9 09, 2013

Maryland: Bowhunter Shoots “Spike” on Opening Day!

2020-06-10T09:23:22-04:00September 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

2020-06-10T09:23:22-04:00September 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?

2020-06-10T09:23:22-04:00August 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 [...]

13 08, 2013

Hunters: Chlorophyll For Scent Control?

2020-06-10T09:23:22-04:00August 13th, 2013|BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Deer Science|3 Comments

Chlorophyll pills are sometimes prescribed to people with extreme bad breath or body odor. Some people use chlorophyll for detoxification, which is in vogue with the hip crowd today. About 30 years ago hunters picked up on this, and started using chlorophyll pills in an effort to help eliminate human odor at the metabolic level. Hunters also chewed gum containing chlorophyll to cut down on breath odor. I wonder if the green tablets or gum really worked for hunter scent control? Probably not, because you don’t see it or hear about it much anymore. Did any of you ever try the pills or gum? I never did, it just seemed over the top to me. My scent control has always [...]

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 [...]

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