Deer Hunting Archives - Page 33 of 196

8 03, 2023

Pennsylvania’s Saturday Deer Opener 4 Years Later: Liked By Most, Hated By Some

Clay Hanback2023-03-08T09:49:35-05:00March 8th, 2023|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Hunting News, whitetail deer|1 Comment

Last year I reported on a survey showing that most hunters in Pennsylvania like the new if controversial Saturday start to the firearms deer season. For many years, the Penn. gun season started the Monday after Thanksgiving, but that was changed to the Saturday opener in 2021. The study found that some 60% of hunters preferred the Saturday opening day. Top reasons cited included more opportunity to hunt since most people are off work that day, and kids are out of school so it's easier for them to go with a parent on Saturday. Lancaster Online has conducted 3 polls since the season was changed, and all three times the majority of respondents favored the Saturday opener by a wide [...]

3 03, 2023

Miss a Deer? Find Your Arrows and Broadhead

Clay Hanback2023-03-03T08:11:33-05:00March 3rd, 2023|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Bowhunting, Deer Hunting|Comments Off on Miss a Deer? Find Your Arrows and Broadhead

When we shoot at a deer and miss from a tree stand, most of the time the arrow sticks partway in the ground with broadhead buried. But sometimes a shaft deflects off a limb or sapling, sails and comes to rest on the ground or tangled in brush with broadhead blades exposed, and potentially dangerous to a hiker or another hunter that walks through the area. After a blown shot, we should always try to find and retrieve our arrows to prevent a freak accident from occurring. Not to mention that we can save $15 to $20 by finding and reusing that shaft and broadhead! Arrow Finding Tips Wrap shafts in fluorescent orange, yellow or green that is easy to [...]

28 02, 2023

What Causes Bucks to Have Weak Brow Tines or No Brows?

Clay Hanback2023-02-28T15:35:19-05:00February 28th, 2023|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Deer Science, whitetail deer|1 Comment

Last month I hunted a friend's ranch in West Texas, 5 hours west of San Antonio and 80 miles north of Del Rio. This is a raw, rocky desert environment that had experienced a long drought, though there is a good water system on this 1,000-acre property. My buddy Cecil recently purchased the ranch, and he has been running 8 to 10 corn feeders year-round. There has been minimal protein feeding here the last 2 years, but he plans to fill the protein feeders and increase supplemental feeding this year. I hunted a week and one thing jumped out at me: 7 out of every 10 bucks of all age classes we saw had small and weak brow tines (that’s [...]

27 02, 2023

4 New Big-Buck Tactics To Try

Clay Hanback2023-02-27T08:26:46-05:00February 27th, 2023|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, CZ-USA, Deer Hunting, Hornady, trijicon, whitetail deer|Comments Off on 4 New Big-Buck Tactics To Try

I’ve been hunting whitetails for 40 years, and nothing a mature buck does surprises me anymore. I learn new things about big deer every season, and so should you. Here are 4 things I learned from last season; use them to kill a giant this fall. Hunt Later in the Pre-Rut The first week of November last season in Virginia, I had 4 good bowhunters in camp to film an episode of Big Deer TV. On the second morning, I caught a fleeting glimpse of a 170-inch buck we had on cam, but other than that the best buck we saw in 6 days was a 3-year-old that might go 120. Not an arrow was fired. So much for getting [...]

22 02, 2023

Are Bobcats Deer Predators?

Clay Hanback2023-02-20T13:50:15-05:00February 22nd, 2023|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Predator Hunting, whitetail deer|Comments Off on Are Bobcats Deer Predators?

In a word yes. But unlike the coyote, the bobcat is not a major killer of whitetail deer. A 6-year research project conducted in Texas found that bobcat scat contains much more deer during the month of June—the major fawning period-- than any other time of the year. This and other studies have concluded that while bobcats across their range do indeed prey on fawn deer in the spring, they are not a major predator, and only rarely kill adult deer.But a big male cat is an opportunistic eater of even big deer! A few years ago, John from North Carolina sent me this story. John was hunting the last day of deer season. A mature doe with 2 button bucks [...]