Every year hunting magazines run stories about which states have become the latest trophy-­whitetail hotspots. There’s a problem with all of these stories: They only look at the total number of trophy bucks killed.

The trouble with this is that states with higher deer populations and more hunters have an unfair advantage. Take Wisconsin, which has 1.5 million deer and about 14 hunters per square mile. In comparison, Kentucky has 900,000 whitetails and seven hunters per square mile. Given that about half of all fawns born are bucks, Wisconsin has about 750,000 bucks and Kentucky has about 450,000. You don’t have to be a math whiz to realize that having more bucks and more deer hunters increases your odds of having more trophy deer harvested.

Researchers in whitetail country have begun looking at the impact of coyotes and other predators on whitetail deer and the results are pretty grim. Coyotes are gobbling up fawns at an alarming rate and so are black bears.

In one such study, researchers in South Carolina captured and monitored 60 newborn fawns. Coyotes killed over 50% before fall. Fawns are particularly vulnerable immediately after birth as 66% of the kills occurred within the first 3 weeks of life.

A study in Georgia amazingly found that it took 78 does to recruit 2 fawns in a predator rich area! Once the predators were removed, it took only 3 does to recruit 2 fawns into the fall herd. Research in Pennsylvania found that in certain mature forest, areas bears are as effective as coyotes as fawn predators.

In case you haven’t noticed, newborn fawns are beginning to show up in the woods. Turkey hunters are beginning to report them and before long the woods and fields will be covered with them.

We anxiously await the fawn drop each year, it reminds us of the cycle of nature, lifts our spirits, and allows us to look in the rear view mirror and take another look at last year’s rut. Anytime we come across a newborn fawn we head to the calendar and start counting backward. Last year our rut report called for most of the breeding to occur sometime around Nov. 15, and sure enough, they are appearing on schedule.

Its time for planting food plots and one of the most common questions I hear is: “Can I use my left over seed from last year?”

It seems like just about every foodplotter out there has a half bag or so of last year’s seed and is wondering if he can plant it. Nobody wants to plant “dead” seed; you waste hours of valuable time and can get a poor stand or no stand at all. On the other hand, just because it’s old doesn’t mean it won’t grow. Some seeds will germinate and grow for up to 5 years after the date they came from the field. And, at the price of quality food plot seed, it’s worth a second look.

It depends upon what kind of seed it is, how it was cared for, and how it was stored. Seed  should be kept cool, dry, and clean and protected from pests and insects in some sort of protective container.