Deer Science Archives - Page 15 of 43

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 [...]

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 [...]

28 05, 2019

Will The 2019 Storms And Record Flooding Kill Whitetail Fawns?

admin2020-06-10T09:15:19-04:00May 28th, 2019|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Deer Science|Comments Off on Will The 2019 Storms And Record Flooding Kill Whitetail Fawns?

Will the storms and subsequent record flooding in Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Mississippi and other central and south-central states kill fawns that are dropping right now and into June? Biologists note that pregnant does are good mothers, and they sense when to move out of a flood zone. The primary concern for deer populations is for stressed does that are dropping or dropped fawns in areas of rising water levels, and the fawns were too young to move to higher ground. This is surely the case in some flood-ravaged areas. "We know it's going to have a negative impact," said William McKinley, Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks Deer Program coordinator. "Let's just say that up front.” But fawn survival [...]