Innholdsfortegnelse for Summer 2020 i Deer & Deer Hunting

More than 200 deer biologists, managers, and research scientists gravitated to Auburn in late February to share their latest findings on white-tailed deer at the 43rd annual Southeast Deer Study Group meeting. The theme for this year’s meeting was “Deer Management in a Rapidly Changing World: Bridging a Generational Disconnect.” According to Auburn University Assistant Professor William D. Gulsby, students entering the wildlife profession today exhibit a waning interest in game management, leading to a potential lack of experience with field-based wildlife management techniques, making it vital that the goals and desires of young professionals be understood in order to recruit desirable replacements. At Auburn, like other universities, women in wildlife are increasing. Freshmen girls presently outnumber males by 42%, and student interest in areas like wildlife rehabilitation and nongame…

You don’t have to own land or even have access to private land to find quality whitetail hunting. Yes, it does require a lot more work to scout and hunt public-land whitetails, and you will deal with your share of nonsense when it comes to other hunters. But the possibilities are almost endless in most states. For example, my home state of Wisconsin is home to more than 15.5 million acres of forested land. However, less than 20 percent of that is open for public hunting. Consider that Wisconsin is also home to almost 700,000 gun-hunters and nearly 250,000 bowhunters, and you can easily see how competition often infiltrates the deer woods. A lot has been said and written about public hunting opportunities. In fact, some writers jump atop their…

The older I get, the more I’m struck by just how much our corners of each of our worlds are shaped by our own actions — or lack thereof. No, it’s doubtful that any one of us will significantly change the entire world. But we prove each time that we make habitat improvements that we sure can make significant, positive impacts, reshaping our corners to more closely resemble what we’d like them to be. At first glance, what follows is a story about a collective of strangers helping each other achieve more than they ever could on their own. Look a bit deeper and you’ll see a kid and a young man actually shaping their worlds to more closely resemble the way they simply believe they can and should work.…

During those dim morning or evening hours when you’re watching a trail or see a flicker of movement on the edge of the woods, it’s aggravating to find out that your binocular or scope doesn’t offer the clear, crisp view you expect. Or, conversely, in those situations it’s entirely gratifying to know that your binocular worked like a champ — as advertised in the marketing promotions — and that you know the 8-point buck you’ve been targeting is coming within range. Ditto for the scope on your rifle or slug gun, with the crosshairs settling in just behind the shoulder for a sure shot that puts the deer on the ground. So, what’s the basis for that clear view? Is it the design of the binocular? The aircraft aluminum or…

I JUST GOT done reading the “Gun Shop” column about muzzleloading bullets in the April issue of D&DH. This is a very informative article by Rob Reaser! I find it interesting that with all of our modern technology we should have problems with a firearm that goes way back before Daniel Boone. I can easily understand the round ball migrating through a deer’s body, but I see some issues with the idea of the modern sabot/bullet combination. One possible solution is to use .45-caliber jacketed bullets designed to mushroom at Springfield .45-70 Trapdoor velocities, i.e. 1,200 fps muzzle velocity. Having said that, yes, I own and shoot a modern .50-caliber 209 primer inline rifle, but it isn’t what I reach for when I go deer hunting. My ML rifle of…

The disastrous short-term effects of malnutrition among pregnant whitetails are well known by deer researchers. Invariably, poor nutrition during the last one-third of gestation retards fetal development and contributes to higher than normal newborn fawn mortality rates. However, research conducted in Europe, Minnesota and more recently South Dakota, indicates that prenatal malnutrition also can produce lifelong physical and psychological consequences for the survivors. South Dakota University researcher Kevin Monteith and his associates warn that identifying consequences due to maternal malnutrition can be complex. Complex, indeed. Please bear with me and I’ll do my best to explain. Even the grandmother’s nutritional status during pregnancy can influence an individual deer’s size at birth, as well as its growth rate, ultimate adult size, reproductive success and survival. In fact, persistent detrimental maternal effects…

On the surface, everything was against me. Illinois’ second shotgun season had just ended. The early December temperatures were in the 70s, with winds gusting to more than 30 mph. Further, the bucks were almost in hibernation, recovering from the rut. All that rarely adds up to a winning hand. Still, family commitments left only three days for me to fill my Illinois bow tag. I had to make it work. Thankfully, trail-camera pictures revealed a good buck consistently hitting a clover plot at the edge of a large sanctuary. Between the high winds and lack of stout trees, I knew I’d need a ladder stand. I’d invited Deer & Deer Hunting’s Brad Rucks down to hunt, and although I didn’t like bringing the extra bodies into my spot, I’d…

Soil isn’t just dirt. There are lots of things going on in healthy soil to keep it healthy, and lots of things you can do to be sure the soil in your food plots becomes healthy and remains healthy. Here’s what the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) says: Soil is a vital part of the natural environment. It influences the distribution of plant species and provides a habitat for a wide range of organisms. It controls the flow of water and chemical substances between the atmosphere and the earth, and it acts as both a source and store for gases in the atmosphere. Soil, together with the plant and animal life it supports, forms an amazing, intricate natural system. With that said, you should know that soil-speak is a language…

One of the things that amazes me is how much so many of us actually shape our corner of the world to more closely resemble what we want it to be. Nowhere is that more true than in habitat improvements. This is just one example of how to best accomplish that. Most often I see two common types of habitats falling in the blank slate category. They are pure open land and mostly homogeneous timber land. Both habitats lack quality hunting and all of the supplies that deer want and need. In both cases, we essentially have a prepared canvas ready to paint, but where to begin? As should always be the case when considering habitat projects, to be the best they can be, we need to take a thorough…

A well-laid plan is always the best approach to deer hunting, and that usually means weeks of scouting in the off season. Intel gathered from spring and summer scouting efforts can literally make or break your fall hunting efforts. However, we are all so busy these days that the scout-while-hunting method is really the only tactic many hunters use to find new spots and learn more about other mostly unfamiliar properties. I use the tactic a lot while turkey hunting public land in spring. I’m surprised at how much I can learn about a local deer herd during just one day of chasing gobblers. Best of all, I don’t have to worry if I spook deer, because deer season is, after all, usually five months away. When using this approach,…

THE SIECKMANN BUCK Score: 184-6/8 inches Date Harvested: November 11, 2019 Location: Gasconade County, Missouri Weapon: Compound bow Missouri native Kurt Sieckmann is a 25-year bowhunting veteran. He’s arrowed his fair share of mature bucks in the past two-and-a-half decades, but a 7½-year-old, 184-inch deer he followed for several seasons is at the top of the list. The story unfolded on his family’s 75-acre farm in Gasconade County, Missouri, which has a population of around 15,000 people, and deer hunting is a big part of the local culture. It was fitting to chase such a buck there on the family farm where he learned to hunt whitetails as a youngster. “We had this buck on camera for at least three years, maybe four,” he said. “But we never had actual…

One of the pleasures associated with deer hunting is the opportunity to enjoy some great-tasting table fare from your harvested venison. Boneless loin chops and tenderloins are among the best examples, but the remaining parts of the deer carcass can be used for a tasty variety of cured meats like smoked sausage, snack sticks, jerky, bologna and summer sausage, to name just a few. These products, with all the flavor varieties of each one, offer an almost unlimited range of culinary experiences. Fresh (uncured) sausage like breakfast sausage and bratwurst are also good choices for your venison, but cured meats have a major advantage: Nitrite, which is the ingredient responsible for cured meat properties, is a highly effective preservative and, consequently, cured meats have a much longer refrigerated shelf life…