Scott Bestul, Author at Outdoor News

Minnesota to crown new state record nontypical whitetail?

Featured, Home Page News, Hunting, Minnesota, National Hunting, National News, News / Scott Bestul

Jesse Schroeder thought he was looking at the tines from a nice shed antler while he wandered his brother’s Goodhue County farm in southeastern Minnesota in early April. But when Schroeder walked in to scoop up his find, a couple nice tines grew into a whole bunch of them, and those morphed into a monstrous rack attached to a dead buck. A buck that appears to be the biggest nontypical whitetail in the Minnesota record book. Schroeder’s buck, recently scored by a panel of veteran measurers from the Boone & Crockett Club, amassed a net score of 277⅜ inches.

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Great gobbler action can happen in the p.m.

Features, Hunting, Hunting, Michigan, Minnesota, National Hunting / Scott Bestul

I love watching daybreak as much as anyone, and seeing the sun rise in April or May can be a near-religious experience, especially after a long Midwestern winter.
But there’s a price to be paid for witnessing those gorgeous spring dawns, and it gets steeper as the season progresses. Punching the alarm at 4 a.m. is exciting on the opener, something less so on Day Two, and by the third morning, I’m groaning and swatting at the clock like it’s a pesky fly.

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The great turkey-hunting conundrum: when to move on a hung-up bird

Featured, Featured, Featured, Featured, Featured, Features, Home Page News, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, National Hunting, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin / Scott Bestul

It was a classic turkey standoff. Dad and I had struck gobblers late in the morning – a pair of toms that climbed all over my calls. Our original setup was, I felt, a long shot. More than 300 yards of real estate separated us from the gobbling pair and, while we plunked our butts down immediately, I knew we were asking them to come a long way to investigate the hen they’d heard.

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Four ways to get into trouble shed hunting

Featured, Features, Home Page News, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, National Hunting, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin / Scott Bestul

Shed hunting is, at least on the surface, among the most benign outdoor activities going. Deer (and elk, and moose) drop last fall’s antlers, we search long and hard to find them and, in the process, hopefully find some of the coolest natural treasures out there. And even if we’re unsuccessful we get some great exercise and enjoy some good, clean fun, right? Well, most of the time.

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