In today’s age of whitetail management the understanding and practice of mandatory antler restrictions is under way. This approach primarily allows yearling bucks protection so the animals can reach whitetail maturity with sizeable racks, as well as sound age structures and buck-to-doe ratios.
Hunters afield are also starting to pass on legally harvestable bucks — giving these deer the opportunity to reach full antler growth. […]
The bow season is under way. You’ve prepared the stand, scouted intensely and labored over the land — all in anticipation of enjoying the outdoors and taking a whitetail. […]
The topic of whitetail personalities is being addressed more and more in the hunting industry, and here again an individual deer’s disposition of being more inclined to the fight or flight instinct will undoubtedly have an effect on how the animal responds to predators. […]
Wild hog numbers are increasing in certain areas of the U.S. and, although not classified as carnivores, they are predatory in that they can locate and consume baby fawns. […]
Spring gives way to warm days as the summer season nears. Pesky insects start to dominate the woodlots and open fields. For the young whitetails that survived the pursuit of predators, now their lives of growing into mature deer begin to unfold. […]
The degree of hunting pressure, nutrition, buck-to-doe ratios, management, genetics and weather can influence not just the rut’s timing, but whitetail social interactions as well. Even so, by instinct, rutting bucks usually follow the same behavioral traits — even when immature bucks get in on the action. […]
In search of vegetative foliage, five bucks — a mature 8-pointer, a 3½-year-old, two spunky spikes and a curious button buck — go single file along the forest edge, ascending a bluff. Occasionally the group stops to forage; yet one of the spikes and the button buck, by instinct, prefer to assertively test their status with bouts of mock sparring. […]
The rut is close. By procreative instinct, a mature hefty 8-pointer traverses the land. Ascending a bluff ridge, the persistent male steadily climbs the steep vegetative terrain with ease. […]
Once bucks are in the height of pursuing does, their instincts for survival are somewhat diminished. Their eyes, ears and noses are focused on estrus does, and although they can still respond to threats, most of the time it takes them a few seconds longer to put two and two together. This stupor of hesitation on a rutting buck’s part offers a grand opportunity to bring him down. […]
Along the forest edge, a whitetail buck hesitates beneath the overhanging branches of a pine tree. Then with ease, the animal stretches its neck up toward a particular limb and begins to rub its mouth and forehead on the limb. Closing its eyelids, it resumes this behavior on the tree.
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Scent pheromones and their distinct odors are instinctively utilized by whitetails to convey a realm of communication related to dominant hierarchy and sexual interactions. They are crucial for other social relations — particularly with females raising their offspring. These scents are produced by several different glands, and serve deer of all ages and both sexes. […]
A low ceiling of clouds blankets the field and woodlands, and although the autumn season is near, the humidity indicates otherwise. […]
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