Whitetail Hunting | Whitetail Deer Hunting and Management

What Kind of Deer is It?

Question: We went whitetail hunting on the last weekend of the deer season and while me were riding along the trails at our hunting camp, and on the way to our stands, my father’s freind looked to the right and saw something. He stopped the four wheeler and told me and his son to be quiet, and then he walks back couple feet and fires his 30-30!

He did not tell us what he was shooting at so we started walking to see what he got. We found a blood trail and then I saw something laying down, but it did not look like a deer. It was not completely brown or white, but it was a deer with white on the back, its head was brown, and it had brown spots on it back.

Well, I said you shot a dog to my fathers freind and he says no that’s my deer. So we walk over and sure enough it was! I was surprised this was the first time I ever saw a whitetail deer with these kind of spots. What kind of deer is white with brown spots? Continue reading What Kind of Deer is It?

What’s The Age of Your Deer?

Although whitetail deer can live to be older in captivity, they can also live a relatively long time in the wild. The longest living wild whitetail that I have heard about was almost 16 years old! Whitetail are primarily born in late May and early June. Therefore, when most deer are harvested in November they are either six months, 1 1/2 years, 2 1/2 years, 3 1/2 years, etc. in age. Aging deer accuratley is important for proper management.

The overall age structure of a white-tailed deer population is younger than most people think. There are some states where the average harvested deer’s age is 1 1/2 years old. It has often been thought that antler and body size can indicate a deer’s age, but physical characteristics can often be quite misleading. Continue reading What’s The Age of Your Deer?

Black Powder Hunting for Texas Deer

Most hunters do not realize that Texas has a special black powder season hunting season for white-tailed deer. In most cases, it takes place after the general hunting season, but it could be well worth the wait. Black powder is an effective way to extend your hunting season and put some additional venison in the freezer. Check out the following story submitted by a Colorado County deer hunter:

Well, after doing some research at stores and on the internet, I went out and purchased a Thompson Center Omega for Colorado County’s Muzzleloader Only Extended General Season.

Well, I went hunting on Saturday afternoon and had 3 Spikes and an 11 to 12 inch wide 8 point come out to the food plot. I passed on these guys (the spikes; the 8 point was not legal) in hope of something better, but those were the only deer sightings of the evening. Continue reading Black Powder Hunting for Texas Deer

Review of Texas’ Deer Hunting Season

Yes, it’s true. Texas’s general deer hunting season is officially over for most folks now with the close of the extended antlerless and spike season. And from the sound of it, it looks like the number of white-tailed deer harvest during the 2009-2010 season has dropped this year. At least that’s what I’ve been reading on the hunting forums and from the state.

White-tailed deer harvest was a bit down over much of Texas. The many deer processors throughout the state have reported that the number of deer they had taken in from hunters was down this year, although some more than others. I suspect the already-slow economy may have decreased the number of trips hunters made during the season. It may have even caused some to process their own deer. However, the improving habitat conditions Texas experienced last year played a role as well. Continue reading Review of Texas’ Deer Hunting Season

Texas Offers Great Deer and Exotic Hunting

Comment: I just wanted to tell everyone that if they ever had the chance to go hunting in Texas that they should! I enjoy whitetail hunting too, but I just returned from my third axis deer hunting trip in as many years from the Texas Hill Country in the Kerrville-Ingram-Harper area. This was a free range hunt, no fences at all and I had one of the BEST times of my life on this trip.

The exotic license price was even reasonable. Although it went up $8 from the previous year. I was successful in harvesting two decent axis bucks. I also got to see many native game species of whitetail and Rio Grande turkey, as well as additional exotics moving and feeding on well-managed food plots during my hunts. Continue reading Texas Offers Great Deer and Exotic Hunting

Whitetail Hunter Bags Big Georgia Buck!

A perfect deer hunting trip always ends with the hunter harvesting a big white-tailed buck, but as we know most hunts do not end that way. However, Bob Coombs had anything but a perfect hunting trip, or season for that matter, but he ended up harvesting the biggest buck every harvested in the state of Georgia with a crossbow. Coombs had watched the deer for several years, and although this article is older, pay attention to how the hunter tracked this animal and finally put himself in position to harvest this monster whitetail.

Source: “The first time I saw Brutus was early in bow season of 2004. He was very wide, but all I saw was just a blur of antlers. I didn’t see him again until very late that season. The rut had died down, and a bachelor group of seven bucks got back together. The leaves were off the trees, and the bucks were about 80 yards away, so I got a very good look at Brutus. He was about a 160-class buck, and very wide with tall tines, but he didn’t have all the split tines that he would grow the next season. The smallest buck, a little forkhorn, put his antlers down like he wanted to challenge Brutus. The other bucks just watched. That was a really cool thing to see, and I saw Brutus really well. It was just awesome. Continue reading Whitetail Hunter Bags Big Georgia Buck!

Ohio Monster Buck – Giant Main Beams!

Hunter Brian Stephens harvest a true Ohio monster buck this season and it may hold the record for the the longest two beams ever recorded on a white-tailed deer. You can definitely say his whitetail hunting season started off with a bang! On November 30th, the opening day of Ohio’s gun season, the hunter dropped this big 18-point buck at 80 yards with his .50 caliber T/C muzzleloader.

The enormous buck looks should blow away Ohio’s non-typical muzzleloader record and will almost certainly set the new mark for the largest whitetail main beam antler length. The photos of this animal are absolutely astonishing, and the mass this buck carries throughout his frame is the stuff that dreams are made of. The big Ohio bruiser green scored 232 5/8 Boone and Crockett inches.

Here is what the hunter stated after dropping this giant buck:

“While the other guys were still hunting, I got the buck with my truck and put a tarp over it to surprise them when they got back. The second my Dad came back from whitetail hunting in and saw the tarp he said, ‘Let me guess. You killed a coyote at 1 pm.’ I lifted up the tarp and I can’t tell you what he said exactly, but let’s just say he was bowled over. Honestly, the look on his face made the whole hunt for me.

It’s been pretty chaotic ever since. At the check-in station, somebody saw the buck and yelled ‘Oh my God, it’s a giant!’ Next thing I knew, I was surrounded by people and getting my picture taken with complete strangers and my big buck. Heading home the next day, people were beeping, waving, giving me thumbs up.”

Yep, thumbs up!

Southeast Deer Study Group Abstract Submission

If you plan on attending the upcoming meeting of the Southeast Deer Study Group and would like to submit an abstract, the following are guidelines for submitting an abstract for presentation at the 33rd Annual Southeast Deer Study Group Meeting. All persons seeking to make a presentation during the technical or poster session must submit an abstract. Presentations will be selected only on the merits of the abstracts based upon originality, quality, management applicability, and relevance to the program theme. Abstracts selected for oral and poster presentations will be compiled as part of the meeting proceedings.

Subject matter may include progress reports, preliminary results, or research results intended for future publication. However, since the abstract is the only record of the presentation, evaluation will be based on abstract content and quality rather than what the authors intend to have prepared by the meeting. Presentations (including a question and answer period) will be limited to 20 minutes in length. A laptop computer and projector will be provided for Power Point presentations.

Each year the Southeast Deer Study Group presents a cash award and plaque for the best student presentation and a cash award to the second best student presentation. To qualify as a student presenter, the senior author must be a graduate or undergraduate student, or in their first year of employment post-schooling. Presentations are to be about the presenter’s graduate research, senior thesis, or similar project that they were involved with while in school. The presenter must be the primary person involved in data collection, analysis, and presentation preparation.

Authors wishing to compete for this award must check the box on the abstract submission form. Student abstracts will be subjected to the same review process as the other abstracts, and only those selected for inclusion in the meeting program will be eligible for the award. Award selection is based entirely on scientific relevance and presentation quality.

Abstracts should be no more than 250 words, typewritten, double-spaced, and formatted for 8.5” x 11” paper. All distances, areas, weights, etc. must be presented in English units (feet, acres, etc.). Do not use metric units (meters, hectares, etc). Do not include the author(s) on the abstract. The name(s), affiliation(s), and address(es) of the authors should appear only on the abstract submission form.

Abstract submissions must be emailed to Alan Cain at alan.cain@att.net. Please use Microsoft Word only.
Abstracts must be received by November 25, 2009.

The format of the abstract should be as follows:

Please, include Poster Session or Technical Session in the upper left Margin of the abstract.
Title (should be 15 words or less)
The word ABSTRACT followed immediately by the text of the abstract.

The abstract should describe:

What you studied and why – place the research in perspective by explaining the reason for the work.
How you did the research – briefly explain your methods.
What you found – summarize your results.
What does it mean – state your conclusions and management implications.
Remember – English measurement units only.

POSTERS:

Poste size limit is 42” wide x 32” tall in landscape orientation.
Presenters should bring posters ready to display.
Posters will be displayed on a backing material provided.
4.All posters should be taken down and removed by 5:00pm on March 1st.