Buck Manager | Buck Manager

Nice Buck from Redneck Using Only BBQ Sauce

We all like deer hunting and eating BBQ, right? Yes! So this video caught my attention right away and immediately brought a smile to my face.

Anytime I get to deer camp I make sure to barbecue some sort of protein over a fire — and, in my own way, produce an, arguably, edible art. However, the guy in the above video takes his BBQ meal to the next level!

Watch him enjoy his ribs, then create a nice buck out of merely BBQ sauce! Pull a similar feat off in camp and you will elevate your social and campfire status!

Two Albino Deer Caught on Camera

Anyone that has spent any amount of time chasing white-tailed deer has always wondered what deer are doing out there on a day to day basis. You’ve probably thought about this more than once after attempting to chase down a big buck you spotted earlier in the year. But what about white deer, particularly albinos?

Deer have a hard enough life as it is, but being a white deer in the woods would not be an advantage — except during the winter in snow-covered areas. As such, nature has virtually eliminated the color white from a white-tailed deer except for the underparts of the body. It’s just not an advantage to be totally white in the woods with coyotes, mountains lions, and hunters running around chasing after you! With that said, I’m always interested to see pictures of albino deer, but I’ve never seen a live one.

Usually, I end up with photos of albino deer. And here are a couple I received via email. I’m not sure where they were taken, but judging from the physical aspects of these animals (and the snow) these albino deer photos were taken somewhere in the northern US or Canada. This is all I have:

“Tim made the deer feeder with the ‘Browning’ logo. These twin albinos have been coming to our backyard since they were fawns in 2006. We have been trying to capture a digital pic of them for awhile, but they arrive at dusk or even later and they don’t turn out. On Friday about 10 am they arrived.”

More Albino Deer Photos:

Managing White-tailed Deer on Fragmented Land

In general, white-tailed deer generally live within a home range of approximately one square mile. However, this range can increase during the breeding season, especially for bucks. Unless your property is high-fenced, a deer’s daily movements within that home range throughout the year often results in movements into habitat found on more than one adjoining landowner.

As a result, it is important to understand that landowners share individual animals. For this reason, the potential for successful white-tailed deer harvest management diminishes as landownership size decreases. It makes sense that as the size of individual ranches continues to decrease throughout an area, effective and meaningful management can be a challenge.

Fragmentation of habitat often results when changing land uses occur on adjoining tracts of land that were once uniform rangelands or woodlands. The increasing cost of land and the desire for folks to have just a small “piece of heaven” only increases fragmentation issues. Continue reading “Managing White-tailed Deer on Fragmented Land”

Time to Think About Spring Food Plots for Deer

Warm season annuals such as milo, millets, other sorghum varieties, and legumes, such as beans, peas, and lablab may be planted and southern latitudes after about mid-April for warm season food plots for white-tailed deer. Of course, don’t forget the biggest limitation on food plots — rain! Go for drought resistant plants every chance you get. For the best chance at success, located the richest soil/s on your property, properly prepare them for planting and get your seeds in the ground just prior to the growing season.

There are numerous plant species and even varieties of plant species available commercially that can work for plots intended for whitetail. All of these plants will grow, but they may not all be well suited to your area or even the soils found on your specific property. A good rule for food plots is to just keep in simple. Deer eat a tremendous number of plants, so just plant the one that is best adapted to your area. If you plant it (and it grows), they will come.

Dry Land Alfalfa

With that in mind, varieties of dry land alfalfa, a warm season perennial legume that comes back from the roots each year, or another grazing-type variety of alfalfa can be planted in food plots. An important thing to keep in mind, legumes have 20-30% protein content and fix nitrogen into the soil! That’s a double whammy considering the price of fertilizer. Continue reading “Time to Think About Spring Food Plots for Deer”

Shed Antlers Rustled Up in Texas

Just as I mention that the shed hunting season is in full-swing down in Texas, one of my friends sends me some photos from their ranch in Coryell County. And yes, apparently there are shed antlers are on the ground — and they found some really nice ones, too!

Here is a quote from the “serious” shed hunter from March 12:

We started our shed hunting today. We found these from the truck, no “serious” hunting yet. The antlers that Patsy is holding to her head are from a buck we’ve seen on camera. I gave him a modest 14″ spread and he scored 148 1/8″.

More Shed Photos from the Four A Ranch: