Big Deer Stories Archives - Page 30 of 113

23 07, 2018

Food Plots: Simple Tips To Save Money

admin2020-06-10T09:15:52-04:00July 23rd, 2018|Big Deer Stories, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management|1 Comment

Today’s guest blog from our friend and habitat-management specialist Matt “Flatlander” Cheever: Hey Mike: Here are some quick thoughts on how to save some money on food plots if your budget is strapped, or you don't have the ability to move large equipment from property to property. Seed depth is critical for quality deer food plot success. Recently I didn’t have the ability to take all the equipment that I normally would to a property where I planted a plot. I had no way to sufficiently drag in the seed. I wanted just a small amount of topsoil over the brassicas. Rule of thumb is all seed gets buried at twice the depth of the size of a seed (I.E. [...]

19 07, 2018

Whitetail Science: How Well Do Deer Hear?

admin2020-06-10T09:15:52-04:00July 19th, 2018|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Science|Comments Off on Whitetail Science: How Well Do Deer Hear?

Years ago as a doctoral student at the University of Georgia’s Deer Lab, Gino D’Angelo put whitetails in a sound-testing booth and monitored their brainwaves to see how the animals responded to different sounds and frequencies. (Dr. D’Angelo is now is an Assistant Professor of Deer Ecology and Management at UGA’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources.) Here are 4 things Dr. D’Angelo and his colleagues found about the whitetail's sense of hearing: Deer do not hear that much better than we do! The frequency of sound is measured in hertz. Studies have found that a healthy human can hear from 20 to 20,000 hertz, with our best and most sensitive range from 2,000 to 5,000 hertz. The researchers [...]

13 07, 2018

Recipe: Grilled Venison Beer Brats

admin2020-06-10T09:15:52-04:00July 13th, 2018|Big Deer Stories, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Recipes|4 Comments

Perfect for a summer Friday or Saturday night: --Shoot deer in fall. Gut deer. Transport some meat to processor and have brats made. (These jalapeno cheese brats came from a buck I shot in Montana, though a deer you shoot and gut anywhere will do.) --Simmer brats in 50/50 mixture of water and beer for 20 minutes. Do not boil brats, just a low, slow simmer, rolling brats occasionally. --As brats simmer, sip remainder of leftover over beer. Heat gas grill and chill at least one more beer. --After 20 minutes, remove brats from stove and drain water/beer mix. Reduce grill to medium-low. Add brats and grill, covered, for 6-8 minutes, until charred slightly. --Remove from grill, serve with mustard [...]

10 07, 2018

3 Top Summer Spots For Trail Cameras

admin2020-06-10T09:15:52-04:00July 10th, 2018|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management|2 Comments

I’ve had several Spartan cameras out for a while, but now in July is when I start my recon in earnest. Velvet antlers are up and growing full bore; when you get an image of a buck with potential, you’ll know it and can start tracking and patterning his movements. One: Last week we set 2 cameras on 2 one-acre clover plots hidden back in the woods. We set 3 more cams near larger food plots, but not aiming out into the fields. Rather, we pointed these cams 20 to 30 yards back in the thickets that rim the edges, on well-used deer trails. Secluded, thick pockets and bottlenecks like this are where you’re apt of get close images of [...]

9 07, 2018

How Summer Heat Affects Deer

admin2020-06-10T09:15:52-04:00July 9th, 2018|Big Deer Stories, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management|Comments Off on How Summer Heat Affects Deer

Above normal temperatures--say a string of 90-plus days with high humidity--cause whitetails to stress. The amount of stress is dependent on the quality of the habitat. Deer consume more water than any other mineral (water is a mineral, a naturally occurring substance). The amount of water deer need increases during hot and dry periods in summer. Where good water is abundant, no big deal. But where water is limited either by quantity or quality, some of a deer’s bodily functions are limited, such as transferring calcium to growing antlers or milk production for fawns. Deer travel to find water. But if they are forced out of their home range in search of H2O, bucks and does expend huge amounts of [...]