Deer Science Archives - Page 38 of 43

17 09, 2013

September Tactic: Grunt a Buck

admin2020-06-10T09:23:21-04:00September 17th, 2013|Big Deer Stories, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Deer Science|2 Comments

A few years ago in September Taylor Fitzpatrick traveled to the Milk River in Montana to bowhunt with our friend Luke Strommen. The then 19-year-old Taylor climbed into his tree stand super early one morning, about 3:30. The air felt great, 42 degrees cool, and the full moon hung in the sky like a big pie. Taylor began seeing deer in the moon glow, moving back to their beds for the day. A 10-pointer that would score 155” walked beneath his stand and got him fired up. The sun came up hours later and he kept seeing deer. A buck with hard, fresh antlers cut across a corner of a distant alfalfa field. Taylor raised his call and floated some [...]

13 09, 2013

New Moon and Deer Movement

admin2020-06-10T09:23:22-04:00September 13th, 2013|Big Deer Stories, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Deer Science, Hunting News|4 Comments

Did the moon phase play a major role in Danny’s shooting of the big 10-pointer “Spike” in Maryland last Friday? Blogging about the hunt, Danny wrote: Maryland bow opener was Sept 6–the morning after the new moon. The wind direction was supposed to be out of the NNE. I looked back through all the cam pictures I had, and it just so happened the last time we had a NNE wind was the morning after the new moon in August. Spike was at the location I call The Puddle on that very morning. Danny hunted “The Puddle” on September 6 and saw some 18 deer moving at first light, including a bachelor herd of 12-15 bucks. He shot the 164-inch 10-pointer [...]

9 09, 2013

Maryland: Bowhunter Shoots “Spike” on Opening Day!

admin2020-06-10T09:23:22-04:00September 9th, 2013|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Bowhunting, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Deer Science|9 Comments

Danny shot the beautiful buck his wife had named “Spike” last Friday. His story: I had my trail cameras set at three different locations since the middle of June. I studied all the pictures (around 200 of them) I got of Spike. I printed out the moon phases and the wind directions for the past couple months, compared them and tried to come up with a game plan. Maryland bow opener was Sept 6--the morning after the new moon. The wind direction was supposed to be out of the NNE. I looked back through all the cam pictures, and it just so happened the last time we had a NNE wind was the morning after the new moon in August. Spike was [...]

6 09, 2013

2013 BIG DEER Hunt Forecast

admin2020-06-10T09:23:22-04:00September 6th, 2013|BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Deer Science|5 Comments

After a string of dry to drought years, we’ve had good rain and cool temperatures this spring/summer in many regions. Here in VA and down through the Carolinas, I cannot remember a cooler, wetter summer. Take a look at the U.S. Drought Monitor. With the exception of western Kansas and a few spots in Nebraska, the majority of whitetail range is looking pretty good. There are spots of dry ground, but overall the conditions are much improved over the last few years. In many areas, the corn is tall and the two most prominent and protein-rich legumes for deer, soybeans and clover, are lush and thick. That’s great, but the rebirth of the natural vegetation across the nation, which not [...]

22 08, 2013

Full Moon Best for Trail-Cam Photos?

admin2020-06-10T09:23:22-04:00August 22nd, 2013|BigDeer, Deer Management, Deer Science|5 Comments

Danny has been keeping us posted on a big 10-pointer roaming his hunting land. The latest: "Got over 500 pictures of deer this week on 2 cameras. The deer were very active. I got several more pics of the big 10. My wife decided to name him Spike. She thinks it’s funny for some reason. Ole’ Spike decided to make some daylight appearances. Hopefully he keeps that up. Sept 6th is our bow opener. Only 3 weeks! On a side note, I’m starting to notice a trend with my pictures. I’m actually getting more evening and morning pics the closer it gets to the full moon. And during the new moon I’m getting mostly night time pictures. This is the [...]