Clay Hanback, Author at Big Deer

28 04, 2023

Do Floods Harm Deer?

Clay Hanback2023-04-28T14:51:14-04:00April 28th, 2023|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Science|Comments Off on Do Floods Harm Deer?

Huge rain and flash flooding here in Virginia this weekend, and it’s moving up the East Coast. Later this spring there will be some flooding in the Midwest and South, as happens every year. How will all this water affect the deer? Biologists say that rising floodwaters of river and creeks won’t kill many if any adult deer, though it will displace animals for days and perhaps weeks. But the deer will eventually filter back into their habitats once the waters recede. While pregnant does will simply move out of rising water now and for the next few weeks, the primary concern for deer herds in and around flood zones occurs later on in May and June, when the does [...]

27 04, 2023

The Antler Obsession is Long Gone–Good Riddance

Clay Hanback2023-04-24T08:44:01-04:00April 27th, 2023|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, whitetail deer|Comments Off on The Antler Obsession is Long Gone–Good Riddance

In the late 1990s, the burgeoning whitetail-management movement got highjacked by a loud and obnoxious group of people (I hesitate to call them real hunters) thoroughly obsessed with giant antlers. The noble effort of planting food plots and making other land improvements was not enough. You had to grow and then kill 170-inch plus whitetails, or nothing at all. If you grew or, the horror, shot too small of a buck, you were shamed relentlessly. The big outdoor magazines of the day hopped on board. I know because I worked for two of them. One day an editor told me, “If you don’t put a 180- to 200-incher on the cover, this rag won’t sell jack on the newsstand.” We [...]

24 04, 2023

Louisiana’s “Blue Deer”

Clay Hanback2023-04-24T08:12:23-04:00April 24th, 2023|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, CZ-USA, Deer Hunting, Deer Science, trijicon, whitetail deer|Comments Off on Louisiana’s “Blue Deer”

Before Louisiana was colonized by the French in 1803, the area's whitetail population was about 400,000. As the 19th century wore on, market hunting and the damaging effects of large-scale timber cutting reduced the herds. Hunting laws and bag limits were too liberal or not enforced, and deer numbers fell dramatically. During the early 1900s, Louisiana’s deer population had dropped to about 20,000 animals. But during the tough times, some does and bucks survived in the deep swamps and thickets. As deforested habitats grew into second-growth timber, the whitetail population began to recover. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries began managing the herds in the late 1940s. Officials set seasons and bag limits. By the early 1950s, managers had [...]

20 04, 2023

Deer Science: Why Bucks Vanish from Your Trail Camera

Clay Hanback2023-04-20T09:01:50-04:00April 20th, 2023|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Science, whitetail deer|Comments Off on Deer Science: Why Bucks Vanish from Your Trail Camera

Researchers at Mississippi State’s Deer Lab analyzed the movements of 30 GPS-collared adult bucks, and found that 20 of them, or 68%, were “sedentary” and confined their movements to a single home range. The other 10 bucks were more adventurous and mobile, moving back and forth between multiple home range sites and core areas from summer to fall and winter. These mobile bucks traveled an average distance of 4.4 miles between their seasonal living areas. The takeaway: When a mature buck you have on camera in September or October suddenly goes missing for weeks or a month, chances are he’s one of those mobile bucks that has moved a mile or 2 or 3 to another section of his home [...]

18 04, 2023

When Coyotes Kill the Most Fawns

Clay Hanback2023-04-18T14:22:07-04:00April 18th, 2023|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Science, Predator Hunting, whitetail deer|Comments Off on When Coyotes Kill the Most Fawns

Won't be long until the whitetail fawns start dropping, and to that end here's some new research. In South Carolina, researchers from Clemson University tracked the movements of 49 fawns and, separately, the movements of their mothers. Seventy percent of the fawns died before September, most of them eaten by coyotes. The 14 fawns that survived tended to have more aloof mothers who kept a greater distance from their fawns when apart, and who also visited the fawns mostly during daytime hours. The study found that does that visit their fawns at night, when coyotes are more much more active, dramatically increased their fawns’ chances of dying.

About Clay Hanback

Do Floods Harm Deer?

The Antler Obsession is Long Gone–Good Riddance

Louisiana’s “Blue Deer”

Deer Science: Why Bucks Vanish from Your Trail Camera

When Coyotes Kill the Most Fawns