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
Do you see all 10? Any guess on the year? And are you old enough to remember what they meant to deer hunters from those days? Yes, it’s technically a painting, but the image (unknown artist) shows how simple deer hunting used to be. Let’s look past the obvious message: The hunter had to answer a call and left his post at the most inopportune time. Despite that missed opportunity, the hunter left behind at least 10 clues as to when this hunt occurred: First, we are told the painting was created in the 1960s, so that helps narrow it down by a lot. Now for those other details: 1. BLAZE-ORANGE JACKET. It’s commonplace now, but it wasn’t 50 years ago. In fact, Massachusetts was the first state to require…
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ALEX JACKSON Alex Jackson had this big North Dakota deer on trail cameras throughout the 2022 season, but decided to give it one more year of antler growth. By 2023, it was 5 ½ years old, and quite a bit bigger. October 4, 2023, brought a big cold front with rising barometric pressure. He was hunting a CRP field between a river and soybean field. He hoped to see “Goliath.” The afternoon hunt kicked off, and about 15 does filtered in and out of view. Then, a spike and more does walked through. Shortly after, the big buck entered the field. Within a few minutes, the deer got within range. Jackson took the 25-yard shot. The buck’s rack scored 181 inches. JEFFREY CARSEL Here is a very nice Missouri buck…
Two and a half hours from home, things were at once comforting and familiar, yet strange and uncharted. November 2nd is a sacred day in my life. Eight years ago today, my twenty-three-year-old daughter succumbed to a year long battle with brain cancer. Anyone grieving the loss of a loved one knows the importance of such anniversaries. As the morning twilight subtly illuminated the woods, I dreaded the anniversary as I always do, but also looked forward to the day with a slim margin of hope that the deep woods and – with any luck – some deer movement would make the morning more tolerable. As six twenty-five came and went, I tried to force my mind away from that terrible morning when my daughter died in my arms. Like…
You bet it does, and if it falls in a whitetail wintering area, referred to as deer yards, whitetails will most certainly hear it and will be among the first to smell, see and feast upon the downed tree. Windblown trees, branches and twigs can represent an important food source to winter deer, especially in yarding areas where the forest is primarily made up of mature trees. When and where the snow is deep, temperatures are cold, and there’s competition for limited food, whitetails will quickly consume all edible portions of fallen trees that are within their reach. Such a scenario is perfect for providing supplemental food to increase the chances of winter survival of whitetails, whether on private or public property. With the spread of CWD across North America,…
NORTH DAKOTA FINDS 17 NEW CASES OF CWD The North Dakota Game and Fish Department discovered 17 new cases of chronic wasting disease during its testing of white-tailed and mule deer during the 2024 sampling season. Department officials tested 1,456 animals for CWD. It found 15 instances of the disease in deer killed by hunters. Two others were “clinical deer” in which the disease was confirmed through diagnostic examination. Officials said the positive cases came from units 3A1 (seven mule deer), 3E1 (one mule deer), 3E2 (one mule deer), 3F2 (four mule deer and two whitetails), 3B2 (one mule deer) and 3B3 (one whitetail). CWD was not previously detected in units 3B2 or 3B3. Sampling efforts fell short of the 10% goal in units where CWD surveillance was concentrated. Game…
