Deer & Deer Hunting is written and edited for serious, year-round hunting enthusiasts, focusing on hunting techniques, deer biology and behavior, deer management, habitat requirements, the natural history of deer and hunting ethics
"Nice 2-year-old! At least the meat will be tender and taste good.” I couldn’t help but smile when a Millennial wrote that comment underneath my Facebook post that included this photo. I was tempted to reply that Abraham Lincoln was spot on when he said it’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt. Let’s put this silly notion to bed once and for all: The age of an adult deer has negligible impact on the skill and perseverance it takes to harvest it. What’s more, it has zero impact on the flavor of the venison. Despite the fact that we have published results from meat-science studies over decades, some folks still feel inclined to equate venison to beef, pork, chicken or…
I wanted to share this trail cam photo with D&DH. When persimmons began dropping, I moved my trail cam near my favorite tree. I did not know a fox could climb straight up a tree! — Mike Murphy, Clinton, Mississippi Dan, I’ve been an avid reader of D&DH for the past 20 years, since I was 15. I killed my first deer, a spike, on a national forest with a .30-06. That rack is on my wall along with bigger ones I’ve been lucky enough to harvest since then and it’s just as meaningful. Throughout the years, D&DH has been the best source of hunting advice and information I’ve come across. With that, I’ve noticed an increasing amount of product placement and advertising during hunting shows. So much so that…
Deer & Deer Hunting-TV, America’s original, categorically exclusive media authority dedicated to white-tailed deer and hunting them, will move to Pursuit Channel in 2017. The iconic show will be joined by Destination Whitetail and Land of Whitetail, two of hunting’s most popular series also produced by F+W Outdoors, parent company of Deer & Deer Hunting. The move to Pursuit Channel also includes the creation of “Deer & Deer Hunting Saturday Night Deer Camp,” a two-hour block featuring a hand-crafted selection of the best whitetail hunting shows and anchored by the 13th season of D&DH-TV. Join hosts Dan Schmidt, Gordy Krahn, Steve Bartylla and Mark Kayser as they share exciting hunts and top-shelf hunting information. Watch for more information about this new move to Pursuit Channel in Deer & Deer Hunting…
Call it what you want: alien, non-native, invasive. Plants such as these are threading through fields and forests, disturbing native landscapes and gradually changing habitats. While many are spread by wind or water, others traverse the earth by a different mode of transportation: in animal scat. White-tailed deer in particular favor certain invasive plants over native ones, which increases the distribution of these plants when deer eat them in one area and then relieve themselves in another. Invasive plants have a bad rap for a reason. Because of their ability to grow quickly and spread rapidly, they can gain control over new habitats, creating environmental damage to native landscapes, impacting not only the vegetation, but insects and wildlife, too. Non-native plants can literally choke out native plants and have caused…
Most serious whitetail hunters look closely at weather conditions when determining when to venture afield — and weather is a very big (maybe the biggest) topic of conversation among trophy bowhunters. We have all heard the many different comments about how weather affects whitetail movement: “Hunt when it’s a little cool — the deer move more then.” “A little precipitation makes deer move, so hunt then.” “I swear I see the big ones when the barometric pressure is low.” “I know that a change in barometric pressure is when the trophies come out.” “Hunt wind velocities up to 17 mph, but not over that.” All of these opinions are honest and sincere, and reflect what people remember from their personal experiences. To examine what weather conditions might be advantageous for…
Hunters who have private land they can hunt rarely gravitate to hunting open-to-hunting public lands simply because no matter how much hunting pressure private parcels receive, nearby public lands usually receive more, have fewer mature bucks and can be more difficult to hunt. However, even in the heaviest-hunted states, there are public-land gems that can provide somewhat consistent opportunities to kill mature bucks if hunters are willing to work above and beyond their competition. The public lands I will be referring to are those where any licensed hunter can go at any time and hunt within the parameters of general state laws. These public lands are not to be confused with state and federal waterfowl preserves and vacation parks where hunting is allowed by some form of controlled allocation or…
