Big Deer Stories Archives - Page 31 of 113

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 [...]

6 07, 2018

Social Media Rumor Bucks

admin2020-06-10T09:15:52-04:00July 6th, 2018|Big Deer Stories, BigDeer, Deer Hunting|1 Comment

The posts and picture said: “30-point monster killed at our Georgia hunt club. That is the biggest rack I’ve ever seen in GA.” Another guy added: “One of the new guys in our hunting club killed this out of my tower stand last year!” Well, that would be difficult since this amazing buck was shot by Bill Crutchfield in Maryland 12 years ago. This is fact, as I have interviewed Bill and posted on this giant several times: the 28-point, 268 1/8-inch Crutchfield titan is one of the biggest whitetails ever killed in Maryland, and on the East Coast. Lesson: This is just but one example of rumor bucks you see all the time on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Enjoy the [...]

4 07, 2018

2017 Maine Deer Kill Highest In A Decade

admin2020-06-10T09:15:52-04:00July 4th, 2018|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting|1 Comment

Deer hunters in Maine harvested 27,233 deer in 2017, the highest total in the last ten years and an increase of 15% from 2016. “An increasing deer herd in southern and central Maine, and favorable hunting conditions contributed to the best deer hunting season in ten years,” said Nathan Bieber, Maine deer biologist. Maine’s deer hunt is broken down into several seasons for firearm hunters, muzzleloaders and bow hunters. Most deer are harvested during the general firearms season (23,288), which started on October 28th and continued until November 25. Bowhunters took 2,099 deer, and hunters took 970 deer during the muzzleloading season. Maine’s junior hunters were also very successful on youth day, with 876 youth hunters taking a deer this [...]

2 07, 2018

What Happens To Ammunition In A House Fire?

admin2020-06-10T09:15:52-04:00July 2nd, 2018|Big Deer Stories, BigDeer, Deer Guns & Loads, Deer Hunting|Comments Off on What Happens To Ammunition In A House Fire?

One night a few years ago my Canadian friend Grant Kuypers returned home to find his shop and man cave engulfed in flames. By the time the fire department got there, everything was gone—Grant’s truck, ATVs, 70 game cameras, all his hunting clothes and dozens of guns in a safe… Grant said most of his stored hunting ammo had simply burned up; a few cartridges had exploded, as evidenced by holes and dents in the gun safe’s walls. The photo here of burned ammo is from the fire at Grant's. Turns out, this is typical of what happens to ammunition in a house fire. According to this KRCR News report, fire officials say that burning ammo is not as dangerous [...]

27 06, 2018

Whitetail Science: Young Bucks Breed 30% Of Does

admin2020-06-10T09:15:52-04:00June 27th, 2018|Big Deer Stories, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Deer Science|3 Comments

For many years biologists and hunters believed that most adult does were bred by bucks 3.5 years and older, a theory I always questioned. In many areas of the U.S., deer herds are overloaded with does, and there are relatively mature bucks 4.5 years and older. So in peak rut, when many does come into estrus at one time, which bucks are actually doing the breeding? According to research published in the Journal of Mammalogy, immature bucks (1.5 and 2.5 years of age) are breeding does at a much higher rate than once thought. In one study, researchers analyzed the DNA samples of more than 1,200 whitetails in 3 different populations (Mississippi, Texas and Oklahoma) and found that young bucks [...]