Whitetail deer, majestic creatures of the wild, are known for their impressive antlers. One of the most intriguing aspects of these animals is the annual shedding of their antlers, a process that captivates the curiosity of hunters and nature enthusiasts alike. In this article, we will delve into the fascinating world of whitetail deer and explore ...
Preparing venison at hunt camp is not just about cooking a meal; it's a celebration of the hunt and the rewards it brings. There's something primal and satisfying about enjoying the fruits of your labor right there in the great outdoors. So, let's dive into how to make the most of your fresh venison backstrap harvest at your hunt camp. The Ca...
Well, here’s something we never expected — Aaron Rodgers in an archery shop … shooting a compound bow? The former Green Bay Packers superstar QB spent 20 years in Wisconsin and never feigned interest in hunting or the shooting sports, but today we see him in a video released by Harrison Glaser (@NYJetsFTMedia) shooting a […]
Let the hate mail begin! Half-kidding, of course, but the Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) is one species that landowners across the country love to hate. If you’re an orchard guy like me, you probably lean toward prejudice. That’s because the red cedar is an alternate host of cedar-apple rust, a destructive and disfiguring disease […]
If you know anything about bowhunting history, you know names like Fred Bear, Howard Hill, and Doug Easton. And, if you know anything about the pastime’s rise in popularity, names like Chuck Adams, Byron Ferguson and, of course, Ted Nugent. There’s one name, however, that you might not recognize. Yet, without him, bowhunting might have […]
We can thank YouTube for this week’s blog idea. We had just posted a “How Old Do You Think This Buck Is?” video short featuring an Illinois farmland 10-pointer. The prime specimen is 5-1/2 years old and sport an awesome 150-class set of antlers. It’s just one of those fun things we do from time […]
Stunning new findings from a nonpartisan citizen group indicate gray wolves are roaming nearly two-thirds of a state that was once considered marginal home range for North America’s apex predator. In data released today, Wisconsin Citizen Wolf Count documents wolf sightings in 45 of the state’s 72 counties. Of these sightings, sets of data have […]
Zombie deer are sweeping the nation! No, they’re not. Well, not like you have been led to believe. By now you’ve seen 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. And, you have probably […]
Despite below-zero temperatures for most of the past two weeks, this winter is shaping up to be a nonfactor for white-tailed deer. And, while it’s true below-zero temps force deer to conserve energy, the lack of snow depth has made this winter’s first month a walk on the beach for deer across cold-country. As of […]
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 buck of your dreams is in your sights. His symmetrical 12-point rack is tall and wide. Later that night back at camp, when trying to quantify just how big that buck was, you stutter, “He was a Booner!” Here’s a fun fact for you: If the man who invented that scoring system was given […]
Do you agree or disagree with the following rules for gut-shot deer? What would you add? Allow me to preface this conversation by saying this blog post is written mostly for bowhunters — compound, recurve and crossbow — but the general tenants apply to all deer hunters. Who am I to provide these rules? Nobody, […]
It takes guts to give up everything you know to start over. But it takes something else — vision, imaginaion,creativity, inventiveness, among other things — to kickstart an industry. That’s exactly what the founders of this magazine had … in spades. The first issue of Deer & Deer Hunting appeared 49 years ago, but history […]
So, it appears Minnesota will join the modern deer hunting world by allowing crossbow usage in its general archery season. First blush is “good for them” for realizing we are all in this together and that crossbow hunting is just another way to keep people interested in enjoying outdoors recreation while at the same time […]
“Why did you shoot that deer?” “What did it ever do to you?” “How could you go and kill an innocent deer?” “You don’t need to hunt and kill animals — you can buy meat from the store!” And so on, and so forth. Such are the comments from parts of our culture who are […]
We bet you will be surprised at the states where guys and gals are already drawing down on deer and releasing arrows! Here’s our Top 5 list.
Let’s preface this: We should really call this the 7 toughest states to harvest a whitetail. This has nothing to do with tough terrain, strict regulations, trophy-size bucks or any other arbitrary quantification. For this exercise, we are simply going by how many hunters are trying each year … and how many are actually successful. […]
We bet you will be surprised by some of these numbers! Deer & Deer Hunting has meticulously documented each state’s deer population and annual deer harvest every year since 1992. This wasn’t an easy job. It required weeks of phone calls and email phone tag with biologists from each of the 42 states with reportable […]
As the July calendar points closer to August, here’s a question that’s asked commonly among food-plotters: Can I plant oats and cereal rye now (or a mixture of the two), or should I wait until the end of August? We turned to two resident experts for answers: “You can certainly wait, but no issues at […]
U.S. health researchers have reviewed 30 years of data from over 2 million hunters in Colorado and Wyoming, including thousands who hunted in CWD outbreak areas. According to a recent, excellent article by Lindsay Thomas Jr., the researchers saw no patterns of prion diseases (namely Creutzfeld-Jakob) above the normal background level in all Americans — […]
