Black Friday is one of the best days to hunt whitetail bucks — or so I hear

Black Friday is one of the best days of the year to hunt whitetail bucks — or so I hear.

Many friends over the years have shot absolute monsters the day after Thanksgiving. But I usually a) fill my tag in the first two weeks of November, b) have to work or c) have no luck.

I don’t suspect that will change this year, but we’ll see.

At the time of writing this (Wednesday afternoon), Michael Stavola and I are both sitting on buck tags. I hunted 10 days in a row — Nov. 10 to Nov. 19 — and had close encounters with four shooter bucks, including two of the biggest deer I’ve seen in several years on Sunday morning while hunting in the rain. But none of them presented me with a shot.

Those were a great 10 days. My lab found several pheasants and quail. I got some great photos. And I made some awesome memories with my dad.

Here are a few of the bucks Michael and I saw this week (I didn’t get a photo of the two biggest ones I saw because it was raining, so I guess I’ll have to shoot one of them to prove it) and a coyote:

— Chance Swaim

Hunter profile: Len Sanders

Len Sanders of Elk County has been bowhunting deer since the early 1970s and has never had a gun permit. At 75 years old, he’s still getting after it.

Sanders, pictured above with a 10-point buck he shot in 2020, reached out to me earlier this fall about deer baiting and shared a perspective I hadn’t previously considered.

“If I don’t bait deer, they will all be on land next door that outfitters have leased and are baiting,” he wrote back in October. “I have no problem with whatever the state decides but at age 75, not many years left to set in a tree.”

I can’t hate on that.

Sanders’s hard work paid off on Friday, Nov. 17, when he bagged a unique looking 9-pointer (below) that was chasing a doe.

“I feel that I got too greedy and should of waited but this was the first shooter buck I saw in 14 days of hunting,” he said.

Congratulations, Mr. Sanders.

— Chance Swaim

This week’s recipe

Stavola’s Venison Sloppy Joes

• 1 Tbsp butter

• 1 tsp olive oil

• 1 lb. ground venison

• 1/3 green bell pepper, minced

• 1/2 large yellow onion, minced

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 Tbsp tomato paste

• 2/3 cup ketchup

• 1/3 cup water

• 1 Tbsp brown sugar

• 1 tsp yellow mustard

• 3/4 tsp chili powder

• 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

• 1/2 tsp kosher salt

• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Heat the butter and olive oil in large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add venison and cook through. You usually don’t need to drain but it depends how much fat you’ve had added to the ground venison. It’s very lean, so I don’t drain it.

While the venison is cooking, I use a small skillet with butter to cook the onion and bell pepper. Should only take a couple of minutes. Then add garlic and cook for about 30 seconds or until fragrant.

Add that mixture in with the cooked venison.

Add the tomato paste and stir together.

Add all your seasonings and stir.

Cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, to let the sauce thicken.

Remove and served over toasted buns. (We like to use buns from a local bakery but use whatever bread you like!)

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This story was originally published November 24, 2023 at 9:44 AM with the headline "Black Friday is one of the best days to hunt whitetail bucks — or so I hear."