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
Hunting this year’s rut is going to be especially challenging for me. You see, this will be the first year in nearly a quarter-century that my hunting hero won’t be 10 digits away from an early morning call. Charlie Alsheimer wasn’t just a friend, he was a mentor who taught us all so much about deer behavior. The whitetail rut is something he knew better than anyone else on this planet. Among Charlie's greatest deer behavioral insights were the distinct three rut phases that his field research indicated coincided with the timing of the autumnal equinox. Most of his insights apply specifically to anyone hunting north of the 35th parallel. Before he teamed with Vermont wildlife biologist Wayne Laroche to study whitetail rutting behavior, the general belief in North America…
Bowhunting Efficiency/September 2018 issue: There’s an old saying amongst deer hunters, “If you haven’t wounded a deer and lost it, then you haven’t hunted much.” Dr. Ditchkoff: That old deer hunter saying is B.S. Yes, I have witnessed wounded deer shot at by others. Yes, I have tracked wounded deer for others. I have finished off wounded deer for others. We had a guy in our deer camp years ago who couldn’t hit a bull in the butt with a bag of proverbial beans. He wounded or gut shot three deer in a row in successive years. I tracked one of his deer for about six hours and found it the next morning. I walked back to camp and dragged his butt out to the field where I had dragged…
SHOPDEERHUNTING.COM Dawn of American Deer Hunting Take a journey through the history of whitetail hunting. This book is a photographic anthology of the American deer hunter from the 1800s to mid-1900s, including the firearms used, methods of travel, and how they survived the climates they encountered while on the hunt. Each classic photograph in the book has its own story to tell — from the warm days and hound hunts of the Southern states, to the deep tracking snow and frigid cold of Maine. Admire the deer they took home — massive-bodied Northern bucks, trophy Texas antlers, buck poles filled with does and much-appreciated venison. Info: www.shopdeerhunting.com and search SKU S3320 DEER OF THE MONTH Huge congrats to George Holland for this impressive Delaware buck from…
D+DH TV Upcoming Episodes of Deer & Deer Hunting-TV on Pursuit Channel Each episode and Saturday Night Deer Camp begins at 10:00 p.m. EST. September 29: “Charles Alsheimer Tribute” A D&DH salute to our most celebrated contributor of all time. October 6: “Peeling the Crimson Velvet” An in-depth look at the biology behind antler velvet in white-tailed deer. October 13: “Managing Expectations” Unrealistic expectations usually run wild in both hunting and deer management. October 20: “Stop Being So Judgemental” Some hunters like to hold out all year on the chance of a big buck. Others are content taking the opportunities afforded in the moment. October 27: “Whitetails and Wind” A common myth is that big bucks always head for thick cover when the wind picks up. That’s not always true.…
IS SILENT ESTRUS THE TRIGGER EFFECT THAT INITIATES THE RUT CHASE PHASE? The whitetail’s pre-rut is characterized by increased activity, intense socialization, mixing of the sexes, sparring among bucks and the early stages of signposting. These interactions involve highly ritualistic and stereotyped behaviors. Tolerance, social order and even predictability prevail. One senses the herd is following a strict social system molded by centuries of adaptation to environmental pressures. Everything changes by late October. Almost overnight, bucks seem to go berserk. Scraping activity explodes, and bucks won’t tolerate each other, as they wildly chase every doe in sight. All semblance of social order vanishes — or so it seems — as belligerent bucks scurry about day and night, testing every doe they find for signs of estrus. Why the sudden change?…
As we have done every year since the early 1990s, the Deer & Deer Hunting Whitetail Calendar includes the “Whitetail Rut-Predictor.” This system has been featured in several D&DH articles over the years by our late contributing editor Charles J. Alsheimer of Bath, New York. The Whitetail Rut-Predictor helps you plan when, where and how to hunt. The rut follows predictable stages of deer behavior. These changes dictate the effectiveness of hunting strategies. Scrape-hunting, for example, might be effective when bucks seek does, but it won’t work later during the rut, when most does are already bred or being tended. Not every buck exhibits the predicted primary behavior on a given date. Several factors, including age, nutrition, health and genetics, can affect the time and extent to which bucks exhibit…
