Big Deer TV Archives - Page 139 of 194

23 02, 2018

New Research: Southeast Deer Study Group 2018

admin2020-06-10T09:15:54-04:00February 23rd, 2018|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Science|Comments Off on New Research: Southeast Deer Study Group 2018

The Southeast Deer Study Group meets annually and is a forum for researchers, biologists and wildlife students to share their latest information on whitetail deer. I monitored the 2018 meeting last week via the Twitter of the QDMA and others. Here are some interesting deer science tidbits: Since beginning a quality deer management program (QDM) 16 years ago, a Tennessee hunt club reports an 84% increase in buck sightings per hour for hunters and a 486% increase in mature buck harvest (deer 3.5 years or older) per hunter. QDM works especially when you give it time! Dr. John Kilgo of the U.S. Forest Service reported that coyote reproduction actually increases in response to trapping efforts. Add that to the fact [...]

22 02, 2018

Deer How-To: Scout in February

admin2020-06-10T09:15:54-04:00February 22nd, 2018|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Shed Hunting|2 Comments

If you’ve got a free day this weekend, go back out to the stands you hunted last fall, walk out from them in an ever-widening circular pattern and look for old sign. You will learn a lot about how deer used the terrain, structure, cover and wind when traveling from bed to feed 3 or 4 months ago. You will find spots where bucks rubbed and scraped the most. You will learn if you need to move your stand 50 to 100 yards…or maybe you’re in a good spot and should stay put…or maybe you should pull out of the area all together. All this will double your chances of whacking a big deer when you come back to hunt [...]

20 02, 2018

Shed Antler Trivia

admin2020-06-10T09:15:54-04:00February 20th, 2018|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Shed Hunting|Comments Off on Shed Antler Trivia

Did you know… #1 Typical Whitetail Antler in Shed Record Book: 6-point 104 6/8 left side picked up in Illinois 1992. #1 Non-Typical Whitetail Antler in Shed Record Book: 24-point 156 5/8 right side found in Saskatchewan 2007. Individual bucks often shed their antlers the same week every year. As a rule, older bucks shed earlier than younger ones. Increasing daylight and a buck’s falling testosterone cause antlers to shed. Once a buck drops one antler, the other one usually falls off within hours. Squirrels and porcupines chew on dropped antlers for the calcium they provide. Shed antlers are valued by size and grade, from Grade A Brown (best) to old, white Chalk. Antlers can fetch $5 to $18 a [...]

15 02, 2018

Mississippi Buck Found Dead: CWD Now Documented In 24 States

admin2020-06-10T09:15:55-04:00February 15th, 2018|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting|3 Comments

Every time I blog about Chronic Wasting Disease, or CWD, people read it, yawn and move on. Last year I hosted and produced an episode of BIG DEER TV on Sportsman Channel entitled “State of the Deer Union,” a significant portion of which dealt with the science and dangers of CWD. People watched it and the ratings were good, but I got only a handful of emails on the CWD topic. TIME TO WAKE UP HUNTERS! CWD continues to spread with POTENTIALLY DEVASTATING long-term impacts on America’s deer herds and the future of hunting. The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks (MDWFP) reports the first documented case of Chronic Wasting Disease in the state. The 4½-year free-ranging buck was [...]

13 02, 2018

Most Deer Hunters Per Square Mile in U.S.

admin2020-06-10T09:15:55-04:00February 13th, 2018|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting|4 Comments

Ran across this QDMA map and found it interesting. Does not surprise me that Pennsylvania and New York are 2 of the top hunter-density states, it’s been that way for decades. I do question why Michigan is not in the top 12. A decade ago Michigan was at or near the top in number of licensed hunters in the U.S. Michigan hunters killed more than 340,000 deer in 2016-17, second only to Texas, so there is still a lot of deer hunting going on up there. I mention that the statistics used to build this map came from a 2011 Fish and Wildlife Service study. But since hunter numbers are down across the board and across the states recent years, [...]