Deer Science Archives - Page 24 of 44

31 05, 2017

You Can Shoot a 20-Year-Old Whitetail Doe

admin2020-06-10T09:16:29-04:00May 31st, 2017|Big Deer Stories, BigDeer, Bowhunting, Deer Hunting, Deer Science|Comments Off on You Can Shoot a 20-Year-Old Whitetail Doe

Most of us who shoot a 5- or 6-year-old doe with bow and arrow think we’ve done something, and we have. A doe that lives that long in the wild is crafty, one of the smartest deer in the woods. Imagine a doe that lives 10 or 15 years longer yet! This Instagram post from wildlife biologist @MattRossqdma caught my eye: Camel Doe…throwback to the absolute oldest deer I will ever kill. September 18, 2002. She was easily in her late teens, if not older…my friends said she looked just like a camel. She tasted fine to me! Matt went on to say that he based the New York doe’s age on his experience of having aged thousands of jawbones [...]

22 05, 2017

Weird Whitetail: Deer with White Eyes

admin2020-06-10T09:16:29-04:00May 22nd, 2017|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Science|Comments Off on Weird Whitetail: Deer with White Eyes

A few years ago a Canadian hunter sent me this… Mike: I thought this would be right up your alley since you like cool and unusual deer stuff. That is what makes your web page so great. I harvested this buck outside of Dryden, Ontario. He had white eyes! His eyes where not fogged over with cataracts or anything, and I can assure you he was not blind. They were just white, devoid of color. His hide was not piebald, although it was a little lighter than some. But except for the eyes, the deer was normal looking and acted normal. Have you or any of the blog readers ever seen this type of eye coloring on a deer? Thanks, [...]

12 05, 2017

Do Deer Feed On Dead Human Bodies?

admin2020-06-10T09:16:29-04:00May 12th, 2017|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Science|3 Comments

Suppose a hiker or a hunter gets lost in the woods, dies and is not found for months. Or some thug murders a guy and dumps the body in a remote area. Sure, a fox, coyote, bear or vulture or other scavenger would pick the body. But would a deer eat the decaying remains too? Sounds absurd, but... From an Abstract published in the Journal of Forensic Science: Herein, we report on the first known photographic evidence of deer gnawing human remains. As described in nonhuman scavenging literature, forking of the bone characterizes the taphonomic effect of deer gnawing in this case, which is distinct from the effect caused by other scavengers. This type of osteophagia during the winter season [...]

1 05, 2017

Georgia: 2 Big-Nose Bullwinkle Bucks

admin2020-06-10T09:16:29-04:00May 1st, 2017|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Deer Science|Comments Off on Georgia: 2 Big-Nose Bullwinkle Bucks

Here at Big Deer Blog we’ve become fascinated by whitetails with unusually big noses, and we’ve committed to building the biggest database of these unusual deer that have been shot across North America. “Bullwinkle" syndrome was first discovered around 2005. The few scientists who have examined deer with swollen snouts say the condition results from chronic inflammation of tissue in the nose, mouth and upper lip. All the cases studied by researchers have shown similar colonies of bacteria in the inflamed tissues. How deer acquire Bullwinkle syndrome is unknown. The affliction doesn’t appear to be fatal to the deer, but there are many unknowns. Bullwinkle syndrome is very rare. We’ve documented big-nose bucks from Michigan to Minnesota to Alabama and other [...]

28 04, 2017

Whitetail Dispersal: How and Where Button Bucks Find Home Ranges

admin2020-06-10T09:16:29-04:00April 28th, 2017|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Deer Science|2 Comments

In the early 2000s researchers with Penn State University College of Agricultural Sciences captured and radio-collared 543 bucks, 454 of which were less than 1 year old when captured in the winter. Of particular interest: How and where the young bucks would “disperse” in the summer and fall. In this Deer-Forest blog post, the researchers explained: Dispersal is a one-time movement from a natal (where born) home range to a different adult home range. For our research (and most studies) we say an animal disperses if there is no overlap between natal and adult home ranges. So what did they find? *About 75% of the bucks dispersed as 1-year-olds. Half the dispersal occurred in spring (May-June) and the rest in [...]