time together would revolve around a bull muskox, rather than a bull caribou!

Thanks to a friendly airboat transporter, we were able to pitch our camp on the far side of the Sag River, opposite the haul road, and about 40 miles south of Prudhoe Bay. While setting up our tents near the edge of the bluff above the river, we noticed a few stray caribou here and there — as well as three muskoxen out on the river plain below us. We’d been told we might see some, but that there would be no open season on them until 2023. Several days of hiking and glassing turned up a few more muskoxen in different places, but no mature caribou bulls worthy of hanging on a wall.

The fourth day, however, produced an adrenaline rush for me that I will never forget — neither in this life nor the next. I was sitting that afternoon on the edge of a little draw, upslope about 200 yards from the edge of the river plain. I suddenly heard the sound of hooves on gravel directly underneath me, and I quickly realized a muskox bull was headed straight up the little game trail I was seated right at the top of. Having my cell phone handy in an open jacket pocket, I managed to snap a picture of the beast as he reached a point just five or six yards below my still-sedentary posterior. The click of the camera lens turned him around, and — after spending about 15 seconds sparring with some nearby willow branches, much like a caribou bull in the velvet — he moseyed back down the trail, then turned and started walking further up the little canyon.

The bull muskox approaches renowned author Dennis.

The thought immediately struck me that I might be able to get some really great video of the bull, if I kept out of sight and quickly scurried after him, being careful to stay out of sight until I figured I was probably more or less right above him again. My calculation proved to be on the money, but I’d NOT imagined he might head directly up the steep 45-degree slope to meet me!  Only steps away from the edge of the bluff, I had just pushed the video record-button, when suddenly the big fellow popped up over the top, right in front of me — no more than 10 or 12 feet away. The camera was rolling, so to speak, but all of a sudden I was no longer focused on filming my “quarry.” I was focused like a laser beam on reviewing what options might be available to me, in the event of a full-on charge.

Escaping death or serious injury was now foremost on my mind. If the charge did come, I knew that running straight away from him out into the flat, wide-open tundra would very likely result in an ugly outcome. The thought occurred to me that, since his rear hooves were still below the edge of the bluff on the steep gravelly slope he had just ascended, the bull would probably not be able to launch his charge quite as quickly as if all four hooves had been resting on the same level terrain I was standing on.  Hoping to defuse the situation, I made my best imitation of a dog bark. Showing no reaction whatsoever, the animal just stood there glowering at me. I thought of backing away from him slowly but then realized that my only real escape route — catapulting myself off the bluff, by shooting just past the side of his oncoming head — would no longer be a possibility. I realized I was on the horns of a dilemma, but the last thing I wanted to be on was the horns of an enraged muskox.

Since the dog bark had left my antagonist unimpressed and unwilling to turn around, I waved my arms over my head and let out as loud a yell as I could muster. With that, the bull lowered his head, and the charge was on. I believe he tried to hook me with his horns as I sailed past him into the void, but I felt nothing — other than a huge sense of relief as I landed about 30 feet below, lost my balance, and tumbled the rest of the way to the bottom of the ravine. Totally unhurt (by God’s Almighty grace), I popped to my feet and turned to look up at him. There he stood, fully silhouetted against the sky, staring down at me, just daring me to come to mess with him again.

Dennis looks at the bull muskox from below after narrowly escaping with his life.

As the reader can imagine, he didn’t need to teach me a second lesson. The muskox mating season was in full swing, and I had just been reminded that this was precisely the time for it. Later that evening, as my son and I were preparing and enjoying a Mountain House dinner outside our tent, two muskox bulls showed up and put on a fully half-hour-long rutting spectacle just 250 yards away. There was no doubt in my mind that one of the two protagonists was the one I’d become acquainted with earlier that day.

Charging each other again and again, the pair put on a display of rutting violence and ferocity exceeding anything either of us had ever witnessed before — even from the other horned or antlered species of North American big game. Needless to say, my cellphone video captured many segments of that awesome drama. Such film footage will forever remind me of the lesson I almost had to learn “the hard way.”

Author: Eddie Webb, Real Deal Outdoors

Thoughts for success in the field.

So much time and effort go into chasing the mature whitetails, only to get one short window of opportunity. Let’s map out a few keys to success that are easily overlooked.

Accessing land is the first step in any pursuit, which can be a challenge. Once you have land to hunt, it’s time to put the boots on the ground. Hours of scouting, planning, mapping, running cameras, selecting stand locations, and hanging stands. are just part of the process. Now, we must deal with wind, weather, moon phases, and many other obstacles that can always affect the hunt. Let’s be honest, the best hunters put in the work that probably months before they ever take their weapon into the woods.

When spending months of prepping and planning, one can easily overlook their equipment. When the short window of opportunity finally presents itself on that buck of a lifetime, a well-tuned bow gives you the confidence needed to make the shot. For the past several years, hunters that frequent Real Deal Outdoors have had a lot of success, including FIVE world-class bucks in 2021 over 200 inches.

When I look at what they all had in common it’s a quality pro shop that makes sure their equipment is tuned and ready for the season ahead. It doesn’t matter what pro shop you use but find one you have confidence in and invest in your equipment and hunt. Properly tuned equipment, proper form, and practice will increase your odds at the moment of truth.

Many archers can set up their bow by installing arrow rests, sights, quivers, and assembling arrows. Tuning the bow starts with paper tuning as we look for the sweet spot, a perfect bullet hole! However, when it’s time to dial in your sights with broadheads, an improperly tuned bow will throw arrows all over the place.

So much more goes into that perfect tune; for instance, do you have the right spine arrow, does the bow have cam lean is the tiller correct? That’s just a few things that need to be looked at on the bow before you start adjusting your sights or arrow rest. Now let’s think about the sight you hit the orange aiming dot standing in the yard on flat ground. What some may not consider is if your 2nd and 3rd axis are off you miss that same dot by as much as a foot if you’re in a tree shooting at 35-45 degrees up or downhill.

The debate over expendables vs. fixed-blade broadheads may never cease but why is there a debate in the first place? Both broadheads serve a purpose and both will kill deer when the arrow finds its mark, Expandable are only designed if you have the right kinetic energy coming out of your setup. They will not do their job if you do not have enough kinetic energy to push them through a deer. Going to your local archery pro shop will help you find the correct draw weight, arrow spine and weight to help you find the best broadhead for your setup.

Fixed broadheads will not fly correctly if the wrong arrow was selected and or the bow is not perfectly tuned. This is where cam lean will play a huge factor. Many times, I will adjust the cam to get the perfect arrow flight, not move the rest.

My best tip for success is to find yourself a local pro shop that you have confidence in and that takes the extra time to help you fine-tune your bow and your form. There are a lot of good ones and a few bad ones, but once you find a good one, support them so they will always be there when you need them.

Author: Ross Mellinger

The world we live in has become so filled with hate and judgment that it seems that truly nothing is off-limits anymore. The level of butthurt over success in anything is at an all-time high. People as individuals and others as part of platforms will stop at nothing to dissect a winner’s success, and furthermore, find some way to publicly shame or otherwise piss and moan about the level of that particular success versus their own inability to achieve the same themselves. The hunting world is no different. However, I’m going to break it down as nobody has before, so let’s dive right into it.

The greatest debate I see in the world of whitetail hunting is that of “Baiting.” I often times hunt using feed, but I certainly have no issue with those that don’t either. I also have my theories as to why there is so much hate towards those that use feed as a tool to hunt. Here is where this is likely to upset a lot of non-feeding hunters, but if those of you are man enough to fuss and gripe about it behind a keyboard or smartphone, then you can be man enough to listen to an intelligent counter-argument. Aside from the logical and obvious legal arguments in states where it is, my theories fall into three main categories….hear me out. If you complain about “Baiting” and are not legitimately a purist or naturalist of the sport, then you likely fall into AT LEAST one of the three following categories: 1) You’re just flat-out lazy. There, I said it!!! Just rip that band-aid right off!!! 2) You’re too cheap to spend the money, but have no problem pissing away your money on life’s other frivolous things such as alcohol, tobacco, video games, tattoos, fancy TVs, high-dollar clothing, restaurants, concerts, or anything else of life’s “Luxuries.” 3) You lack true dedication to a program such as feeding or “Baiting” to give it the attention to detail and devotion that it requires to be effective. Now many of you non-believers have just finished that last sentence and become immediately defensive or angry. Again, bear with me here, and let’s dive into this with a bit more detailed microscope.

I’m going to lay out my feeding/baiting regimen before we go any further, just so you have a solid understanding of where I come from in my argument. I’m not here to say that my approach is any better than anyone else’s, but before you begin to digest the magnitude of this, I know I am an extremist on the topic. Not everyone will experience the level of funding or dedication as me. I understand that. I target specifically mature animals that are known on a particular farm or region and this allows me to study and take inventory all year round. Having said that, my wife and I have taken a combined 29 Pope & Young whitetails in the last 10 years alone, and continue to do it primarily in a state that isn’t really recognized for that level of consistency. We aren’t special and we aren’t even what I consider “Gold standard” whitetail hunters, but we certainly have shared some success with what we do. I feed between 18-25 tons of feed per year and have done so for the majority of my adult life. I am 46 years old now. You read that correctly….18-25 TONS!!!! I also drop annually an additional 1500-2000 pounds of minerals. I also till and seed between 4-8 acres of food plots, but I also don’t ever hunt them anymore either. They are done solely for sanctuary reasons. Many of you will read that in disbelief. Yep, I DO NOT hunt my food plots. It’s a lot of work knowing I will NEVER hunt them each year. All this requires roughly 25 trail cameras to monitor this activity. It is a YEAR ROUND program, not just for a couple of weeks in the Fall of the year. I burn nearly all of my vacation from work dedicated to this as well as the actual hunting part of things. I sacrifice nearly every weekend as well to ensure it all gets done. I study maps weekly on identifying new areas and the potential access to minimize human intrusion. I access each spot ONLY between the hours of 10 am and 2 pm…EXCLUSIVELY….even in the Summer heat! After driving the side x side a reasonable distance, I physically carry the 100-pound feed bags to each site the last 50-100 yards of each setup – oftentimes several bags at once (whatever I feel will adequately last a 7-day period there, based on known activity). If it requires 500 pounds at one site, then that’s 500 pounds I physically put on my shoulders and carry in, bag after bag after bag….only after I previously loaded it by hand the first time into the side x side. I may do this for 6-10 different sites at a time on 3-5 different farms. Most of us can adequately do the math there to know that this is no easy task…and because of my level of commitment to it, it isn’t cheap either. A reasonable man can also see that it isn’t a hobby or fad, but rather a dedication to a lifestyle. In the end, I still have to know where to run my sites and how to access them while playing the wind and how to hang my stands in the right spot. It also allows me to know which deer in the area are mature and which are not and furthermore take inventory of new deer that move into or out of the areas. This program specifically is how I can firmly and legitimately make my claims to the aforementioned three main theories, as most of you will see just how involved my program is. Now, sit tight…I’m just getting started.

I hear the cries all the time, “That’s not REAL hunting!” That couldn’t be further from the truth, folks! Some of the world’s greatest apex predators use the same ambush-style method at known feeding areas as the preferred way to hunt. Do you know why they do??? BECAUSE IT WORKS!!! Think I’m wrong? Let’s examine how a coyote searches for prey. Bobcats? Yep…them too. Mountain lions? Grizzlies? Gators? You betcha! The ambush/feeding method has been around since the beginning of time. Let’s look at why baiting is no different than any other tool in a hunter’s bag of tricks. I use the term “tool” because that is EXACTLY what it is, and here is why I am correct:

Do you hunt from a treestand? It’s a tool, yet we don’t hear anyone fussing about that now, do we? Why do we hunt from a treestand??? Because it gives us an advantage over our prey. It gives us the upper hand as the predator.

Do you use a rifle with a scope? It too is a tool meant exclusively to give us an advantage…yet nobody cries over that as well. It’s a tool meant solely to give us the upper hand over our targeted animal.

Oh….and you use trail cameras? I have one word for you…..TOOL!

How about that side x side or 4-wheeler that’s sitting in your garage? Do you really expect me to believe that’s for recreation or yard work purposes only or for your kids or grandkids to ride around on the lawn? Listen carefully here when I say this…..TOOL!!!!

In my opinion, the baiting tool is an even more fair and more sincere approach than all the previously mentioned technologies because it requires WORK in addition to funding. I think we can all agree that work ethic is something this generation oftentimes lacks on many levels. This argument is no different.

I’ve seen time and time again that some of the world’s most successful hunters, regardless of their preferred style or method, were successful in life looooooong before we dissected and examined their way of hunting. Do you know why that’s the case? It’s all because of that same level of commitment, work, and financial dedication to be great at their craft. They worked a little harder…often times ALOT harder. They spent more money and time on that craft or job than their competitors did. In a nutshell, THEY JUST WANTED IT MORE!!! It’s that same level of success in life that fuels the hate fire in non-hunting-related activities, just as it doesn’t in this baiting topic. This world has become just a bunch of jealous haters that can’t stand the success of others.

When you look at it in its entirety, everyone has a platform and foundation for their own argument on the topic. However, in the end, it’s all about preference and dedication, whether it be financial or physical dedication. Hell, it’s even the PREFERRED method in bear hunting every Spring, yet here we are fussing daily on social media about feeding or baiting whitetail deer. I don’t even try to hide it. I’m proud of the work I put in. I know that with every bloody arrow, much sweat and backache have come long before the smile and success. I earned it. Luck had very little, if any, to do with it.

I can go on and on and on – forever arguing over the topic of tools, ie: scent-blocking clothing, fancy engineered broadheads, ground blinds, mapping apps for cell phones, etc. Let’s also not forget about the engineering marvels of our archery, crossbow, and firearms themselves! Now, ask yourself this….tell me which of those above-listed items brings out the hate and butthurt of social media hunters more than the topic of “Baiting.” Which one of those items or topics also requires the level of work and dedication that of a premier year-round feeding program? Now….having read all this, let’s be honest here…TRULY HONEST. If you are still upset that folks such as me and others bait and you don’t or won’t, which of the three aforementioned categories do YOU fall under???