DEAR HUNTING

A stand can be in the perfect tree and still hunt poorly if the approach gives you away. Deer do not need to see the stand to know something is wrong. A boot track through the wrong edge, scent blowing into bedding cover, or one noisy crossing at gray light can ruin a setup before the sit begins. The best access route is often longer, slower, and less convenient than the straight line on the map. That is the point. A good route helps you get in, hunt, and get out while leavin

The shortest walk to a deer stand can be the worst one. A direct line across a field, down a clean trail, or along an open ridge might look good on a map, but deer do not judge a route by distance. They judge it by sound, scent, sight, and routine. A good access route does one simple job: it lets a hunter get in and out without warning deer that the stand exists. That means the best route may take longer. It may swing wide around bedding cover, follow a creek, cut through a d

A 20-gauge can kill ducks cleanly. That part is not in doubt. The real question is whether it gives up too much margin compared with a 12-gauge when the bird is quartering, the wind is pushing, the range stretches, and the shot is not perfect. We field tested the 12 vs 20 gauge for lethality the way most duck hunters actually care about it: pattern performance, usable range, recoil, follow-up speed, and how each gauge performs over decoys. The short answer is simple. The 12-g

North Carolina hunters have several million acres of public lands at their fingertips. TSN Outdoors profiles the ones they should take ...