14 12, 2023

Texas Panhandle Non-Typical Buck

2023-12-11T09:14:52-05:00December 14th, 2023|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Science, whitetail deer|Comments Off on Texas Panhandle Non-Typical Buck

I shot this super-cool buck in North Texas, Wheeler County, a few days ago. Two biologists confirmed what I thought: that the non-typical left side of the rack was almost certainly caused by an injury to the buck’s body during the 2023 spring/summer antler-growing season. Most likely the buck injured one of his right legs. In what scientists call the “contralateral effect,” an injury to one side of the body often causes an antler deformity on the opposite side of the rack. Penn State biologists say the reasons for this are unknown. Exactly how the opposite-side antler will be altered from its original size or shape is anyone’s guess. In any event, I am extremely happy with this mature, funky [...]

20 11, 2023

5 Deer Facts That Will Help You Tag a Buck

2023-11-07T10:05:14-05:00November 20th, 2023|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Science, whitetail deer|Comments Off on 5 Deer Facts That Will Help You Tag a Buck

When deer scientists talk, I listen. Men and women who make a career of studying the whitetail don’t do it for fame or money. Having grinded for years to obtain a master’s degree in wildlife ecology, and in many cases a PhD to boot, they are passionate about learning all they can about America’s most popular game animal, and then implementing best practices for managing herds across the nation. When the biologists are also hunters, as most mentioned here are, I double down on their data because I’m confident it will help me, and you, shoot more big deer. Rubs: Zero to 100s  In a Michigan study, whitetails were totally removed from an enclosure; no deer inhabited the place for [...]

14 11, 2023

Deer Science: Whitetail Buck’s Pineal Gland

2023-11-07T09:34:14-05:00November 14th, 2023|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Science, whitetail deer|Comments Off on Deer Science: Whitetail Buck’s Pineal Gland

My friends over at North American Whitetail magazine just published this article on the Science of the Whitetail Rut by deer researcher Clint McCoy. Among many other interesting rut things, Clint talks about a topic we’ve never addressed here at Big Deer: the pineal gland, which lies close to the optic nerve in a buck's brain…variations in photo-period (amount of light each day) prompt the pineal gland to initiate hormonal reactions in a buck’s body. Clint first points out that the whitetail deer is a “short-day breeder.” After the summer solstice occurs on June 21, each day’s length begins to shorten, dropping to less than 11 hours a day in early to mid-November. He then writes, …as daily photo-period reduces [...]

30 10, 2023

Hunt Buck Scrapes at Dusk

2023-10-24T07:11:15-04:00October 30th, 2023|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Science, whitetail deer|Comments Off on Hunt Buck Scrapes at Dusk

Researchers at the University of Georgia’s “Deer Lab” conducted an extensive study on the scraping behavior of whitetail bucks. On major finding: 85 percent of all scraping (by bucks of all ages) occurs at night, and a 3½-year-old or older buck is rarely observed at a scrape. Take that at face value and you’d never hunt scrapes again. But not so fast; read between the lines for some useful data. When analyzing the time codes on their trail-cam images and video reels, the researchers noticed that a flurry of heavy scraping occurs at or just after dusk on late-October and early-November days. Hmm, so here's how to play off that science. Scout for a doe trail, draw or ridge funnel [...]

27 09, 2023

Hemorrhagic Disease in Whitetail Deer 2023

2023-09-27T09:37:13-04:00September 27th, 2023|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Bowhunting, Deer Hunting, Deer Science, whitetail deer|Comments Off on Hemorrhagic Disease in Whitetail Deer 2023

In June 2023 I blogged: Many areas in the West and Deep South have received plenty of moisture this spring, so I think any outbreaks of Hemorrhagic Disease (HD)  — either epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) virus or bluetongue virus-- in whitetails will be spotty and insignificant. But I see potential trouble spots in the Midwest… where conditions range from abnormally dry to exceptional drought in many areas. Moderate drought conditions also exist eastward across the upper Midwest to Pennsylvania and south into the Virginia Piedmont…so I’m on the lookout for EHD in these regions too. There were no reports of any HD outbreaks anywhere in America throughout the summer and early fall, but in mid-September HD reared its ugly head [...]

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