What you see on a buck's head right now, is what you'll get for this year. The majority of antler growth was completed a week or so ago in early August. Now during mid- and late August, the antlers start to harden. In early to mid-September the velvet dries and is shed, usually in a matter of hours. The cue for the hardening and velvet shedding is the change in photo-period as caused by increasing darkness and decreasing daylight in late summer, which results in a significant increase in bucks’ testosterone levels. Once a buck sheds velvet, he is ready and willing to breed, though does won’t cycle into estrus for a month or two yet. Thanks to our friend Dan for [...]

Tomorrow evening watch 3 hours of BIG DEER as friends and I travel to Canada to Kansas to Texas to back home in Virginia to hunt whitetail bucks. Not only will the entertainment of these 6 episodes fire you up for the upcoming deer season, you’ll learn some tips from our “Buck Science” segments that will help you out in the woods this fall. Tune in, set your DVR and let me know what you think of these episodes. Thanks for watching and for your support! Special thanks to our sponsors #trijicon #remington #wildlifereseachcenter #spartancamera #mahindra

Matt Tarr, biologist and forester for the University of New Hampshire, tells how to do an acorn survey in your hunting woods in mid-August. Go to the oak trees, glass the upper limbs with binoculars, and estimate the average number of green acorns within 24 inches of each branch tip. Jot down the numbers, check other oak trees in area, and record the data. Then do some basic math. Tarr says that a white oak with an average of 12 to 18 or more acorns per branch is a good to excellent producer this year; with a red oak tree, that number is to 16 to 24 nuts. Hone in on the most productive oak trees and hang your stands [...]