Big Deer TV Archives - Page 156 of 194

5 05, 2017

How to Bowhunt City Bucks

admin2020-06-10T09:16:29-04:00May 5th, 2017|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Bowhunting, Deer Hunting, Deer Management|Comments Off on How to Bowhunt City Bucks

People are shooting huge whitetail bucks in small tracts in cities and suburbs where bowhunting is permitted. In Connecticut, northern Virginia, New York—and out in Missoula, Montana. Last week I filmed a TV segment with Kevin Robinson; the heavy 8-point rack with killer brow tines is from his 2016 Montana suburbs buck. Kevin will tell his story on an episode of BIG DEER TV later this fall, but here are a few of tricks. When archery season opens in early September, Kevin hunts high in a draw that overlooks town in the evenings. His tree stand is tight to one of two deer trails that run up and down the mountain. He knows these suburban bucks, and if a big [...]

3 05, 2017

Whitetail Body Language: Why Does Box with Their Feet

admin2020-06-10T09:16:29-04:00May 3rd, 2017|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting|Comments Off on Whitetail Body Language: Why Does Box with Their Feet

Our friend Zach sent us this great cam picture a few years ago of two does squaring off. Notice how the other girls are standing around and staring, urging them on. A deer fight is pretty much like a people fight! Why do does do this? Texas Parks & Wildlife says it better than I could on their page about whitetail body language: Female deer also establish a peck order and display aggressive behavior. Does, like bucks, use the ear drop, hard look, and sidle body language. However, since they don’t have antlers, they use their front feet to determine their dominance. If the preliminary body-language threats are not effective, the dominant doe lunges at her adversary and [...]

1 05, 2017

Georgia: 2 Big-Nose Bullwinkle Bucks

admin2020-06-10T09:16:29-04:00May 1st, 2017|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Deer Science|Comments Off on Georgia: 2 Big-Nose Bullwinkle Bucks

Here at Big Deer Blog we’ve become fascinated by whitetails with unusually big noses, and we’ve committed to building the biggest database of these unusual deer that have been shot across North America. “Bullwinkle" syndrome was first discovered around 2005. The few scientists who have examined deer with swollen snouts say the condition results from chronic inflammation of tissue in the nose, mouth and upper lip. All the cases studied by researchers have shown similar colonies of bacteria in the inflamed tissues. How deer acquire Bullwinkle syndrome is unknown. The affliction doesn’t appear to be fatal to the deer, but there are many unknowns. Bullwinkle syndrome is very rare. We’ve documented big-nose bucks from Michigan to Minnesota to Alabama and other [...]

28 04, 2017

Whitetail Dispersal: How and Where Button Bucks Find Home Ranges

admin2020-06-10T09:16:29-04:00April 28th, 2017|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Deer Science|2 Comments

In the early 2000s researchers with Penn State University College of Agricultural Sciences captured and radio-collared 543 bucks, 454 of which were less than 1 year old when captured in the winter. Of particular interest: How and where the young bucks would “disperse” in the summer and fall. In this Deer-Forest blog post, the researchers explained: Dispersal is a one-time movement from a natal (where born) home range to a different adult home range. For our research (and most studies) we say an animal disperses if there is no overlap between natal and adult home ranges. So what did they find? *About 75% of the bucks dispersed as 1-year-olds. Half the dispersal occurred in spring (May-June) and the rest in [...]

26 04, 2017

How Spring Floods Affect Deer

admin2020-06-10T09:16:29-04:00April 26th, 2017|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Predator Hunting|Comments Off on How Spring Floods Affect Deer

This week a low-pressure system has brought steady rain and localized flooding to the Carolinas, and today it’s moving up the East Coast. Late April and especially May is also when floods are common along the Mississippi and other rivers and streams in the Midwest. How does all this spring rain and flooding affect the whitetail deer? The good news, biologists say that rising floodwaters of river and creeks won’t kill many if any adult deer, though it will displace the animals for days and perhaps weeks. But the deer will filter back into their habitats and core areas once the waters recede. While pregnant does will move out of rising water now and for the next few weeks, the [...]