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
If you believe all the headlines these days, you’d swear “zombie deer” are sweeping the nation. They’re not. Well, not like you have been led to believe. You’ve probably seen social media videos of so-called zombie deer. The videos are nearly always the same: person observes a deer walking in circles, stumbling about and showing little to no fear of humans. You have probably read or heard so-called experts provide their prognosis as chronic wasting disease. Don’t believe it. We have been following deer diseases since 1973 and rely on scientific facts and true expert analysis from trained biologists. Simply put, we have seen few verified videos of deer with manifested chronic wasting disease over the past 25 years. What’s circling about on social media these days are videos and…
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Of the four chambers found in the whitetail’s ruminant stomach, the rumen is by far the largest. The actual size will vary from deer to deer, and the proportional size will be smaller for fawns. The rumen’s structure itself resembles a large sac or ball and is often referred to as the “paunch.” If you have ever pushed your knife tip too deep when field dressing a deer and cut into a sac that produced a very strong smell and oozed a greenish/brown material, you found the rumen. This large sac creates an oxygen-free environment and is the home of billions of anaerobic microorganisms. These microorganisms ferment ingested food, breaking it down to create digestible nutrients. It is this fermentation that creates the unpleasant smell. The outer layer of the…
It might look painful, but what you’re seeing in this photo is not rare in the whitetail world. And, no, the buck not as endowed as one might think. Conversely, he is suffering from what researchers call a scotia hernia. The enlarged appearance of his scrotum might cause difficulty in his daily activities, but at the same time, the ailment might resolve itself over time. The photo was sent to me courtesy of Jeff Fogle. His buddy captured the image while bowhunting in fall 2023. Just like in humans, a hernia happens in deer when an intestine, organ, or part of an organ or other structure pushes through the wall of the cavity normally containing it. This is common in nature, and deer are not immune from it. In domestic…
Morgan Glander and her boyfriend Ben Rentmeester were mesmerized by a photo sent from their cell camera August 17, 2023. Although the image was blurry, it showed what appeared to be an enormous buck. “It was just one picture of his head where you could just see his head and rack,” Glander said. “It looked very ghostly.” It was the only picture they had of the cryptic buck, so Glander named him Mystery. Anxious to learn more about Mystery, they set multiple cell cameras around the new-to-them property in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin. As hunting season approached, they had partial pictures of bucks that might have been Mystery, but none were definitive enough to know for sure. Glander was enthused about pursuing Mystery, but she was also melancholy pondering another hunting…
Massachusetts deer hunters donated more than 4,450 pounds of venison — almost 18,000 meals — during the 2023 season through the MassWildlife Hunters Share the Harvest program. The program was started in 2022 with a single donation site and hunters contributed about 350 pounds, more than 1,500 meals. Additional processing donation sites were added for the 2023 season. Venison is distributed to different outlets including the Massachusetts Military Support Foundation’s Food4Vets, Daniel’s Table, Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe and Worchester County Food Bank. “Hunters and the wildlife conservation community are making a big impact addressing food insecurity in Massachusetts,” said Mark Tisa, MassWildlife Director. It is estimated that more than 15% of Massachusetts households do not have access to sufficient food to meet their basic needs. “Fresh meat can be incredibly…
