These soft, summer evenings in July and August are when I officially start my scouting for the upcoming deer season. A couple hours before dark, I drive to one of my hunt areas and park where I can see a good piece into a field of low-growing alfalfa, soybeans or clover, or a recently hayed pasture.  In a more heavily wooded habitat, I find a spot with a decent long view of a clear-cut, power line or similar opening in the timber. Once I’ve obtained a vantage, I break out my 10X binocular and a spotting scope on a tripod, and look for velvet-racked bucks that gather to feed and posture out in the open at dusk. These bachelor clubs, [...]

The string of 100-plus days with blazing sun In Texas got me to thinking of how whitetails (does with growing fawns and bucks with rapidly growing velvet racks) survive and thrive in oppressive summer heat, so I went to Grant Woods, one of America’s top biologists, for some answers: “Temperatures above normal during summer certainly cause deer stress,” said Grant. How much stress is dependent on the quality of the habitat in an area. For example, deer consume more water than any other mineral (yes, water is a mineral, a naturally occurring substance) and the quantity of water necessary increases during periods of above normal temperatures. If water is limited by quantity or quality, many bodily functions are limited, such [...]