10 01, 2014

Quick and Easy European Skull Mount

2020-06-10T09:23:05-04:00January 10th, 2014|BigDeer|8 Comments

Shot a great Texas buck yesterday. We put the skinned skull in the pot and boiled it for 10 hours (note the water line in the pot, you have to add water every couple of hours). Then we removed the skull and used a power washer to blow away all the loose meat from the skull, eye sockets and face bones (took maybe 45 seconds). Presto, look at the skull mount in the picture below. You can bleach the skull later if you want too, but I usually just leave it like this (below picture). I prefer my skulls rough with character, with no wood plaque. This poor man’s Euro looks great leaning on a desk or table, or in [...]

7 01, 2014

Northwestern New York Giant Buck

2020-06-10T09:23:05-04:00January 7th, 2014|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer|1 Comment

Got this on our Big Deer Facebook page: “Jeff Ames shot this monster in Monroe County on 11/26/2013 near the Town of Chili. He has seen this deer for 2 years and missed him last year. Redemption!!” This is a great buck and a huge accomplishment. I hunted northwestern New York (the Adirondacks, near Speculator) for the first time last season--it was some of the toughest deer hunting I’ve ever experienced (low numbers of deer per square mile, steep terrain…). But, the cool thing was hanging out in camp and hunting hard with a group of guys from across the upstate (picture below), seeing and living their passion and dedication for our sport, things you’ll see in a new episode [...]

6 01, 2014

Illinois: 2013 Deer Harvest Down 25%

2020-06-10T09:23:05-04:00January 6th, 2014|BigDeer, Hunting News|8 Comments

According to the Illinois DNR, hunters killed a preliminary total of 74,191 deer during the seven-day firearm deer season (first season was Nov. 22-24, second season was Dec. 5-8). Compare that to the 2012 when hunters shot 99,546 deer during the two gun hunts. What caused the big harvest drop? This article speculates that recent outbreaks of EHD the last two summers were worse than thought, and that coyotes are taking a measurable toll on the state’s herd (something we have been monitoring big time on the blog, plus we did a full BIG DEER TV episode on coyote-deer predation last year). But the story goes on to imply that the DNR might be mismanaging the deer herd by permitting [...]

3 01, 2014

White Virginia Buck!

2020-06-10T09:23:05-04:00January 3rd, 2014|BigDeer|12 Comments

John sent this photo and asked: “Mike have you seen this one? Supposedly shot last fall in Appomattox County in your home state of VA. “ I hadn’t seen it, but what a cool piebald buck! Check the mass of those antlers. Interesting to me that the snow-white deer was able to survive 3 or 4 years in that brown-green VA habitat that gets virtually no snow in the winter.

2 01, 2014

Deer Hair Loss: Is This The Mange?

2020-06-10T09:23:05-04:00January 2nd, 2014|BigDeer, Deer Science|2 Comments

From longtime blogger Dutch: Mike: I think some time ago there was a thread on the blog about hair loss in deer. This past Friday, I was hunting on my family’s farm in Virginia and had this little lady stop by. She was definitely the boss doe in charge of her group, and seemed perfectly healthy other than not having any hair on her back. I've never seen this before and my first thought was mange but whenever I've seen animals with mange in the past, it's been in random splotches on their bodies, usually with little sores. This just seemed so uniform. Just wanted to share and see if you or anyone else had any thoughts.—Dutch I reached out [...]

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