Hunting News Archives - Page 7 of 28

31 03, 2022

Alabama Chronic Wasting Disease Update: “We Didn’t Kill All The Deer”

Clay Hanback2022-03-31T13:36:04-04:00March 31st, 2022|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, CWD, Deer Hunting, Hunting News, whitetail deer|Comments Off on Alabama Chronic Wasting Disease Update: “We Didn’t Kill All The Deer”

As we reported earlier this year, on January 7, 2022, the first-ever case of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in Alabama was confirmed in a deer shot in Lauderdale County in the far northwestern part of the state. Wildlife officials immediately designated all of Lauderdale and neighboring Colbert County as the state’s first CWD Management Zone (CMZ). With only 30 days left in the 2021-22 hunting season, and with the need to acquire as many blood and tissue samples from deer as possible to determine the prevalence of the disease, officials removed all daily and seasonal bag limits in the CMZ. Most hunters in the area were happy to follow the science and shoot some deer, but a vocal minority [...]

24 03, 2022

Pennsylvania Hunters Killed 376,810 Deer In 2021-22

Clay Hanback2022-03-24T12:08:37-04:00March 24th, 2022|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Bowhunting, Deer Hunting, Hunting News, whitetail deer|Comments Off on Pennsylvania Hunters Killed 376,810 Deer In 2021-22

Hanback note: Since some 900,000 people hunt deer in Pennsylvania each year (number of hunters is second only to Texas in the U.S.) the annual Pennsylvania harvest numbers are a big deal. Of the 376,810 deer killed during the 2021-22 season, the Pennsylvania Game Commission reports that 145,320 were bucks, and 231,490 were does. The total harvest was down about 13 percent compared to 2020-21, when hunters recorded the largest deer kill in 16 years (435,180 animals). Some highlights: • 22 percent of licensed hunters in Pennsylvania killed a buck last year. • 62 percent of the bucks were 2.5 years old or older; only 38% percent were 1.5 years old. That’s an almost complete reversal of how things were [...]

14 03, 2022

Want to Enter a Buck in the Record Book? Be Careful Using A Cellular Trail Camera

Clay Hanback2022-03-14T11:12:19-04:00March 14th, 2022|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Hunting News, whitetail deer|1 Comment

You are probably unaware of this because the Boone & Crockett Club quietly released this December 2021 update to its position statement on technology: “The use of any technology that delivers real-time location data (including photos) to target or guide a hunter to any species or animal in a manner that elicits an immediate (real-time) response by the hunter is not permitted.” In other words, if you use a cellular trail camera for scouting whitetails, like millions of us do these days, and happen to get lucky and kill a giant buck on the same day you got a picture of it, do not think about entering it into the B&C records. Your great buck would not be eligible. Further, [...]

4 03, 2022

Anti-Hunting Organizations Want To Ban Import Of Wildlife Parts into U.S.

Clay Hanback2022-03-03T09:18:39-05:00March 4th, 2022|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Hunting News|Comments Off on Anti-Hunting Organizations Want To Ban Import Of Wildlife Parts into U.S.

Two groups you have never heard of, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Natural Resources Defense Council, petitioned the Secretary of the Interior and the Fish and Wildlife Service to ban the import of all wild animals into the United States, and additionally to ban interstate transport within the U.S. of all wildlife parts. “This is a ridiculous petition bordering on hysteria by radical animal-rights organizations…whose only goal is to advance an extreme agenda by stoking fears around COVID-19,” said Bruce Tague of the Sportsmen’s Alliance. The antis claim that stopping the import and movement of wildlife and parts would reduce the threat of a virus like SARs-CoV-2 jumping from animal to animal and causing another pandemic. The petition [...]

8 02, 2022

How Many Whitetail Bucks Do Hunters Shoot Each Season?

Clay Hanback2022-02-08T11:33:27-05:00February 8th, 2022|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Hunting News, whitetail deer|Comments Off on How Many Whitetail Bucks Do Hunters Shoot Each Season?

The National Deer Association (NDA) reports that hunters across the United States killed an estimated 3,041,544 bucks in the 2020-21 season, the most in 21 years. “2020 saw the highest buck harvest in the new century, and amazingly we estimate that we set another new record for the percentage of those bucks that were 3½ years old or older,” said Kip Adams, NDA’s Chief Conservation Officer. “U.S. hunters are taking fewer yearling bucks and killing more of them as mature deer, but this doesn’t mean fewer bucks harvested overall. We’re killing older bucks and more bucks than ever in America.” Nationally, the antlerless harvest (does and buck fawns) jumped 12% in 2020-21 to 3,207,937, reversing a three-year decline and putting [...]