6 03, 2017

Southeast Deer Study Group 2017

2020-06-10T09:16:30-04:00March 6th, 2017|Big Deer TV, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Deer Science|1 Comment

The Southeast Deer Study Group meets annually for researchers and managers to share the latest information on whitetail deer. The 2017 study just concluded last week in St. Louis, and here are a few of their findings: As always there was interesting new info on the whitetail rut. Researchers from Mississippi State’s Forest Resources revealed a study that shows when bucks of similar age and body weight are present and available, does in estrus prefer to breed with the buck with the largest antlers. Another finding confirms why during peak rut you need to keep as many trail cameras rolling across your land as possible: Researchers at the Univ. of Georgia noted that you’ll get the most cam photos of [...]

2 03, 2017

Amazing Wild Turkey Trail-Camera: Kansas Birds Gone Wild!

2020-06-10T09:16:30-04:00March 2nd, 2017|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management|1 Comment

  My friend Brian Helman, who lives in southeastern Kansas and works for 180 Outdoors, sent me this image the other day with the message: If you get a chance come on out this spring, these turkeys are waiting on you…   The more I study the image the more amazed I am. I can definitively identify at least 18 longbeards, and surely there are many more, though some of the black blogs must be hens. Moreover, looking back to the far wood line, I count at least 83 birds marching out into the field, and who knows how many more are still back in the woods? How many turkeys do you count? Isn’t this the most interesting turkey image you’ve [...]

28 02, 2017

10 Ways to Improve Your Deer Hunting Land

2020-06-10T09:16:30-04:00February 28th, 2017|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management|1 Comment

(Photo: Matt "Flatlander" Cheever) Scatter food plots of about one acre across your ground. Design and build them to take advantage of thick cover and the predominant winds in the area in fall deer season. The closer you plant to a thicket where a mature buck can pop out to feed with his nose in the wind, the better the chance you’ll see him in daylight hours. Give deer a salad bar. Plant 60 percent of your plots with a perennial like a clover/chicory mix that will provide a steady food source for three to five years. Plant the other 40 percent with a fast-growing, tasty annual like oats or wheat. Planting 1,000 yards of logging road is like putting [...]

6 01, 2017

5 Tips for Hunting Late-Season Bucks

2020-06-10T09:16:31-04:00January 6th, 2017|Big Deer Stories, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management|2 Comments

We have 2 more days to hunt here in Virginia, and my friends Jack and Cecil are hunting hard, with our eyes on two bucks that have eluded us all season. If you’re still hunting into January too, try these 5 tips. Get the wind perfect: Back in October and especially during the November rut you predicted but never really knew from which direction a buck would come. So sometimes you cheated and hunted a stand on a couple different winds, and that worked out okay. But now there is only one good wind and little margin for error. In the evenings, deer move straight from their beds to a harvested cornfield or soybean field--anywhere they can find last scraps [...]

21 12, 2016

GA’s Coosawattee WMA: Another Giant Buck (178”) in 2016

2020-06-10T09:16:31-04:00December 21st, 2016|Big Deer Stories, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management|1 Comment

Back in 2011 I posted: Who knew such monster bucks were coming off WMAs in Georgia? From what I am finding out this state has some of the best public hunting in the nation, maybe the best. The Georgia DNR is doing things right and giving all hunters, not just the lucky ones with access to private land, a fair shot at killing a giant, and for a nominal $20 permit fee. The 5,600-acre Coosawattee WMA in the mountains of northwest Georgia is the shining star of these public lands. Leased annually and managed cooperatively with private landowners, this WMA offers better and more varied hunting than your typical state- or federally-owned lands, many of which are overcrowded, underfunded and [...]

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