BigDeer Archives - Page 153 of 350

17 05, 2018

10 Tips to Avoid Rattlesnakes

admin2020-06-10T09:15:53-04:00May 17th, 2018|BigDeer|3 Comments

I am deathly afraid of snakes. The good news: During decades of hunting, hiking, camping and random rambling around the woods and mountains from Virginia to North Carolina to Alabama, I saw few snakes of any kind, and never had a close encounter with a timber rattler. The bad news: Last August, on a remote ridge halfway into a 15-mile hike on the Appalachian Trail in central Virginia, I nearly stepped on a huge yellow-phase rattler. Last week on another day hike on the AT, I passed a southbounder who said,” Be careful, rattler in the trail about a mile back.” About a mile up the trail, leaves rustled just off the path and I jumped two feet. A big [...]

16 05, 2018

Future Of Deer Hunting: USDA TO Revise Standards for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD)

admin2020-06-10T09:15:53-04:00May 16th, 2018|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Deer Science|Comments Off on Future Of Deer Hunting: USDA TO Revise Standards for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD)

As I’ve said on the Blog and on BIG DEER TV, CWD is the biggest issue and threat that we've faced in the last 50 years, and maybe ever. We need to stay on top of this and learn all we can about this disease. The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP) reports that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is currently revising their standards for CWD, and they need to hear from deer hunters from across the country. To that end, TRCP put out this message which I wholeheartedly agree with and support: Deer hunting is the single most popular form of hunting in the United States, with 9.2 million Americans participating each year, [...]

14 05, 2018

Minn: Rare Two-Headed Fawn

admin2020-06-10T09:15:53-04:00May 14th, 2018|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Science|Comments Off on Minn: Rare Two-Headed Fawn

From Fox News: A mushroom hunter's discovery of a conjoined white-tailed fawn in a Minnesota forest two years ago is being hailed by researchers as a landmark case among oddities in nature. The fawns, which were stillborn, are believed to have been the first recorded case of a conjoined two-headed deer to have reached full term and born by their mother, according to a study recently published in the science journal American Midland Naturalist. "It’s never been described before," Lou Cornicelli, co-author of the study and a wildlife research manager for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, told FOX9. "There are a few reported cases of two-headed ungulate fetuses, but nothing delivered to term. So, the uniqueness made it special." [...]

11 05, 2018

When Are Deer Fawns Born?

admin2020-06-10T09:15:53-04:00May 11th, 2018|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting|Comments Off on When Are Deer Fawns Born?

When will whitetail fawns start showing up this spring? A Pennsylvania study found that more than 80% of adult does are bred during a 6-week period from late October through the first week of December, with most of them conceiving in mid-November. From conception date, the whitetail deer has a gestation period of 200 days. Fast forward to the next spring and do the math. According to my calculations, in regions where the deer breeding season occurs from late October through early December (most of the country), more than 80% of fawns will be born from approximately May 12 through June 25, with the vast majority of little deer being dropped from May 29 through June 10, give or take [...]

9 05, 2018

Mule Deer: Why Antler-Point Restrictions Don’t Work

admin2020-06-10T09:15:53-04:00May 9th, 2018|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Mule Deer|Comments Off on Mule Deer: Why Antler-Point Restrictions Don’t Work

Most western states and provinces have, over the years, implemented some type of antler-point restrictions during mule deer hunting seasons. On the surface, antler restrictions make sense: If by law hunters cannot shoot young fork-horns and other immature bucks, those deer will grow older and bigger next year and the next. More mature bucks is good for the health of any herd, right? And most hunters want to shoot a deer with big antlers, right? Not necessarily, say experts with the Mule Deer Working Group (MDWG). These researchers and biologists report that antler-point restrictions have proved to have limited potential to produce more trophy bucks, and they result in a myriad of challenges and problems. For example: -- Available data [...]