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29 03, 2016

2016 BIG DEER Field Report: Wisconsin

admin2020-06-10T09:16:49-04:00March 29th, 2016|BigDeer|Comments Off on 2016 BIG DEER Field Report: Wisconsin

How was the 2015 winter where you live and hunt, and how did that impact the deer? Our friend Kim sent this report from northwest Wisconsin: The winter of 2014-15 was almost mild, and 2015-16 was beyond mild, mid-60s some days in February. Great news for the deer population, a very stress free winter. I saw a lot of 1- and 2-year-old bucks that still had their antlers as of February 19th. Does look very healthy, with fawning a couple months away. Two fawn bucks from last spring that I have been seeing are already large for their age group, both with buttons the diameter of a quarter on their heads. Average snow depth this winter for my area was [...]

28 03, 2016

BIG DEER Exclusive: Manage the Land, Manage the Deer

admin2020-06-10T09:16:49-04:00March 28th, 2016|Big Deer Stories, BigDeer, Deer Management|Comments Off on BIG DEER Exclusive: Manage the Land, Manage the Deer

This is part 1 of a 3 part series from our friend and Illinois land-management expert Matt “Flatlander” Cheever: Notice in the title of this post, I said manage the land, not “manage your land.” If you own hunting property, great. But you don’t have to be a landowner to participate in habitat and deer herd improvement. In fact, you bring added value to a landowner if you are capable of improving his property with your knowledge and elbow grease. This can give you a leg up on the hunter who simply wants to show up on opening day in the fall and hunt. Impress your landowner by showing up in the spring with a chainsaw and asking if there are [...]

24 03, 2016

Anilogics Science and Deer Mineral Licks

admin2020-06-10T09:16:49-04:00March 24th, 2016|Big Deer Stories, BigDeer, Deer Management, Deer Science|1 Comment

Right now is the time to establish a few mineral licks on your hunting land. Licks are easy and relatively inexpensive to make and maintain, and they serve two purposes: 1) provide vitamins for all the deer, from bucks growing new antlers to pregnant does getting ready to have fawns; and 2) they are top spots for you to set trail cameras and monitor bucks all summer. Science of Minerals “As land managers and hunters, we supply minerals for similar results in deer that we see in livestock that share the same environment,” says Dr. Brian Dorcey, a lifelong deer hunter who received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State. “Some of the well documented benefits of supplying supplemental [...]

22 03, 2016

Honey Badger Wheel: New Meat Cart for Hunters

admin2020-06-10T09:16:49-04:00March 22nd, 2016|BigDeer, Gear Reviews|2 Comments

Out in Montana last fall, a guy came along with a little wheeled cart and helped me haul out the buck I’d just shot. I’d see such contraptions before, but had never used one. Well, that thing sure made it a lot easier to get my deer across a creek and back to the truck. I guess I had that hunt on my mind when I saw a press release for this new cart, which appears to have a better design and be more substantial than the one I used. I asked the company to send me some info and pictures to share with you, and here's what they said: Hunters have been packing out deer, elk, sheep and [...]

21 03, 2016

Terry Drury’s Shed-Hunting Tactics

admin2020-06-10T09:16:49-04:00March 21st, 2016|Big Deer Stories, BigDeer, Shed Hunting|Comments Off on Terry Drury’s Shed-Hunting Tactics

Excerpt from Giant Whitetails, which I co-authored with Mark and Terry some years ago. Many people consider this to be one of the most informative books ever published on hunting mature whitetail books. I agree, but then I'm biased. Terry’s words on sheds: Mark and I have become almost as fanatical about hunting sheds as we are about observing and scouting deer. We’ve learned that when you put the two tactics together, you can really pin down the core areas and specific movements of mature bucks. We start looking for sheds as soon as the snow melts in late winter. Here in the Midwest, most bucks cast their antlers from the first week of February to the second week of [...]

Big Deer Blog

2016 BIG DEER Field Report: Wisconsin

BIG DEER Exclusive: Manage the Land, Manage the Deer

Anilogics Science and Deer Mineral Licks

Honey Badger Wheel: New Meat Cart for Hunters

Terry Drury’s Shed-Hunting Tactics