Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2024 i Deer & Deer Hunting

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…

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…

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists intercepted trophy white-tailed deer hides infested with 21 ticks at the Colombia-Solidarity Bridge in Laredo, Texas, the weekend of Jan. 6-7. “As the deer hunting season in Mexico starts to draw to a close, our frontline CBP agriculture specialists are especially vigilant in inspecting arriving trophy deer hides to make sure that the cattle fever tick does not enter the U.S. and pose a risk to the domestic cattle industry,” said Port Director Alberto Flores of the Laredo Port of Entry. “This significant tick interception in deer hides reaffirms CBP’s commitment to protecting American agriculture and upholding U.S. economic security by preventing pests which can carry the cattle fever tick from entering the U.S.” On Jan. 6 at the Colombia-Solidarity Bridge, a pickup…

Spring is a time of discovery in the whitetail woods. Just as winter winds down, the woods melt in the north and unearths old sign from the previous year. There is a window of time to scout and shed hunt before the woods green up. That time is right now. Last year’s scrapes, trails and rubs are still very much detectable. Early spring is also a great time to improve your section of land by way of timber stand improvement, clearing land for food plots or prescribed burns to encourage new growth. Let’s not forget about frost seeding food plots and tending to tree stand locations. Late March or early April is still a great period to frost seed throughout most of the whitetail’s range. Early spring is also a…

GLOSSY BUCKTHORN. Commonly found in oak forests, savannas and near rivers, streams ponds and wetlands, this small tree (grown in clumps) is a noxious weed. Left untouched, it can completely eliminate plant diversity in forest understory. It is also the overwinter host for the soybean aphid. • Consult with a forester and remove these invasives from your property. BUSH HONEYSUCKLE. Bush honeysuckle is a spreading shrub that can reach up to 15–20 feet in height, with flowers that change from white to yellow; juicy red berries; and opposite, simple leaves that green up much earlier than surrounding native vegetation. • Consult with a forester and remove these invasives from your property. EASTERN RED CEDAR. Shown here is a mature tree – with straight trunk more or less grooved and pyramidal to rounded…

Glancing up at the ridgetop, I spotted a very good buck. It wasn’t the monster I’d seen in the previous evening’s fading light, but there was no doubt that this early morning visitor was also a shooter. Better yet, he was very interested in the scent I’d hung on top the ridge. Swaying his head from one side to the other, he did his best to recapture the alluring estrous odor. Finally, he gave up and began working his way down the ridge. That was exactly what I needed him to do. On my way to the stand covering the does’ bedroom door, I had placed a single scent wick. My hope was that the odor would waft down the opposite valley, potentially drawing crusing bucks up to investigate. Standing…

The crossbow controversy has been the talk of the archery industry for several years now. As crossbows become increasingly high tech and their use during archery-only seasons across America more common – today they’re legal during archery-only seasons in 30 states, and only Oregon bans their use completely — naysayers often make the comment, “Success rates will grow so fast during the bow season that we’ll kill too many deer.” Technical and performance comparisons aside — we’ll get to those in a bit — is it true that the white-tailed deer harvest has shot through the roof since the crossbow has become legal during archery-only seasons in so many states? Let’s take a close look. NATIONAL DEER ASSOCIATION DATA The National Deer Association published an article by Kip Adams in…

Maroon. Crimson. Burgundy. Purplish. Dark red. Blood but any other name is not quite the same. If you know, you know. If you don’t — and you run across dark-red blood — you might well be dealing with the blood trail of a liver-hit deer. Trailing a liver-hit deer (described later in this article) is an ordeal in and of itself. But unraveling just why liver blood is the color that it is can be a fascinating lesson in deer physiology. Recent insights from a scientific study on white-tailed deer in Poland reveal exactly why liver blood is a color all its own. THE STUDY Researchers set forth to study how stress and capture myopathy affect whitetails. Their main study focused on organ function, hormone function and reaction. What they…

To hunters who couldn’t care less about the science of deer management, good luck. Without a system for keeping deer populations strong, you won’t have the hunting you want for long. And to biologists who believe deer management should be based solely on science, dream on. If you don’t take the human element into account, you won’t get far before hitting a brick wall. For most hunters, deer management is about getting what we want, whether that’s more deer, better bucks, larger bag limits, less hunting pressure, dogs or no dogs, rifles rather than shotguns, or scopes rather than iron sights. The list is endless. It shouldn’t be surprising that deer managers can get pretty frustrated by the constant pushing and pulling that results from changing desires. But as uncomfortable…

We’ve all overheard others talk about how horrific winters are on deer. Frankly, when one goes for a winter’s walk in the woods, through three-plus feet of snow, and it seems near unbelievable that any deer live could through this! Additionally, a particularly late spring, paired with even a normal winter can be devastating. What follows is why, as well as how we can minimize a bad winter and/or late spring’s potential touch of death. CHALLENGES With spring’s longer days and warmer temperatures, how is it that late springs are such a risk? The answer can be visualized by picturing an old-fashioned hourglass. The sand in the top is the stored energy that a specific deer has. Although the amount varies between deer, each enters winter with a finite amount…

Wild turkey populations fluctuate across the U.S., but these six states are consistently among the best when it comes to the number of birds and birds harvested. Texas has a mind-blowing 450,000 BIRDS (mix between Easterns and Rios), while Missouri isn’t too far behind with about 350,000 BIRDS to hunt annually. Pennsylvania has a robust annual harvest, but the number of hunters is staggering: 172,000 GUYS AND GALS! For comparison, many top states have hunting populations of LESS THAN 75,000 PEOPLE ANNUALLY.…

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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…

In white-tailed bucks, the timing of antler casting (dropping off) depends largely upon a decline in blood levels of the male hormone testosterone. Physically weakened and malnourished bucks generally drop their antlers first. It tends to be a sudden process. One day a buck can literally be dragged by his antlers, but a day or two later the antlers may drop off from their own weight. Since antler casting is under hormonal control, both antlers usually drop off at about the same time, sometimes only minutes apart, but seldom more than a few days apart. In fact, on a few occasions I’ve found the shed antlers of bucks lying side-by-side, as if they had fallen simultaneously while the buck stood gazing about. These bucks were in a square-mile research enclosure…

Dec. 2, during New York’s gun-deer season: At 3 p.m., I climbed into one of the most productive stands on my family’s farm. We call the stand’s location the “mother of all funnels” because it’s situated in a 125-yard-wide spruce plantation that connects two big ravines. On either side of the 400-yard-long stretch of spruce trees were two Whitetail Oats Plus food plots, which helped to make the setup an incredible travel corridor for deer. We call the stand’s location the “mother of all funnels” because it’s situated in a 125-yard-wide spruce plantation that connects two big ravines. On either side of the 400-yard long stretch of spruce trees were two Whitetail Oats Plus food plots, which helped to make the setup an incredible travel corridor for deer. Within minutes…

“Texas heart shots” are a troublesome subject in bowhunting, and rightfully so. But they can be, and should be, talked about now and then, pro and con. I once knew a bowhunter who took such shots whenever the opportunity arose. He killed more than one buck by shooting it in the butt … on purpose. (I never asked him about his deer hunting skills because I couldn’t figure out a way to politely ask him why he had frequent opportunities at such shots, and I didn’t want to tick him off.) But an excellent opportunity to talk about the subject arose yesterday at our veterinarian’s office when we took our small dog in for a blood test. The night before, I had unknowingly fed him some grapes as I ate…

Fifteen-year-old Dylan Meyer from Zeeland, Mich., bagged a 20-point nontypical in Ottawa County on September 10, the second day of the 2023 youth deer hunt, that is now the state record in the youth category for nontypicals. The huge set of antlers have a gross score of 2116/8 and net 206⅛, according Commemorative Bucks of Michigan measurer Allen Wilde. The previous number one nontypical in the youth category was a 29-pointer that Michael Derosa shot on his first morning ever of deer hunting in Van Buren County during the 1989 firearms season. Those antlers netted 199⅜. The big nontypical that Meyer bagged was one of eight bucks that spent all summer taking advantage of a food plot the Meyers planted, according to Dylan’s father Dave. They used game cameras to…

Food plots are planted, nice box blinds are comfortable, and the stands hung in August are in the prime positions overlooking travel routes from bedding sites to food sources. So why would you hunt anywhere else on your lease? Those spots are easy to get to and don’t require much effort to hunt, and if you kill a deer, they’re accessible for ATVs or vehicles. The reason to look elsewhere is because we always fall into easy habits. We’re lazy and comfortable and maybe don’t have a lot of time to hunt, so we go to the quickest or best spot available. We try to pattern deer movements but often forget that deer can pattern us when we arrive at camp regularly for a weekend hunt and head out to…

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PROPERTY SIZE Perhaps the most obvious factor in this decision is the simplest; do you have room to move? Some of my best turkey properties are scary-small, as in 20-40 acres, and on ground like this, it’s not only the safest, but the wisest, choice to simply sit still and force birds to come to me. In fact, moving around a lot — a tactic that comes with the risk of bumping the very turkeys you’re hunting — is often counterproductive; I don’t believe turkeys are “smart” (as in capable of thought), but they are super-sharp about places they encounter danger and places they don’t. Bump birds much on a small tract, and they may simply start avoiding it on principle. On the other hand, I hunt huge tracts of…

REQUIRED GEAR Every hunt is different, but from my experience hunting with kids, a good ground blind is a must. Blinds allow for a lot of movement that you would never get away with just sitting on the bare ground. Good chairs add to the height that you can be in a blind for maximum visibility and comfort. Comfort is a must, comfortable enough so that the kids can fall asleep if they want. There’s nothing wrong will falling asleep in the turkey blind. Done it many times myself, and woke up to turkeys in the decoys on more than one occasion. Warm, comfortable clothing is a must, there’s nothing more uncomfortable than not enough clothes or too many, so make sure that your hunter is warm and dry. Waterproof…

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…

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…

Managing deer hunting land is a never-ending process. And so is tree management. Of course, some trees aren’t that beneficial for deer. Either they get minimal benefits or no use at all. While it certainly isn’t an exhaustive list, these are trees deer don’t need. Most of these trees offer little to no value to whitetails. AUTUMN OLIVE While this does offer some browse for deer, it’s an invasive tree species. It should be removed from the landscape and replaced with better, native options. AMERICAN HOLLY A common tree for decorative design, it’s nothing to whitetails. Deer do not consume any part of this tree. In the mind of a whitetail, it’s a void of wasted space. Remove it from your deer hunting property. AMERICAN SWEETGUM An utterly worthless tree,…

Some food plot species are great for whitetails. Others? Not so much. Here are several poor food plot picks for deer that most deer hunters should stay away from. ALYCE CLOVER: While commonly believed to be part of the clover family, Alyce clover is not a member. It’s a non-native standalone legume. Deer will eat it, and it offers decent nutrient levels. But true clover options are better. Try red, white, crimson, or ladino clover instead. Maybe even try cowpeas or iron clay peas. BERSEEM CLOVER: While deer will certainly eat berseem clover, it isn’t great for colder climates. It doesn’t do well. Therefore, confine this option to the South. In the North, ladino clover is far better. BUCKWHEAT: This is commonly confused with traditional wheat. This isn’t a grain…

My excitement escalated to near panic in a split-second. would hear me clearly through his “Deer!” I hissed, knowing that D&DH cameraman Ian Sanchez headset. “Up there … behind us on the hill,” I continued, motioning with a sideways nod. “He’s coming our way, and I don’t think he’s going to take his time.” We didn’t need to communicate much after that. The deer, a buck, was definitely a “shooter” (word I hate to use, but you get the idea). He was a beauty of an 8-pointer, and fully clad in velvet — precisely the kind of deer I wanted to take on this trip. Pesky black flies swarmed our faces, but neither of us seemed to mind. We twitched, trembled and shook our heads just enough to shoo the…

Firearms aficionados are attracted to gun shops like buzzards to a gut pile, and hanging out at a gun shop when I was 10 years old set the stage for a career in the firearms and hunting industries. Not much has changed since then, and these days the local gun shop where I hang out comes with some special perks. To give our readers an idea of how much I hang out at one special gun shop, well, suffice it to say that the owner gave me my own set of keys. Whether it’s the regulars or new customers, there isn’t a week that doesn’t go by that I don’t hear some question that presents some intriguing queries that I’m sure come up at any gun shop. This issue, we’ll…

VALUED READERS, For years, we were limited in the number of pages we could produce in our spring issues. Now that D&DH is once again independently owned, we changed those rules. One of the most notable changes is the bonus section you are about to read. Considering the fact that two-thirds of D&DH readers also hunt wild turkeys, we thought it was only fitting to tack some extra pages onto this April issue and include this special bonus section. This hand-picked content comes from our sister publication, Turkey & Turkey Hunting. And if you really like chasing gobblers, we have a full 68-PAGE VERSION of Turkey & Turkey Hunting for 2024. It is available in our online store (SHOP.DEERANDDEERHUNTING.COM) AND ON NEWSSTANDS, so be sure to pick up a copy…

One of the definitions of a legend is “a notable person whose deeds or exploits are much talked about in his own time.” Jack Nevins is a legend of the Greentree Hunt Club. He was an imposing figure with a 6-foot husky frame, and even in his late 60s, he was strong. Because of his large frame and his head-to-toe Woolrich garb, there was no question who was picking his way through the trees or ambling along one of the trails on our Carbon County hunting lease. Jack’s hunting style was to walk, walk and walk some more. I’m glad that I took this photo of him because it wasn’t very often that he sat down while hunting. But much more than his physical presence, he brought character to the…