9 08, 2013

How Many Rubs Does a Buck Make?

2020-06-10T09:23:22-04:00August 9th, 2013|BigDeer, Deer Science|2 Comments

From QDMA: That depends on a buck's age, and older bucks make more rubs. According to the University of Georgia’s Dr. Karl V. Miller, one mature buck can make 1,000 to 1,200 rubs per year. Considering most rub activity occurs over a 3-month span that would be 10 to 15 per day. So in an area where the deer has an older age structure and a balanced sex ratio, bucks can produce over 3,000 rubs per square mile. Contrast this to a deer herd with a young buck age structure. There, yearling bucks will make less than half as many rubs, so you may only have 400 to 500 rubs per square mile. By the way, yearling bucks make only [...]

6 08, 2013

Deer Blood Trails: Did You Know?

2020-06-10T09:23:22-04:00August 6th, 2013|BigDeer, Bowhunting, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Deer Science|2 Comments

Did you know that if you shoot a buck in a few weeks, he might not leave a heavy blood trail? Scientists say that in early fall deer have high levels of Vitamin K, which causes blood to clot quickly. Also, whitetails produce lots of B-endorphin that helps to heal wounds. So two things: Pick your shots carefully (you never want a one-lung hit and especially in the early season). And I recommend a big-cutting broadhead like the Rage; even if you hit a buck a little off, he’ll bleed and you’ll likely find him. Bottom line: If you put any broadhead/arrow in the right spot, through both lungs, a buck won’t go much farther than 60-70 yards, even if [...]

2 08, 2013

Funky Buck on Trail Cam!

2020-06-10T09:23:23-04:00August 2nd, 2013|BigDeer, Deer Management, Deer Science|5 Comments

Martie sent this crazy image and asked if I knew what was going on with this buck’s rack. I ran it by QDMA biologist Kip Adams, who said: “Hey Mike, those are the biggest drop tines I’ve ever seen on a spike! I know his right antler split but I couldn’t resist referencing a spike with drop tines! It looks like he injured both his main beams early in the growing season.  I’ve seen numerous bucks with a similar injury to one side of his rack, but never to both sides that occurred so low on the antlers.  Many times the pooling of blood in the downturned antlers causes them to break and fall off but this guy was lucky to [...]

18 07, 2013

Buck Science: Do Deer Look Up?

2020-06-10T09:23:23-04:00July 18th, 2013|BigDeer, Bowhunting, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Deer Science|Comments Off on Buck Science: Do Deer Look Up?

I had an old Alabama redneck (term used fondly) tell me one time, “Boy, our deer walk around with their heads back, looking up in the trees, cause so many of their brothers and sisters and cousins have had an arrow run through ‘em!” If you have bowhunted pressured, spooky Southern deer you know what my old redneck friend is talking about. Biologists say a deer’s eyes are oriented to pick up predator movement at or just below the horizon. They say a deer is much less adept at picking up movement above the horizon, so you can get away with more movement in a tree stand than on the ground. Sometimes! But when an 8-pointer or old doe is [...]

16 07, 2013

Deer Pawing at Ticks

2020-06-10T09:23:33-04:00July 16th, 2013|BigDeer, Deer Science|1 Comment

My friend Dr. Grant Woods (www.growingdeer.tv) says deer paw at the pests to remove them this time of year: “Deer have difficulty grooming the area behind their head. I have images of deer that have pawed and/or rubbed enough to cut their skin in this area while trying to remove ticks. The secondary infection from this can cause problems.” Ever seen deer licking and grooming areas they can reach in the summer? This could be to pull off ticks. Grant does not know if deer pull off and consume the ticks, as people believe.

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