Deer Hunting Archives - Page 100 of 184

17 06, 2019

How Do Deer Handle Summer Heat?

admin2020-06-10T09:15:19-04:00June 17th, 2019|Big Deer Stories, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Science|Comments Off on How Do Deer Handle Summer Heat?

It's about to get really hot and humid--how will does with fawns, and bucks growing racks handle the heat? Temperatures above normal during summer causes some stress in deer. The amount of stress is dependent on the quality of the habitat. For example, deer consume more water than any other mineral (yes, water is a mineral, a naturally occurring substance) and the amount of water deer need increases during periods of above normal temperatures. If water is limited by either quantity or quality, many of a deer's bodily functions are limited, such as a buck transferring calcium to growing antlers, or a doe producing milk for fawns. Deer can usually travel to find water. But if they are forced out of [...]

12 06, 2019

11 Cool Facts: How Whitetail Bucks Grow Antlers

admin2020-06-10T09:15:19-04:00June 12th, 2019|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, Deer Hunting, Deer Science|Comments Off on 11 Cool Facts: How Whitetail Bucks Grow Antlers

1) Back around April, as the days got longer and the light increased, new antlers began to grow from buds that formed on pedicels on bucks’ heads. Within a month, main beams and brow tines began to sprout and split off. 2) Now, throughout early summer, the fledgling racks grow fast and furious. Antler tissue is the fastest-growing tissue in the animal world. Beams and tines may grow a quarter-inch or more per day, the process driven by a buck’s hormones and the photoperiod of the days. 3) According to biologists, a buck’s rack will show most of its points by mid-June, though tine length is typically less than half developed at this time. Most of the beam length will [...]

10 06, 2019

West Virginia’s 4 Archery-Only Deer Counties

admin2020-06-10T09:15:19-04:00June 10th, 2019|Big Deer Stories, BigDeer, Bowhunting, Deer Hunting|Comments Off on West Virginia’s 4 Archery-Only Deer Counties

Last fall Donny Baisden scouted and hunted and shot this awesome unicorn buck in Logan West Virginia. The giant scored 182 5/8. Bucks of this caliber have been coming out of not only Logan but also Wingo, McDowell and Wyoming counties for the last 40 years. It’s been one of bowhunting’s best-kept secrets! In the early 1970s whitetails were scarce, almost nonexistent, in southern West Virginia. “I spent a lot of time in the woods as a youngster, yet I can recall seeing only five deer,” said local hunter and writer John McCoy. “Three were on the property of a coal company that maintained a game preserve, and two moseyed out of the woods across from the school I attended. [...]

5 06, 2019

How To Build Summer Mineral Licks For Deer

admin2020-06-10T09:15:19-04:00June 5th, 2019|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Science|1 Comment

Mineral sites or “licks” provide hubs for your trail cameras and allow you to gain critical intel on bucks for months. You take pictures and watch them grow all summer, which is fun, and you start to pattern and narrow their movements as bow season approaches later toward fall. On one of the farms I hunt in Virginia, my friend Jack and I have 8 licks scattered across 800 acres of woods. About 1 strategically placed mineral site for every 100 acres is about right. We normally begin lining these sites with minerals sometime in May, and the deer visit them immediately. The bucks on this farm know where the licks are and have been hitting them regularly for years. [...]

3 06, 2019

10 Fun Facts About Whitetail Fawns

admin2020-06-10T09:15:19-04:00June 3rd, 2019|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Science|Comments Off on 10 Fun Facts About Whitetail Fawns

We celebrate the beautiful little creatures being born right now! --A fawn weighs 4 to 8 pounds at birth; its weight doubles in 2 weeks. --A fawn has a unique smell that the mother recognizes. --A fawn can walk hours after birth. --A newborn fawn spends its first weeks mostly alone and in hiding; it interacts with the mother doe only twice a day and nurses 2 or 3 times. --A healthy fawn can outrun you when it’s only days old, but it takes 3 to 6 weeks before it can elude most predators. --A fawn has about 300 white spots. --25% of twin fawns have different fathers. --"Multiple paternity" was found in triplet fawns at Auburn University. Three fawns [...]