Deer Science Archives - Page 21 of 43

6 09, 2017

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD): Should You Eat The Deer Meat?

admin2020-06-10T09:16:10-04:00September 6th, 2017|Big Deer Stories, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Deer Science|Comments Off on Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD): Should You Eat The Deer Meat?

Map: Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance This fall you shoot a whitetail or a mule deer in an area where CWD is known to be present in the deer herds. How do you handle that deer…should you eat the meat? Research has shown that in an infected deer CWD prions may be present in tissues and body fluids, including blood and muscle, but they are most prevalent in the brain, eyes, spinal cord, lymph nodes, tonsils and spleen. Thus, it is recommended that hunters in a CWD area wear gloves and bone out harvested deer (or elk). Take extra precautions when cutting around or handling organs where CWD prions are most likely to accumulate. Biologists [...]

1 09, 2017

How Deer React to Extreme Hunting Pressure

admin2020-06-10T09:16:10-04:00September 1st, 2017|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Deer Science|Comments Off on How Deer React to Extreme Hunting Pressure

Researchers at the University of Georgia put GPS collars on 13 does and monitored them during a period of extremely heavy hunting pressure with deer dogs. Every doe hung out and hid in her core area until the dogs got too close and the heat too intense. The does then ran a mile or so out of their familiar area and found thickets where they could shelter in place. Deer are crepuscular, wired to move at dawn and dusk every day. Once the sun started setting and the dogs and pressure ceased for the day, every doe got up and made its way back to its core area. Every doe was back home within 12 hours. What it means to [...]

22 08, 2017

2017 EHD Tracker: Outbreak Spreads in Kentucky

admin2020-06-10T09:16:10-04:00August 22nd, 2017|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Deer Science|2 Comments

Jeff sent me this picture via Twitter of 3 more bucks dead from EHD in eastern Kentucky. This update out of Pikeville reports a “significant outbreak,” and that authorities are responding to incidents at the rate of “1 dead deer a day and sometimes up to 3 dead deer a day.” What is especially troubling about this occurrence of EHD is that it started so early, in late July, and it might not end till October, or whenever the first hard frost kills the midges that bite the deer and transmit the disease. I have not heard any other reports of EHD across the country. Let’s hope it stays that way, but let me know if you hear of an [...]

18 08, 2017

How Will the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse Affect Deer?

admin2020-06-10T09:16:11-04:00August 18th, 2017|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Deer Science|Comments Off on How Will the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse Affect Deer?

On Monday August 21 a total solar eclipse will arc across the United States for the first time in 99 years, providing a rare sight for tens of millions of people from Oregon to South Carolina. We humans are prepared for this event and looking forward to it. But what will the deer and other animals do when the moon blocks the sun and darkness descends and the temperature drops in the middle of just another day in their lives? Truth is, nobody, even the scientists who live for a 100-year event like this, really knows. While there is scant scientific info from eclipses in past years and decades, there are a lot of anecdotal stories—monkeys flipping out in the [...]

9 08, 2017

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD): Rules for Transporting Deer Across State Lines

admin2020-06-10T09:16:11-04:00August 9th, 2017|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Deer Science, Mule Deer|1 Comment

I recently attended the National Deer Summit and was struck by the dire reports of CWD that came from the country’s top deer scientists. Map Source: Tennessee WRA To a man and woman, all the experts agreed that CWD is the most serious threat to our deer herds and hunting that we’ve faced in decades, and possibly ever. To a person they said the thing we must do to stop the spread of CWD is to immediately monitor and restrict the movement of deer and deer parts across state lines. First is to immediately stop the interstate transport of live deer to penned facilities, something that does not affect the 99.9% of us that hunt wild deer. Second is to [...]