Deer Management Archives - Page 19 of 53

14 08, 2017

Why Deer Love Mineral Licks After a Rain

admin2020-06-10T09:16:11-04:00August 14th, 2017|Big Deer Stories, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management|4 Comments

The smart deer hunter is always observing: Why do most of the bucks travel E-W in a patch of woods…why do does and fawns like a particular corner of a plot…why do deer flock to mineral licks after a heavy rain? We’ve had a lot of heavy rain this summer, and an hour or so after each rain ends (no matter the time of day) my Spartan Camera app blows up with images of deer with their heads stuck in water-filled mineral holes. Must be something to it, so I reached out to biologists and mineral experts, most of whom had observed the same thing. While we’re not sure why this occurs, we theorize that heavy rain roils a mineral [...]

11 08, 2017

#1 Late-Summer Spot for a Trail Camera

admin2020-06-10T09:16:11-04:00August 11th, 2017|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management|1 Comment

My sketch of the top spot to set your camera this weekend is very rudimentary, so let me explain. In this case there are two cornfields (might be soybeans or alfalfa where you hunt) with a row of trees and brush about 20 yards wide, splitting and separating the fields. Within that row of trees is a flat, grassy gap where the farmer will drive his tractor between the fields in a month or so. On an old gate post in the gap is the top spot to set a camera now, while the corn is still tall and uncut. We have 9 cameras running on the Virginia farm where this gap is located, with some cams situated on field [...]

9 08, 2017

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD): Rules for Transporting Deer Across State Lines

admin2020-06-10T09:16:11-04:00August 9th, 2017|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Deer Science, Mule Deer|1 Comment

I recently attended the National Deer Summit and was struck by the dire reports of CWD that came from the country’s top deer scientists. Map Source: Tennessee WRA To a man and woman, all the experts agreed that CWD is the most serious threat to our deer herds and hunting that we’ve faced in decades, and possibly ever. To a person they said the thing we must do to stop the spread of CWD is to immediately monitor and restrict the movement of deer and deer parts across state lines. First is to immediately stop the interstate transport of live deer to penned facilities, something that does not affect the 99.9% of us that hunt wild deer. Second is to [...]

4 08, 2017

2017 EHD Tracker: Deer Disease Reported in SE Kentucky

admin2020-06-10T09:16:11-04:00August 4th, 2017|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Deer Science|4 Comments

It’s that time of year again when hunters and wildlife managers nervously wait and see if Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease will hit their region, and if so how bad of a deer-killing year it will be. EHD, which is transmitted to whitetails by biting midges, typically occurs from August through October, until the first frost in an area kills the midges that carry the disease. Let’s hope this year’s first reported case of the disease, in Kentucky in July, is random and not a harbinger of bad things to come across the U.S. later this summer. This is the first reported outbreak of EHD in the Bluegrass State since 2007. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife officers say a dozen sick and dead [...]

2 08, 2017

How NOT to Shoot a Button Buck

admin2020-06-10T09:16:11-04:00August 2nd, 2017|Big Deer Stories, BigDeer, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Hunting News|1 Comment

There are few among our BIG DEER army who would shoot a button fawn buck on purpose, but every one of us has accidentally done it. We have an antlerless tag and drop a fat “doe” to fill the freezer…we walk up to the deer and go, “Uh, oh,” as we see its nubs and male parts. It’s an honest mistake that anybody can make, and that’s why harvesting a young buck with less than 2” of antler is legal in most states (check your regulations). But you obviously never want to shoot a button. These pointers from the Michigan DNR will help you differentiate an adult doe from a buck fawn, so you won’t mess up again. --Check body [...]