Hunters that spend any amount of time in the woods get to see some really awesome things, sometimes events you don’t quite believe yourself! The same can be said of some game camera photos and that is the case today. I received these photos via email and the story is simple, but one photo in particular is really quite amazing! The photo I am referring to is the middle picture below, which captures a white-tailed buck in flight just a split-second after being shot by a bowhunter. 

As far as can tell, the photo appears to be real despite looking surreal. The two biggest factors that make the photo unbelievable are first that the buck appears transparent towards the back of the body and then secondly that the game camera photo actually captures the buck in mid-flight, with an arrow in its side, and blood coming out. Cuddeback camera users know that transparent or ghostly deer photos are not uncommon, so I think this photo is simply luck — and a good shot!       

More about these photos:

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When it comes to timing your deer hunting activity, every deer hunter knows that hunting during the rut is a great time to be in the woods. Sure, this can a great way to harvest a white-tailed buck because during the rut bucks can be downright stupid. In addition to bucks having only one thing on their mind, they may stray up to several miles from their summer range in search of does or chasing does to breed. And as exciting as this may be, there is another way to bag your buck that can take some of the guess work out of the equation.  

The secret is patterning the movement those early season bucks way before the breeding season kicks off. Early season bucks are motivated by safety and food. Bucks feel rather safe during the early fall because for 9 months no one has bothered them — no hunters in the woods, no funny scents, no 4-wheelers running around both before and after dark, and nothing strange at all. It has been quiet. 

It’s during this time of year that whitetail bucks find food sources and eat in preparation of the breeding season and winter. They may be hitting a feeder, a food plot, or an ag field, but they are all the same as far as you are concerned. If you can figure out a buck’s pre-rut pattern you drastically improve your chances of bagging that big boy. Now as I mentioned earlier the rut can cause bucks to travel long distances, so once the rut begins the buck you may have had your heart set on may no longer be in the area, so why wait? You don’t want him throwing caution to the wind somewhere else now do you? (more…)

Deer can sometimes grow hooves that are much longer than normal. Long hooves in deer is not common because I’ve seen reports from many different places over the years, but it’s not something most hunters will see in the field. Just this week I received an email that contained photos of a white-tailed doe than had long hooves (it was actually just her front left hoof and back right hoof). This condidtion is referred to as foundering and I believe the term comes from the word “floundering” because under extreme conditions the animal appears to be floundering around as it walks. From reviewing the literature, there appears to be three main reasons for long hoof growth in deer, but all are related to diet.

A deer that exhibits foundering is taking in way too many carbohydrates. Either this is a problem directly related to the forage that the animal is eating or it has to do with the way the deer is processing its food. More often than not, it has to do with what the deer is eating. A diet high in corn or protein pellets contributes to foundering. Corn, of course, is primarily carbohydrates. (more…)

So, you are looking for a good white-tailed buck. Who isn’t? I’m going first assume that you have a place to hunt and know the terrain of your hunting property. If not, this is critical information you need to know, so get out there! Of course, another one of your first objectives is to determine whether or not your hunting area holds any sizable bucks. And I use the term “sizable” as defined by you. To some, sizable may go hand-in-hand with the term “mature buck” while others may put a number to it, such as 140 Boone and Crockett points.  

Big bucks are territorial. You can find these areas by looking for both scrapes and rubs, but scrapes are really what you want to be looking for and I will explain why. Other than how they are made, do you know how scrapes and rubs differ? For one, it’s seldom that one particular buck rub will be worked again later in the year. In fact, a certain tree may be rubbed in consecutive years by a particular buck, but seldom is it ever worked again during that same year. This is not the case with buck scrapes because they will often be revisited and reworked throughout the breeding season. Keep in mind that I am not saying that all whitetail scrapes will be revisited, but the odds are more in your favor than against you. (more…)

Acorns. We know white-tailed deer like to eat them and that they serve as an important fall and winter food item for deer, but how good are they really? This question crossed my mind as I sat in my bow stand intently listening for deer walking quietly through the leaves, but all I heard over and over again was snap, thud, snap, thud, snap… acorns! Live oak acorns, the dominant oak in my neck of the woods, have been falling for a couple of weeks and they are still going strong. 

Acorns are rich in nutrients although quality varies between oak species. One thing I do know is that all acorns contain high amounts of fats, carbohydrates, and good amounts of protein, too. From what I have researched, one ounce of dried acorn has on average 140 calories, of which 9 grams is fat, 15 grams is carbohydrate, and 2 grams is protein. Using some simple math, that means a whopping 50% (72 calories) of the caloric intake is from fat! Now you now why deer pig out on them prior to the onset of winter. But the buck doesn’t stop there. (more…)

Earlier this week I touched on how game cameras and deer management go hand in hand. Not only do digital scouting cameras work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week taking photos of deer on your property, but they also give you a good idea of quality. What could be easier? Here we go.

Camera Placement - I’ve written extensively regarding tips for camera placement, so I won’t go into as much detail here. However, for the beginners out there, the easiest way to photos of white-tail deer is to have something that attracts them. Food, minerals, and water are obvious and good choices. However, although these sites are great for getting deer photos they may not necessarily be the best for collecting deer survey data using your camera. 

Rechargeable Batteries - This sounds simple, but you can save yourself some heartache and money if you pay attention here. Digital cameras (and make sure you are using digital) are great because they can work around the clock. The problem is that they are motion activated and that requires power.

Each time they are activated and take a photo, the camera uses battery power. This increases with photos taken in the dark. The more photos you take, the more battery power you will need. Invest in rechargeable and be done. (more…)

As long as I have been fascinated with deer and deer hunting I have wondered about those big nocturnal bucks that walked across the land where I hunted. That was even before I knew “nocturnal” was a word and what it meant . Today, we don’t have to worry as much about the big whitetail bucks that might be out there because game cameras help us do a much more thorough job of scouting. I said “as much,” because there always seems to be bucks that elude everything. 

Using a game camera can be fun and exciting, but looking back my first couple years of using a camera was not at all what I had hoped it would be. Sure, I saw some bucks. Some better than what I had seen during daylight hours, but nothing like the images that haunted my dreams.

The camera proved time and time again that the same spike, 8-point buck, 5 does, and 3 fawns visited the feeder everyday at about the same time. In addition, an occassional ”rogue” buck or two would be spotted overnight, but nothing to write home about. As it turns out, there really weren’t any magical bucks that sneaking through the habitat found on the property. The bucks I thought were there were not. (more…)

There are as many different kinds of food plot mixes on the market as there are days in a year, but a lot of people do not realize that the best food plots for white-tailed deer actually grow naturally! In my opinion, natural foods are the best food plots.

I guess by definition what I am writing about today can not really be considered food plots, but more like techniques to provide additional foods for deer. But I believe habitat management is the first step in deer management!

Disking- This is a simple technique that can be implemented (get it) during both the spring and fall. There is nothing magical about how disking works. The only thing necessary is that you use a disk to disturb the surface of the soil so that forb seeds can become “exposed” and germinate.

To promote warm season forbs for deer, disk the selected area before spring green-up. To promote cool season food plots simply disk the area where you would like your native food plot to be during late summer. In addition, to promote more edge and diversity you can alternate disked and undisked strips (strip disking). (more…)