Outdoor Life With Tess Maune: Oklahoma Hunting Stars Share Love of Outdoors Through National Show 'BuckVentures'

Two of Oklahoma’s Own are featured in hunting ads in all of Academy Sports and Outdoors stores nationwide.

Jeff Danker and his daughter Jaylee have been showcasing the outdoors on a national level for nearly 20 years.

Together, the two host BuckVentures, a national hunting show that airs on the Sportsman channel. They're known for taking down trophy bucks and sharing their faith in each episode.

“We use it as a platform to stand up for Christ and God,” said Jeff. 

Jeff started the show in 2003, the year Jaylee was born.

“I was on it when I was younger, but I didn't actually start trying to hunt with it until I was 8,” Jaylee said. 

“You probably don't even remember, you were on intros as a baby waving at dad goodbye,” Jeff added. 

Now Jaylee’s 18 and she’s making a living out of hunting and helping her dad with the show. 

“There's something about just getting to get outside and go after something that you know is gonna be hard and know you're gonna have to push through,” said Jaylee. “It's a new adventure every time.”

Jaylee is also showing a new generation of hunters that the woods are for women, too.

“There aren't many girls who are into it, but they're slowly starting to get more into it and I've seen that even with the show, there's more and more girls watching and I'm really grateful,” she said. 

October first is opening day of deer season in Oklahoma, but the prep work has been months in the making for Jeff and Jaylee.

“Plant food plots, do fences, hang stands, move stands” said Jaylee. “I'm ready for all the hard work we've been doing to actually pay off in some way.”

“I'm ready to be in a tree. I'm ready to hunt,” Jeff said.

The Dankers hunt all over the country, but said there's no place like home.

“We're sure proud to be Okies. We live in a rich state as far as wildlife and I'm so proud of that,” said. Jeff. “We have elk, we have bear, we have antelope, we have whitetails, big mule deer and we have different terrain. If you've ever kind of wanted to hunt, you're in state where... get after it.”

Ahead of the season, Jeff and Jaylee showed News On 6’s Tess Maune around their 40-acre farm near Chandler and the land they lease next door.

“I actually really get chills standing right here just cause there's big bucks in every direction,” said Jeff while standing in one of his hunting spots in the woods.

The Dankers put more trail cameras out than they can count, which helps narrow down which deer they want to hunt.

“People ask, 'how do you shoot a big buck?' I think a big part for me is knowing that there's a big buck there. That might help me to pass deer, if I wanted to shoot a bigger deer,” Jeff said.

Jeff and Jaylee are constantly working to make their land the best it can be for wildlife, planting everything from pear trees to food plots.

“As far as finding a deer, I'd say don't mess with a food plot on October,” said Jeff. 

“Cameras and corn,” Jaylee added.

“Go buy a bag of corn at Academy,” said Jeff. “You'll be surprised, deer will find that corn and that's your start.”

And they do it all with the end goal of going from the field to the table.

“We eat every deer, Tess. We either eat it or donate it,” said Jeff.

Jeff and Jaylee also co-host The Woodsman on My Outdoors TV and they’re featured in Academy’s online hunting guide.