It’s time to celebrate these beautiful little creatures that are being born right now! Did you know: A fawn weighs 4 to 8 pounds at birth; their weight doubles in 2 weeks. A fawn has a unique smell that the mother recognizes. A fawn spends its first month in hiding, separate from the doe, except to nurse 2 to 4 times a day. A healthy fawn can outrun you when it’s only days old. A fawn has about 300 white spots. 25% of twin fawns have different fathers. In a typical herd, twin fawns is the norm. In a prime habitat where the soil/feed/cover is outstanding, 20% to 30% of does might drop triplets. In a habitat with poor soils [...]

We are editing the new season of BIG DEER TV, which will begin airing in July on Sportsman Channel. I was fascinated studying the interview and footage we shot with my friend Eddie Stevenson, who a few years ago shot one of the rarest whitetail deer in America. Here’s the story and some information: One day in the Texas Hill Country, a buck stepped out of the brush and Eddie Stevenson did a double take. It wasn’t the size of the rack, but the animal’s color—mahogany all over, with an even darker head and face. Eddie shot the buck, and the one-in-a-million mount now hangs on his wall. “I know he’s a young buck, but this deer was on a [...]

  I’m a big fan of Penn State’s Deer-Forest Blog. It’s science-based and consistently provides practical and relate able information for wildlife observers and hunters alike. In this recent post the researchers talk about deer behavior in big woods on public lands. Many of you hunt that type of habitat and those tough bucks. Here are a few highlights you need to remember: Having tracked GPS-collared deer for years in big, rough, hunted woods in Pennsylvania, the researchers say that one critical learned behavior of deer is to find safe zones where they avoid hunters. When deer are disturbed, they do what deer do--run away. If they run to a spot where they don’t get disturbed again, then they will [...]