Big Deer Blog

Only a handful of cases of "Bullwinkle Disease” have been documented in whitetail deer, and we’ve covered most of them here on BIG DEER Blog. Does and bucks with big, swollen snouts have been documented from Florida to Texas to Michigan. Ground zero for the disease seems to be Alabama, where the first known case of Bullwinkle (the disease is so new that scientists don’t have a technical name for it yet, but the common name fits for now) was documented in 2007. Hunter Courtney Stanley (above) shot this nice buck with a swollen nose near Furman, Alabama in January 2015. And last month I received emails from two more Alabama men who shot the latest known cases of Bullwinkle bucks in the January [...]

  Got this field report on Christmas day from my friend Brandon Schreiber, who lives in central Saskatchewan and operates Buck Country Outfitters, an outfit I will be hunting with this fall. Brandon wrote: I had an epic day fulfilling one of my dreams, to harvest a wolf. Anyone who has pursued wolves knows how smart they are and what it takes to connect on these animals. I wanted to know more, so I asked my friend to elaborate… The only way to harvest wolves in Saskatchewan is to obtain a fur license and either trap them or shoot them. I have had my fur license since I was 12 years old, and my dad taught me a lot about trapping [...]

Got this report the other day from our friend Wren. Note: All these deer came from free range with native browse and local genetics, from a property with a MLD management program. Having hunted low-fence ranches with similar programs down there in the past, I cannot tell you enough how impressive these bucks are: (Wren’s 158” 9-point) Mike: We are still hunting hard down in South Texas, it has been a very good year for racks, and our management program on the ranch combined with a couple of "wet" years really has shown great results. Our harvest plan called for taking 152 deer this season, spit evenly between bucks and does.  Due to some very wet weather and the cycle [...]

Jesse T. sent this picture of the velvet buck he shot during the 2014 rifle season on a small farm in northern Missouri. “I have both sheds from the previous year and haven't a clue why he never shed in 2014,” Jesse said. “The buck didn't get injured, but his testicles were pea sized.” I have posted often on stag bucks over the years, but this one is different. According to the QDMA, a birth defect known as cryptorchidism causes a buck to carry velvet antlers beyond the normal velvet-shedding date of late August to early September. In extreme cases both testicles remain in the abdominal cavity and never descend into the scrotum. The normal production of testosterone is diminished, and the [...]