Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2015 i Deer & Deer Hunting

Our deer hunting community has evolved greatly over the past decade. More hunters have taken up bowhunting and, lately, crossbow hunting is here to stay throughout the country. Between technology and a keener understanding of wildlife management, we’re a nation of citizen scientists. We manage the habitat and harvest the sustainable yield of whitetail protein with the utmost precision. One constant that will never change, however, is the call of gun season. It’s something ingrained in our collective psyche. It very well could be its own season ... like summer or autumn. Gun season. The mere utterance of those two words conjures emotions and stimuli that simply must be experienced to understand. For Northern hunters, the transformation begins in late October as November’s chill and winds replace the pleasant pumpkin-patch…

To answer the question of how to strike a balance between habitat and deer numbers, it’s important to first understand what carrying capacity (CC) means, as it related to this topic. CC is the maximum number of deer a property can sustain at any one time. Having a population at max CC is very bad for both the deer herd and the habitat. Deer at max CC are on the cusp of true disaster, both from severe nutritional stress and the high risk of disease. At the same time, the habitat’s ability to provide deer food is being destroyed. Virtually any desirable natural foods are being eliminated, as well as heavy feeding on foods very low on the desirability scale. The result is that deer populations at max CC for…

As any weekend during deer season approaches, the common refrain from the average deer hunter’s something to the effect of, “Hope we have good weather this weekend.” By good they normally mean clear skies, reasonable temperatures and little wind. These are certainly the kinds of days I hope for when planning a fishing foray, but when it comes to pursuing whitetails my definition of good takes on a much different meaning. When deer hunting, good means sleet and woolly skies and wind and swirling snow and temperatures that justify that two-grand’s worth of high-tech duds waiting in the closet but seldom worn. In whitetail hunting, I find the nastier it is outside, the better my odds of success — especially when targeting big bucks. It’s true some of this attitude…

Every year hunters die from firearm accidents. Many think they’ve learned all there is to know about firearms safety, but I am not so sure. I have heard a lot of firearms safety lectures over my many years of military service and hunter education courses of my own and my kids. But on two occasions in my almost 50 years of hunting I have caught myself walking through the woods with a loaded firearm with the safety OFF! Despite our training and experience, we can never be too safe. Take a moment and review these key safety tips: • Practice good firearms safety at the range as well as when hunting. Be especially careful whenever you are showing a firearm to someone. • Assume every gun is loaded. • Never…

I drove into Yazoo County, Mississippi, the day after New Year’s 2015, a cold rain pounding my SUV. I passed muddy fields that held last year’s crop stubble and ditches full of dark water. I saw groups of three and four whitetails hundreds of yards back from the road grazing along treelines, apparently unaffected by the chilly precipitation. I was back in what has been quickly becoming my second home, the southeastern corner of the Mississippi Delta, about an hour north of Jackson. I’d first visited there not even two years earlier on a spring turkey and hog hunt, and made many of those rare, near instant friendships that you know are going to last a lifetime. Tim, Mike and Jay were fellow hunters and took me under their collective…

With the holiday season upon us, there’s no better time to get your loved ones or yourself a few great items from Weston. Perhaps a mandolin veggie slicer would be a solid addition for making slaw or scalloped potatoes — or a new deep-fryer or slow-cooker. Or how about a smoker, so you can turn your venison into smoked sausages, jerky and delicious roasts? Don’t forget the vacuum sealer, too, so you can keep things frozen while retaining freshness! Weston has a complete line of items for your home and camp, along with great recipes on its blog. Check it all out at www.WestonSupply.com.…

My son just received his first issue of Deer & Deer Hunting. I found it sitting on the corner of the kitchen counter where I often find his hunting magazines. See, in our house, I will not allow him to read these until I have paged through them and have removed “inappropriate” ads. I was extremely and pleasantly surprised that your magazine had nothing I needed to remove. I just wanted to take a moment and thank you for your integrity regarding the type of advertisements you place in your magazine. God bless. — Amy, via email I truly enjoy your magazine and the information series Grow ’em Big on www.DeerAndDeerHunting.com. I tried to find Steve Bartylla’s contact information to ask this question, but failed to secure it. My question…

Owning and managing land to provide habitat for deer and other wildlife, as well as improved hunting opportunities, is often a labor of love, but even so, it can still take a lot of time, effort and money. For those who have woodlands, insects and the damage they can inflict can be a major headache. Fortunately, help is often readily available. Many government and other agencies provide extension services — often at little or no cost — to help ensure landowners apply appropriate strategies and tactics to achieve the objectives desired for the forest. Simple things such as scheduling tree logging activities so they don’t conflict with ongoing or imminent insect plagues, such as gypsy moth, can often easily be done based largely on models and field data that is…

Average hunting outfits, even worn over lots of layers, likely aren’t up for the nastiest weather. Taking advantage of the most brutal weather and coming home happy means an investment in serious cold-weather togs. Two of my favorite cold-weather outfits include First Lite’s (www.FirstLite.com) new Sanctuary and Sitka Gear’s (www.SitkaGear.com) latest Fanatic jacket and bibs. These are serious outfits for serious weather, gear warm enough to make you sweat in normal winter conditions. Another awesome cold-weather option is “sleeping-bag” outfits such as the original Heater Body Suit (www.HeaterBodySuit.com) or newer IWOM (www.IwomOutterWear.com). These outfits completely envelope the hunter to seal in heat, allowing you to wear a normal outfit while sitting inside, quietly shrugging off the outer suit when shot opportunities arise.…

Remington debuted its first R-25 hunting AR several years ago to generally positive reviews. But there was one common complaint: Big Green’s hunting AR was a little too stout. Remington and its sister company DPMS responded with the R-25 GII and its redesigned upper receiver, light carbon fiber hand guard and skeletonized butt stock, which whittled a pound from the original GI rifle. I’ve fired more than 200 rounds through my R-25 without a single jam or feeding failure, and I’ve pegged 1-inch groups at 100 yards, so the rifle’s quite capable of MOA and likely sub-MOA accuracy. The GII has a smooth, two-stage trigger, and the Remington carbon hand guard fits my hand nicely and stays cool even when firing four- and five-round shot strings. Barrels are stainless steel,…

Deer & Deer Hunting-TV delivers some top-notch shows as deer season hits full stride in the South and is winding down up North. Upcoming shows include Keeping the Ladies Happy, What Drives Mr. Big, Under Pressure, Pattern Without Getting Patterned and even a special episode about hunting mule deer. Join DDH-TV hosts Dan Schmidt, Gordy Krahn, Steve Barytlla and Mark Kayser for the show’s 11th season each Monday night at 8:30 ET on NBC Sports Outdoors. Kudos for Destination Whitetail Destination Whitetail , with host Brittney Leigh Glaze, was among the shows highlighted in a multichannel.com story, “Outdoors TV is a Woman’s World,” about the increasing participation of women in hunting and the outdoors, and how networks including Outdoor Channel, Sportsman Channel and Pursuit are tapping into…

It was early August, but I was already pumped for late season. I love shooting does. Don’t get me wrong. I find buck hunting extremely rewarding. It drives me to invest ridiculous amounts of time and effort, all just for the chance to kill mature bucks. The satisfaction of scoring on a heavily hunted public ground buck or both helping to grow and then kill a monster on the grounds I’m contracted to manage are both experiences that give me the ultimate in hunting satisfaction. However, culling does with stick and string is just plain fun. Frankly, it’s almost a cathartic break from the constantly on edge approach one must take to be most successful when buck hunting. At the same time, there’s an excitement factor that’s missing from the…

I was climbing a tree in one of my favorite deer hollows using the combination of two of my oldest stands that I had pre-positioned. I had passed many a happy hour in these hardwoods with an extremely thick pine bedding area due east of me. Those two stands were a small, lightweight commercial climber, which I was using as the foot platform, and a larger heavy-weight home-made climber that a hunting buddy had given me almost 20 years ago. As an expert on treestands, I’m embarrassed to admit that I was using such old equipment, but I had used these two stands together many times, including several times this past season. As I made the second or third climbing motion, the steel band that held my make-shift foot platform…

When my hunting luck has been good and conditions are right for hanging a whitetail in the garage, shed, barn or meat locker for a couple of days, there’s nothing better than knowing that deer is there, aging a little bit and waiting to be made into great venison. Before the hunt, my dreams focused on the possibilities of the pursuit: Will I see a deer? If so, will I be able to make the shot? Will it be a buck, or will I fill a doe tag? Will I find success in the morning, evening or midday? The possibilities are endless, and that’s what makes the anticipation, and the hunt, so special. But once that deer is down, field-dressed, strung up and awaiting the skinning knife, boning knife, fillet…

1 D&DH 2016 Wall Calendar From Deer & Deer Hunting magazine, the “2016 Whitetail Lunar Wall Calendar” features the work of deer researchers Wayne Laroche and Charlie Alsheimer, who reveal the 2016 whitetail rut prediction based on years of lunar cycle research. Utilize this moon phase calendar to find out which days deer will be seeking and chasing so you can time the rut for the best time to hunt. The calendar features amazing white-tailed deer photography, capturing deer in all the seasons and providing deer activity charts. It’s not only the most useful calendar you’ll own, but also quite possibly the ultimate gift for any deer hunter! Info: www.ShopDeerHunting.com (Search: SKU T8705) 2 Plano Deluxe Recurve Bow Case Protect your investment and avoid problems while traveling to your hunting…