27 08, 2023

Texas Unicorn Velvet Buck

2023-08-17T11:16:50-04:00August 27th, 2023|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Science, whitetail deer|Comments Off on Texas Unicorn Velvet Buck

My friend Wren from down in Texas sent me this photo and said, “Looks like we have another unicorn buck on the ranch!” Look close in the middle of the deer’s forehead and you’ll see it. You might ask, “Is possible a tine can grow out the middle of a buck’s forehead like that? How rare is it?” Yes, tines can grow in weird places. Mickey Hellickson, one of the top whitetail scientists in the world with a lot of experience in Texas, says: It is caused by trauma to the frontal bone. This entire region of the skull is capable of growing antler, and if an area of the frontal bone is injured (such as a tine puncture from another [...]

21 06, 2023

Why a Deer Eats a Snake

2023-06-21T14:50:29-04:00June 21st, 2023|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Science, whitetail deer|2 Comments

By now you’ve probably seen the video of a whitetail doe eating and inhaling lengthwise a 2-foot-long snake. The video, taken by Trey Reinhart with his phone while driving along a road in Texas, has gone viral on Twitter with more than 18 million views. Wait, aren’t deer herbivore? Plant-eaters? Yes, and while it’s rare, a deer will sometimes eat animals or animal matter that it runs across. Most documented cases of carnivorous meals have been deer eating the eggs from a bird’s ground nest. Deer have also been know to eat tiny songbird chicks. A few years back, a photo of a deer standing in a creek with a fish in its mouth went viral. I read where some [...]

23 05, 2023

How Many Spots Do Fawns Have?

2023-05-23T10:59:26-04:00May 23rd, 2023|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Science, whitetail deer|Comments Off on How Many Spots Do Fawns Have?

Every whitetail fawn born now through July will have on average 272 to 342 white spots on their reddish coats. Each spot ranges in size from 0.24 to 0.51 inches in diameter. Yes, some unknown biologist actually counted and measured the spots and documented them! According to Penn State biologists, spot patterns are unique to every fawn as to the exact number of spots, their size, and how they are dispersed on a baby deer’s reddish coat. The spots serve as critical camouflage for fawns during their first weeks and months of life. At birth, fawns are scentless. Their spotted coats blend with the filtered light in the woods or in a field, helping to hide the little deer from [...]

3 05, 2023

Are Coyotes Killing “Doomed Surplus” of Deer Fawns?

2023-05-03T08:17:15-04:00May 3rd, 2023|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Science, whitetail deer|Comments Off on Are Coyotes Killing “Doomed Surplus” of Deer Fawns?

In the springs of 2016 and 2017, Justin Dion and his fellow researchers at the University of Delaware captured and collared 109 newborn fawns in Sussex County in the southern portion of the state. The study area had about 50 deer per square mile, but a noticeable lack of predators. No confirmed sightings of bobcats and no bears. Only 9 coyotes had ever been reported harvested statewide in Delaware at the time of the project. Each of the 109 collared fawns was monitored daily. When a fawn died, the researchers investigated the scene, collected data and sent the carcass to a veterinarian for necropsy. After crunching the numbers, Dion and crew reported that only 49 of the 109 fawns they [...]

28 04, 2023

Do Floods Harm Deer?

2023-04-28T14:51:14-04:00April 28th, 2023|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Science|Comments Off on Do Floods Harm Deer?

Huge rain and flash flooding here in Virginia this weekend, and it’s moving up the East Coast. Later this spring there will be some flooding in the Midwest and South, as happens every year. How will all this water affect the deer? Biologists say that rising floodwaters of river and creeks won’t kill many if any adult deer, though it will displace animals for days and perhaps weeks. But the deer will eventually filter back into their habitats once the waters recede. While pregnant does will simply move out of rising water now and for the next few weeks, the primary concern for deer herds in and around flood zones occurs later on in May and June, when the does [...]

Go to Top