Deer & Deer Hunting Summer 2020

Perhaps it’s rooted in my family’s meat-making roots, but I find true fascination in the weights of white-tailed deer. You see, when I was a young hunter you earned your stripes by a buck’s field-dressed weight, not by how many points or inches of antler were on his head. The heavier the deer, the more meat you brought home. And that was something of which to be mighty proud. Old-timers called those big bucks “slobberknockers.” Research has taught us that bucks reach peak weights when they’re 5½ to 6½ years old. White-tailed does attain top weights when they are 4½ years old. I’ve written about this topic several times over the past 25 years in D&DH, and the unofficial field-dressed weight records haven’t changed. From what we can gather, the…

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…

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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…

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…

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,…