“Some men are obsessed with good guns, fine wine and beautiful women. I am consumed with shooting a drop-tine buck.”
Hanback, January 1, 2008, the day the BIG DEER blog was launched

About Me :

I was born and raised in Virginia and started hunting with my dad when I was 5 years old. My first bow was a Bear recurve; I shot thousands of wooden arrows into hay bales with it. I killed my first buck with a custom Sako rifle in .243 with a 100-grain bullet. My dad, a master woodworker, built that rifle for me. I have retired it and I cherish it.

I graduated with honors in English from Carson-Newman College in Tennessee a good long time ago. I minored in hunting and partying and got As in those :)  

My first real job was Assistant Editor for the NRA’s American Hunter magazine, then located in downtown Washington, D.C. It was the commute from hell, but it got me started. I moved up to Executive Editor and worked there for 10 years. I got to travel all over North America and hunt and write about it. I have shot some 15 species of big game-- all the deer, elk, most of the bears, wild sheep, caribou, even one wolf.

But my passion has always been BIG DEER; those animals will always be at the center of who I am and what I do professionally.

In the 1990s, seeking creative freedom and new challenges, I struck out on my own and started freelance writing. Those were fun years, but tough and lean, man. In those days outdoor magazines were paying $100 to $200 for feature stories--8 to 10 B&W photos and slides included--banged out on an electric typewriter. When I got an assignment for $300 to $500 I went wild; when I got a check for $1,000 from one of the “Big 3” magazines (Sports Afield, Field and Stream, Outdoor Life) I screamed. My wife and I damn near starved.

For years I wrote for Outdoor Life and was the magazine’s Whitetail Deer Editor. Now I write a few stories for various outdoor magazines. All told I have written thousands of columns and magazine articles in my career, way too many to count. I have written and/or edited 6 books on hunting, but, sadly, the outdoor book market is dead.

That is largely because of the Internet. I saw that coming, so for the last 5 years I have blogged like a wild man daily about deer hunting and big bucks. In January 2008 I started the BIG DEER Blog, the heart of this website. My goal is simple: To make this the most interesting, compelling, informative, interactive and up-to-date deer-hunting/big buck community on the Web. With your help and support we are on the way.

I have combined my blogging with TV for the ultimate in multi-media deer hunting coverage. For 3 years I co-hosted Winchester Whitetail Revolution on VERSUS (now NBC Sports). From 2008-2010 I hosted "The Buck Stops Here with Mike Hanback" on VERSUS. It was one of the top-rated shows on the network's Friday night deer-hunting block.

In fall 2011 I began filming BIG DEER TV, which will debut summer 2012, exclusively on Sportsman Channel. I am excited about this because Sportsman, as you have probably noticed if you watch much hunting TV, is on the way up. I will do all I can to help the network reach the top.

While I have hunted most everything that walks or flies for the last 30 years, these days it’s all about BIG DEER, whitetails mostly, some muleys. I hunt for big deer in 10 states and a couple of Canadian provinces each fall. I use all the tactics, from tree stands to rattling to stalking. I hunt with all the tools—bow, blackpowder, rifle and slug-gun. I am a proud Remington man.

I am an Ambassador Pro-Staffer for Cabela's. I am a Life Member of the NRA and will forever support our 2A rights. I am an ambassador for legal,safe and ethical hunting. I will do all I can to sustain and grow our blood sport until I walk the deer woods no longer.