Outdoor Life - Whitetail Deer RSS

Connecticut Moves to Repeal Sunday Hunting Ban … Sort of

Alex Robinson — Fri, 24 May 2013 12:47:59 -0400

The Connecticut State House of Representatives voted Thursday, 107-19, to repeal a ban on hunting on Sunday in an effort to combat the state’s overpopulated deer herd.

The bill stipulates that hunting on Sundays would be allowed with a bow and arrow on private land only and may not take place near a hiking trail. Hunters must also adhere to guidelines laid out by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

State Representative Craig Miner, a state licensed bow hunter, said he believes the bill will pass because it doesn’t include a provision for hunting with firearms and it deals only with private land. Miner also believes that passing this legislation could improve the number of out-of-state hunters the Nutmeg State receives each year.

After passing the House on May 23, the bill heads for the Senate, which has until June 3 to take further action.

Is allowing archery-only hunting on private land really going to put a dent into the state's deer population? If the state was serious about decreasing deer numbers why not open all deer hunting on Sundays?

Comment below!

Whitetail Facts: 16 Things to Know About Fawns

Alex Robinson — Fri, 24 May 2013 09:59:52 -0400

Within the next two weeks 75 to 80 percent of this year’s fawns will be on the ground. Here are a few fawn facts to lay on your hunting buddies:

- Does drop their fawns approximately 200 days after conception

- Fawns average 6-8 lbs. at birth

- Does bred as fawns (last year’s) typically have a single fawn

- Does bred as 1.5 year old and older typically have twins and occasionally triplets

- Newborn fawns typically can stand and nurse within 30 minutes

- Fawns are capable of walking within a few hours

- Does generally move their fawns away from the birthing site within 3 hours

- Does with twins typically stash them in thick cover in separate locations

- Does usually remain within 100 yards of their fawns

- Fawns spend 90 percent of their time bedded for the first weeks of their lives

- Newborn fawns typically nurse 2 to 3 times daily; increasing to 6 to 8 times over time

- Nursing times average 20 to 30 minutes

- A 3-week-old fawn can outrun most danger

- Twins are usually reunited and bed close to each other by 3-4 weeks of age

- Fawns begin eating vegetation at 2-3 weeks of age

- The average number of spots on a fawn is 300

CC image from Flickr

Two Food Plot Tools You Can’t Live Without

Alex Robinson — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:37:47 -0400

It took me a couple of years of doing it the hard way, but once I started treating my food plots with chemical herbicides I couldn’t live without them. They keep your plots growing strong and can double (or even triple) the life of a perennial food plot like clover or a clover chicory mix. They are best applied when things green up and are growing strong which in most parts of deer country is now.

Basically, 90 percent of food plotters can get by with two herbicide products: Roundup (Monsanto) and Poast (SASF). Roundup is a non-specific herbicide that will kill any plant it comes in contact with while Poast is a grass-specific herbicide which kills only grasses (most grasses). They are both spray-on products and can be applied with anything from a hand held sprayer to a 500-gallon, tractor-mounted sprayer.

Food plotters use Roundup when they want to kill everything growing in a given area. It could be a two-acre weed patch or a perennial food plot that is growing more weed species than clover. Food plotters wage an eternal war against weeds and invasive grasses that seem to always prevail. You have no choice then but go back to square one and start clean.

Its active ingredient glyphosate will typically turn green-growing plants brown in a week to 10 days. The dead matter gradually decomposes leaving plenty of room for a seedbed to be prepared and a new seeding to be started. Theoretically, the new seeds will take over the space and a nice weed-free foodplot will be off and running.

Poast is a grass-specific herbicide. Poast is engineered to kill only grasses. Invasive grasses are a constant issue for food plotters. Mother Nature has designed them to invade a space occupied by less rigorous plants like the stuff we plant in food plots and little by little invasive grasses will turn an acre of clover into a patch grass and weeds.

A once (perhaps twice) per year spraying of Poast will keep most grasses at bay. The active ingredient in Poast is sethoxydim, which gradually weakens any grass species it contacts. Unlike Roundup which creates a large scale dye off, Poast is more subtle. As grasses gradually weaken and die they are replaced by more desirable plants. You’ll notice the change in a few weeks and in a month you’ll wonder what happened to all the grass that was threatening to take over your plot.

There’ve been volumes written on herbicides but as far as food plots go, you can get most anything done with these two (and some selective mowing). They will save you tons of money and the deer will thank you for it. Both are brand names that cost plenty. Using less costly products with the same active ingredients (thus the above mentions) is perfectly acceptable and a great way to save money. Do some homework on the internet and take it from there.

Best Deer Hunting State: Kentucky Takes Top Spot in New Whitetail Scale

Alex Robinson — Tue, 21 May 2013 12:32:17 -0400

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.

What’s needed is a real-world barometer of trophy-deer trends, and that’s what Outdoor Life is doing with our Whitetail Scale. It’s a metric that evens out some of the huge discrepancies between various states and considers trophy deer on an apples-to-apples basis.

Instead of looking at total number of deer, our scale considers the proportion of each state’s bucks that make the Boone and Crockett record book. Because looking at just one year of data can be misleading, we also crunched harvest data from the last three years, allowing us to spot trends.

And we look beyond the antlers. When deciding where to go to pursue the trophy of a lifetime, hunters consider other factors, like hunter density, the cost of a nonresident outfitted hunt, and even how accommodating each state’s deer regulations are.

Factoring in these measures gives us a comprehensive and repeatable method for determining the top trophy states.

1. MEASUREMENT:  Trophy Production

We started with harvest data from the 20 states with the highest number of Boone and Crockett bucks in the past three years. Each state received a score based on the percentage of harvested bucks that qualified for B&C registry. Then, because trophy production is obviously the biggest consideration for big-buck hunters, we weighted the scale to give a maximum of two points—twice as many as other categories—to states that consistently produce the most trophy whitetails. We gave the top states two points, the bottom states half a point, and the rest a single point. The way this metric works, to use the case of top-scoring Indiana as an example, is to take the total buck harvest (156,602 from 2009–2011) and divide it by the number of bucks (131) entered in the Boone and Crockett records for that same time frame.

States with top B&C entries as apercentage of total buck harvest
Indiana.................. 0 .084%
Kentucky.............. 0.082%
Kansas.................. 0.078%
Iowa....................... 0.078%
Illinois................... 0.065%

2. MEASUREMENT:  Hunter Density

This metric calculates competition for a trophy buck. We divided the total number of firearms hunters in each state by the total land area in square miles. Hunter densities ranged from less than one hunter per square mile (North Dakota) to more than 11 (Ohio and Wisconsin).

Five states received one point for fewer than 3 hunters per square mile, seven got .5 points for 3.1 to 5.5 hunters, two got .25 points for 5.6 to 10, and three got 0 points for more than 10 hunters per square mile.

Firearms Hunter Density
North Dakota..............0.8/sq. mi.
Nebraska.......................1.0/sq. mi.
South Dakota...............1.1/sq. mi.
Kansas............................1.4/sq. mi.
Iowa.................................2.6/sq. mi.

A 176 2/8-inch Kentucky typical killed by Brian Caubarreaux.

3. MEASUREMENT:  Cost of Outfitted Hunts

Research shows that if you’re a nonresident hunter, hiring an outfitter gives the best shot at bagging a trophy whitetail. Because outfitters’ rates and offerings vary, as do the cost of nonresident hunting licenses, this evaluation was difficult to assess evenly. But it’s more consistent than the other metric that we considered: the amount of huntable public land in each state.

For each state, we averaged the fee of three outfitters that offer a fair-chase, five-day, fully guided hunt (including lodging and meals) during the rut, and also factored in nonresident license fees.

Not surprisingly, outfitters and game agencies in states with reputations for producing trophy deer charge more than those in states that don’t share that big-buck glow. At an average cost of $4,201, hunters will fork over the most money to hunt deer in Illinois, followed by Texas ($4,065), Kansas ($3,830), Nebraska ($3,800), and Iowa ($3,633). Kentucky ($2,590), Ohio ($2,783), and Indiana ($2,747) give hunters a good shot at a record buck for a lower price.

Cost of Outfitted Hunts
Under $2,600 = 1 point
$2,601–$3,500 = .5
$3,501 and over = 0

4. MEASUREMENT:  Hunter Friendliness

Some states’ nonsensical restrictions will leave hunters scratching their heads. We gave South Dakota zero points for prohibiting the use of electronic bow-mounted devices of any kind, including illuminated sight pins. Illinois lost half a point for requiring shotguns capable of firing no more than three slugs. Most other states received a single point.

The Winner:  The Bluegrass State
After tallying scores, we found that Kentucky is the clear winner. The western part of the state, in particular, is producing a ton of trophy deer, and many big bucks survive the early rut. “Hunt late in the season,” says Carl Doron, owner of Snipe Creek Lodge. “There’s nobody here.”

Here’s our ranking of the top 10 whitetail states.
1. Kentucky............................4.5 points
2. Kansas...............................4.0 points
3. Indiana...............................4.0 points
4. Iowa....................................4.0 points
5. Minnesota.........................3.5 points
6. Illinois.................................3.0 points
7. Mississippi........................3.0 points
8. Nebraska...........................3.0 points
9. Ohio.....................................3.0 points
10. Oklahoma........................3.0 points

Weston, Massachusetts Becomes Unlikely Battleground for Public Hunting Access

Alex Robinson — Tue, 21 May 2013 09:21:01 -0400

Residents of Weston, MA have no trouble understanding that their homes were built in an area that supports a sizeable population of whitetails.

Understanding that the deer population has just one predator willing to control it, however, is proving to be wicked haahd.

Just a year ago, the Weston Conservation Commission passed a law allowing bowhunting for whitetails on Town-owned land. Weston, which is located just outside of Boston and touts its “quiet, country-like setting” on its website, has an issue not unlike those facing thousands of other communities where homes are landscaped with deer food and built so that there are small pockets of undeveloped land between homes, thus creating ideal deer habitat. The area has way too many deer.

Regional surveys by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife indicated deer numbers in the area at about 20-30 whitetail per square mile. That’s a tad north of the 10 deer per square mile that the habitat can adequately sustain. Massachusetts isn’t a warm-weather state but it isn’t Maine either. There are few coyotes, no wolves. The only predator of whitetails in the area are those who wear camo and hunt from treestands.

Thus the town of Weston did what it should have done: It opened town-owned lands to bowhunting in an effort to ensure the publicly-owned lands are protected for future generations.

Those wishing to hunt the town lands must pass a proficiency exam and are carefully screened by the Conservation Commission. In 2012, 26 bowhunters tagged 18 deer.

As one might expect, some of the Weston residents aren’t in favor of seeing the wildlife they’ve displaced with their mega-mansions killed and are pushing Weston officials to end the hunt. Their argument? That nearby towns don’t allow hunting on their public lands and that other measures of controlling the deer population should be pursued.

Why should you care whether a town outside of Boston continues a hunt that just 26 hunters participated in? For the very same reason that the anti-hunters are touting as a reason to end the hunt: Because the towns surrounding Weston don’t allow bowhunting.

With so much attention placed on access to tracts in places known for hunting -- places far more “wild” than Weston -- the fact remains that the majority of Americans live in an urban or suburban setting. Opportunities to hunt close to home are far more likely to ensure that future generations continue to hunt.

The Weston hunt must remain in place because it has the very best chance to reduce deer numbers in the area. Bowhunting is a safe, effective method of population control and that will play out as time passes. Neighboring cities will take notice and, hopefully, open their public lands to bowhunters.

Town by town, hunting opportunities can expand and will do so in one of the most critical places of all: The places that most of us live.

Public Land Deer Hunting: How to Save America's Whitetail Woods

Alex Robinson — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:41:07 -0400

An hour before a November dawn, I’m at a dirt pull-off in New York’s Catskill Mountains. Around me are more than 280,000 acres of public forest. These are big woods, and getting bigger. By legislative decree, the oak, maples, and ash here can never be cut. They’ve been growing for a century now. Some hunters whose legs have become too old to climb these steep forested hills tell me there were once a lot of deer here. There were grouse and rabbits, too. And hunters came from a hundred miles away to chase them. These days, both the game and the hunters are mostly gone.

As I shoulder my rifle, a pickup stops. A man, his face dimly lit by dashboard lights, says, “Have you seen a deer yet?” “No.” “Why do we keep coming back?”

“Hope,” I say.

The Decline and Fall of Public-Land Deer Hunting
Dawn finds me up high, where I can see the gray forest rolling unbroken for miles. The few deer that still live here feed low and climb to bed in mountain laurel thickets near the top. A lot of foresters and wildlife biologists have helped me see the problem that’s as obvious as the stout-trunked trees right in front of me. The trouble is the forest itself, and how we live within it. For a long time now we’ve let the environmental story be told by people who don’t know what deer taste like, by people who act as if we hunters don’t belong here. Because of this, even though sportsmen fund most wildlife conservation in America, we’re too often losing control of our public lands.

The dilemma has become so common that in many regions, hunters are ending up with two totally different experiences: Those who own or lease private land can have pretty good deer hunting; meanwhile, those who go to nearby public lands where wildlife populations have declined with the aging of the habitat often don’t have the same quality of hunting.

Understanding and fixing this problem takes reevaluating our public forests and our role in them. It takes correcting some very wrong popular views. And it then means giving our state and federal land agencies a lesson in public input.

Loss of Cover, and Hunters
Grant Woods, a renowned deer biologist who creates dream properties for deer hunters, is worked up. He says many public lands are becoming inhospitable to wildlife.

“The unnatural idea that public lands shouldn’t be managed by man is creating deserts for many species of wildlife,” says Woods. “Right now preservationists are stopping logging and prescribed burns to create a static utopia. They imagine forests without man. They think anything we humans do is damaging by definition. Their wrongheaded ideas are harming wildlife and plant species.”

In the heyday of public hunting in the U.S.—the middle years of the last century—hunters had a strong voice in forest management. But as habitat has matured, leaving less food and cover for game species, hunters have stopped coming to and advocating for public lands.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, just 36 percent of hunters in the U.S. now hunt public lands. When you consider only whitetail hunters, Brian Murphy, CEO of the Quality Deer Management Association, says it’s only about 15 percent that hunt public lands, and the percentage is even smaller east of the Mississippi, where state forests and wildlife management areas have become uniformly mature.

The public lands Grant Woods hunted while in college in Georgia and South Carolina had plenty of deer and turkeys. “But as forests have aged and become unmanaged, I’ve seen deer and turkey populations decrease significantly. I’ve seen hunters and their dollars stop coming, too.”

He mentions New York’s Adirondack Park, 6.1 million acres on which logging and other management is banned forever. I’ve hunted there, so I say that seeing deer tracks in those woods is exciting. He laughs and agrees. “There were more deer there in 1960 than there are today, as the forest was at that time growing back and providing a lot of browse for deer.”

A Place for Wilderness
Most of the experts I consulted note that wilderness areas—where roads, logging, and other management activities are prohibited—are important for wildlife security and for many types of outdoor recreation. But they argue that uncut forests should be only one component of a diverse ecosystem. These sources, mainly wildlife biologists, note that remedies vary locally. In one area, mosaic logging may be an option. In another, prescribed burning might be a better way to create diverse wildlife habitat.

Woods points to the loss of logging in Vermont’s Green Mountains and throughout much of New England. He explains that public forests are becoming monocultures of aging trees across Pennsylvania, throughout Appalachia, and in the Upper Midwest, where state and federal lands are likely to be left idle rather than actively managed.

“The problems vary,” Woods says, “but the core reason for the loss of wildlife is the same. We’re often not managing for healthy ecosystems.”

There are a few bright spots. Some Southern states do a good job of leasing timber company lands for public-land hunting, and those lands feature timber stands of varying ages. In Missouri, where wildlife conservation is funded in part by a percentage of sales-tax revenue, habitat improvement projects on both public and private land are ongoing. New Jersey’s Division of Fish and Wildlife is working with the Ruffed Grouse Society to improve habitat for wildlife and benefit hunters on smaller wildlife management areas.

Most agencies, however, have a hard time finding the funding and authority to make sure there is enough early successional habitat (what hunters often refer to as “cover”). Examples of this include overgrown pastures, thickets, and saplings. If these habitats are not mowed, burned, cut, or disturbed in some fashion, they eventually become forest. If a forest is never thinned, flooded, impacted by insects, or burned, it grows into a mature canopy that prevents sunlight from reaching the forest floor. When this happens a lot of wildlife and plant species disappear.

This is the dynamic that’s turned so much of our state and federal lands into relative biological wastelands. According to the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, in the 1940s its wildlife management areas were, on average, 80 percent early successional habitat and 20 percent forest. Today, more than 90 percent of the Massachusetts’ WMAs are forested. Many of the public lands in the East and parts of the Midwest and South have undergone this same metamorphosis.

Many game managers are aware of this problem. For example, Dr. James Kroll was recently hired by Wisconsin to develop a deer-management strategy. In the plan, he wrote: “Habitat is a key element in deer management, often having more impact than harvest or predation. Yet, this is the element most often neglected by deer managers and land-owners.”

As habitat ages and game populations plummet, hunters give up. Vermont, for example, has seen hunting participation—and license-generated revenues—fall to historic lows partly because of aging habitat.

Instead of actively managing its public forests, Vermont recommends that property owners manage for wildlife, and the state’s wildlife agency connects landowners with federal agencies that provide funding assistance for habitat improvement. So while private landowners benefit, the folks who can’t afford to buy or lease their own land are stuck hunting areas that have fewer and fewer critters.

QDMA’s Brian Murphy, who is a certified wildlife biologist, grumbles when I ask him about this issue. “I find this frustrating because the science showing how to manage ecosystems for the good of native plants and wildlife is now so advanced, yet so many areas just can’t make it happen. Quality deer management helps the entire ecosystem, even non-game species, yet many environmentalists are opposed to humans hunting or improving habitat.

“Here at QDMA, we offer technical assistance to anyone who wants to improve their deer herds and habitats, whether on public or private lands,” says Murphy, “but not enough of what we’ve learned and taught is utilized on public lands. As a result, though hunters are the ones paying most of the bills for management of our public lands, they’re often funding a diminishing return. That’s unfortunate, because without the public-land hunter, hunting will fade away as an American pastime for the average Joe. I think that’s exactly what the preservationists have in mind when they resist thinning trees, controlled burns, and so on.”

Though the quality of a deer hunt can’t be measured by the antler sizes of bucks alone, it’s a useful indicator. Over the past decade, the Boone and Crockett Club has been asking those who submit trophies to note if the animal was killed on public or private land. Since asking this question, the club has found that 90 percent of whitetails submitted were killed on private property.

Blind to the Problem
Wildlife managers are trying to solve this problem, however they often become too focused on managing one occupant of the landscape—the deer—and not the entire ecosystem. They then come up with solutions to control deer herds, but neglect the fact that the entire forest is in need of management.

In some cases, wildlife managers direct deer management efforts—increasing the harvest of antlerless deer and hiring sharpshooters to remove overpopulations of whitetails are two popular options—to public land, simply because it’s politically more expedient than working with multiple—and potentially resistant—private landowners to address overpopulations of whitetails.

Another part of the problem stems from old-school thinking. Foresters have historically been taught to grow trees, not cut them. A century ago, America’s forests were in tough shape. A 1907 national census of forestlands conducted by the USDA found that 40 to 70 percent of the forest in the Midwest and East were gone.

Things began to change in the 20th century, as conservationists pointed out that the forests needed to be saved. Between 1910 and 1959, an estimated 43.8 million acres of farmland reverted to forest. Through the 1960s and 1970s, more than one million acres of open lands were returned to forest every year, according to Jim Sterba’s 2012 book, Nature Wars. Hunters in the East know this, as they’re used to hunting in woods crisscrossed with crumbling stone walls—walls that were once the borders of fields.

Wildlife and hunters benefited from these growing forests into the late 20th century, but now many of the forests are maturing. The result has been a crash in the carrying capacity of the lands and decreasing diversity of the flora and fauna.

Starting a Discussion
The solution to winning back public lands that aren’t properly managed is first to understand the problem. Next, sportsmen have to lobby state and federal land agencies to use smart logging and other practices to help native wildlife and plant species. We also have to do all we can to get the word out to the general public that managed forests are healthy forests. Many state and federal land managers want to do more, but well-funded “environmental watchdog” groups often tie up proposed timber cuts with litigation and/or endless challenges to rules and procedures.

That November morning in the Catskills, a young buck came by me with his nose to the ground, looking for a doe in estrus. The buck was there and then faded away into the sea of trees. I watched that deer and saw hope. The area has a point restriction, an idea that has swept through many state game departments mostly in the last decade. If this once-unthinkable change could happen so swiftly, then maybe we can change the popular view of what constitutes a healthy forest, too. Maybe then the public-land hunter—the average guy or gal who can’t afford to buy their own property—will come back with the game.

Land-Management Success Stories
The condition of America’s aging forests can seem unsolvable. How on earth can we return our public lands to the sort of wildlife havens that we see on neighboring private land? Luckily, we have some examples to guide us.

• Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area is located in Kentucky and Tennessee between Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake. The 170,000-acre area is primarily devoted to “enhancing wildlife habitat,” and is actively managed with prescribed burning and selective logging.

• The Pennsylvania Game Commission manages State Game Land 223 in the southwestern region of the state for wildlife diversity. The 7,200 acres feature overgrown farm fields and old apple orchards.
• Chaparral WMA in south Texas is managed from “an ecosystem management approach,” meaning the Texas Game Commission works to maintain a diversity of plants and wildlife.

• In Oklahoma, the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant has huge bucks and diverse, actively managed habitat. To hunt here, you must draw a tag and use traditional archery equipment (mcaapcontrolledhunts.com).

• The B.F. Grant WMA is owned by the University of Georgia, which leases it to the state for wildlife management and public hunting. The WMA has about 14,000 acres and is known as being well-managed habitat that produces some good bucks.

A Wisconsin Deer Hunter's Decision
Tom Grall has been hunting public lands in northern Wisconsin for 27 years. A dozen years ago, he finally saved enough to buy 40 acres in central Wisconsin. He hunts both areas with his family.

“Over the decades, I’ve seen the deer population on the public lands I hunt drop,” says Grall. “Last season, I didn’t even see a deer during a week spent on public land in northern Wisconsin.”

He attributes the change to several factors. He says wolves have eaten a lot of deer, and that logging companies mostly replant with pines, which provide cover but not food. He also says the state’s now-repealed “earn-a-buck” rule caused too many does to be killed on public lands. Nevertheless, he loves hunting in the big woods and managing his back 40. He plans to keep doing both.

Forests cover 16.8 million acres (48 percent) of Wisconsin and support the largest forest-products industry in the U.S., with an annual value of $17 billion. But about 75 percent of the deer harvested in the state come from private lands.

Dr. James Kroll, Wisconsin’s “deer czar,” notes that federal forest policy has a dramatic impact on the Badger State’s deer herd. “Until there are policy changes, the solution to developing sustainable forests and deer habitat in this region will have to involve active management of privately and publicly owned (state, county, etc.) lands interspersed with or adjacent to the National Forests.”

Video: Whitetail Deer Jumps Through Bus Window

Alex Robinson — Thu, 16 May 2013 09:30:21 -0400

This video is about go viral, so you might as well see it here first. The YouTube clip was reportedly shot in Pennsylvania, but there's not much more information about it.

Luckily there were no passengers on the bus to be harmed by the wildly flailing deer. I have just one question after watching this video: Why didn't the bus driver open the door sooner?

Why We Lose Hunting Access

Alex Robinson — Tue, 14 May 2013 13:29:51 -0400

In just the last four years, Cory Peterson’s outfitting business has doubled in size to nearly 60,000 acres of deer- and turkey-rich ground in Nebraska’s Sand Hills. But Peterson, who also farms corn and raises beef cattle in the area, didn’t pursue many of his leases. Instead, neighbors came to him, offering to lease their land for annual payments that range between $1 and $3 per acre.

The main reason Peterson’s Hidden Valley Outfitting has grown? His neighbors find it increasingly difficult to allow free public hunting.

“Most traditional farmers understand the idea that hunting is something that should be free,” says Peterson. “But these guys have had gates left open by hunters, cattle shot by hunters, and water tanks shot by hunters. After a while, they just run out of patience.”

In Peterson, they find a neighbor who is familiar with their property, knows how to behave around their livestock, and has the ability to compensate them for the use of their land. Plus, he sometimes hires their sons as guides.

“We don’t pay a ton of money, but it’s enough to help cover farmers’ property taxes, and they don’t have to put up with the headaches that come with letting everybody hunt,” says Peterson. “It’s not that these guys want to lease. It’s just easier than the alternative.”

Why We Lose Access
Ask two landowners why they lease their land to outfitters or paying hunters, and you’ll get a dozen answers. This is an admittedly subjective list, but it covers many of the reasons that sportsmen lose access. Some are legitimate concerns, others are excuses that landowners give to explain why the public is no longer welcome on their property.

1. Legal Beagles
Many landowners believe they have legal responsibility if a hunter is injured on their property. The details differ from state to state, but generally a landowner is not liable if the hunter was a non-paying invitee, and the injury didn’t result from negligence.

2. Fear of Fire
Landowners are rightly terrified of wildfires, which can destroy crops, buildings, timber, and rangeland. Hunters can reduce the chance of starting a fire by parking vehicles on bare, unvegetated areas. And by not smoking. Period.

3. Gate Gripes
The most common complaint of farmers is that hunters leave their gates open, or close gates that should be left open. Hunters need to understand the common law of farm country: Leave gates the way you found them.

4. Off-Road Rage
In much of the West, if a hunter shows up at a ranch house with an ATV in tow, permission to hunt becomes iffy. Ranchers want hunters to stick to roads, and walking hunters generally get preference over motorized hunters.

5. Wake-Up Calls
Too often, hunters don’t make arrangements to hunt private land until the last minute. Landowners who post their property often cite as one reason those 5 a.m. calls from strangers seeking permission. Secure permission weeks before you hunt, and never assume that because you got permission last year, you have it this year.

6. Thankless Hunters
You don’t have to give a farmer a wad of cash or a bottle of whiskey to say thanks for letting you hunt, but you should make some gesture. A card, a holiday ham, or an offer to help with fencing or farmwork goes a long way toward softening resistance to a follow-up hunting trip.

Deer Management: Are Predators Eating Your Fawns?

Alex Robinson — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:20:57 -0400

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.

Much of the coyote research has looked at fawn survival rates (recruitment rates) before and after eliminating predators from a given area. In one Alabama study where deer numbers were reported to be declining professional trappers removed the predators (mostly coyotes with some bobcats). Fawn survival rates (surviving until fall or recruited into the adult herd at 6 months old) increased dramatically (over 200%) the following year!

Unfortunately research also indicates that predator eradication is only temporary. In areas where coyotes were “trapped out”, they became well established again after 12-18 months.

Most experts agree that good fawning habitat and a short fall breeding period is the best protection against fawn predation. Dense fawning cover (weed fields, dense brush, native grasses) makes predation more difficult as dense cover interferes with scenting conditions and efficient hunting by predators. A short breeding season concentrates fawn drop, which tends to overwhelm predators with targets. They can only eat so many fawns in a week. This allows more fawns to make it through the first few vulnerable weeks of life.

Fawn drop will gradually intensify and peak somewhere around June 1. If you have created plenty of good fawning cover and your deer herd is managed effectively (compact rut) plenty of fawns will make it to fall and the herd will be sustained. If, however only a few make it, deer numbers will start to decline and your whitetail hunting will show it.

For more information on creating whitetail habitat visit: www.northcountrywhitetails.com

Battle of the Bucks: Final 4

Alex Robinson — Thu, 09 May 2013 11:54:12 -0400

Each year, we round up photos of the country's biggest bucks and most thrilling hunting stories for the Outdoor Life Deer of the Year contest. Now, we're calling on you to help us pick America's best buck. We started off with 24 finalists, and we're now down to eight. The overall winner will be awarded a Cabela's gift card and a Weaver range finder in addition to eternal bragging rights. Select your favorite buck from each match-up and then hit the submit button at the bottom to enter your votes.

Today's Matchups...

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Here's a quick look at the standings:
Last week's winners from the Elite 8
Slash (19%) vs. 3-Beams Buck (80%)
Lone Star Monster (19%) vs. Swamp King (80%)
Pigtails Buck (96%) vs. Walk Out Buck (3%)
AZ 193 (80%) vs. Washinton Whitetail (19%)

Five Biggest Bucks: Whitetails That Score Over 300 Inches

Alex Robinson — Wed, 08 May 2013 10:07:38 -0400

Timothy Beck took this outrageous buck last fall in Indiana. The deer was officially accepted by the Boone & Crockett Club earlier this year with a net score of 305 7/8 inches. It's the fourth largest nontypical in history and one of only five bucks to break the 300-inch mark. "This is one of those deer that come along so rarely, it makes you pause and marvel at the wonders of nature and modern conservation," Richard Hale, chairman of the B&C's records committee, said in a press release.

To celebrate this incredible whitetail, B&C rounded up the only 5 whitetail bucks that boast more than 300 inches of antler.

5) Score: 304-3/8

This buck was taken by Jerry D. Bryant in Fulton Co., Illinois in 2001. Bryant shot this buck at 15 yards with a crossbow. Interestingly, he kept the news of his 36-pointer quiet at first. Bryant was going through a divorce and didn't want to split his trophy in half. After the divorce was closed, Bryant took his incredible buck to be scored.

4) Score: 305-7/8

The biggest buck taken in recent history was killed by Timothy J. Beck in Huntington Co., Indiana on November 17 last year. It's the second highest scoring whitetail ever taken by a hunter.

3) Score: 307-5/8

This buck was taken by 15-year-old Tony W. Lovstuen in Monroe Co., Iowa in 2003. Tony's dad shot at the buck and grazed it in a previous season. But months later, trail camera photos proved that the buck was still alive and well. Tony eventually shot the 38-pointer at 70 yards from a ground blind during a special youth hunt.

2) Score: 328-2/8

This deer wasn't killed by a hunter. It was picked up in Portage Co., Ohio in 1940. The deer was allegedly killed by a train and the rack was later acquired by an avid antler collector and outdoor writer named Dick Idol.

1) Score: 333-7/8

The grandaddy of all whitetails was picked up in St. Louis Co., Missouri in 1981. It's unknown how this deer was killed (it was found by a hunter and reported to the state DNR). The buck had no bullet holes in it and no visible wounds. It was aged at five years old. To this day, the monster rack is owned by the state of Missouri.

See the Biggest 40 Whitetails of All Time here.

Deer Hunting: What Fawn-Drop Dates Can Teach You About the Rut

Alex Robinson — Mon, 06 May 2013 15:45:04 -0400

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.

The gestation period for a fawn is roughly 200 days (give or take 10 days either way). A doe that is bred and conceives on Nov. 15th will drop her fawn(s) on the last day of May. A fawn dropped May 16 was more than likely conceived on or about Nov. 1. Breeding may have peaked around Nov. 15, but a good bit of breeding (see distribution graph) occurs before and after the peak.

As deer hunter/managers, what interests us most is fawn outliers; fawns that hit the ground in early April or as late as August. These fawns are at a marked disadvantage as far as survival goes at least in the northern most latitudes. Early drops (and their mothers) are subject to severe weather conditions and late drops enter winter as sub-adults with insufficient body mass to survive a hard winter.

Poor management can lead to late-season births. High doe-to-buck ratios (5 does or more per buck), overpopulation, and a lack of mature experienced breeding bucks in the herd can result in a prolonged rut stretching over many months

Happily, Mother Nature has had thousands of years to decide when fawns are best brought into the world and does a good job of delivering the goods. Last year, 95% of the country had a biological rut which peaked somewhere around Nov. 15th. In most parts of whitetail country, a fawn born June 1 enters an almost perfect world as far as survival goes.

Battle of the Bucks Contest: The Elite 8

Alex Robinson — Thu, 02 May 2013 15:36:39 -0400

Today's Matchups:

Here's a quick look at the standings:
Last week's winners from the Northeast and West region
Pigtails (97%) vs. State Land Monster (2%)
First Bow Buck (3%) vs. Walk-Out Buck (96%)
300-Pound Muley (33%) vs. AZ 193 (66%)
Public Land Bruiser (29%) vs. Washinton Whitetail (70%)

Food Plots: How to Tell if Your Left Over Seed is Still Good

Alex Robinson — Thu, 02 May 2013 11:35:03 -0400

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.

Food plot seeds can be broken into 2 categories: hard seeds like clover chicory and brassicas and “soft” seeds like oats, wheat, and other grass and grain species. Hard seeds are hard to the touch and generally store quite well. Soft seeds are softer to the touch and typically do not have a hard coating to protect them. They don’t store particularly well even under ideal conditions.

The best way to find out if the seed is still good is by testing germination. Testing seed is simple and you will know if you have good seed in a few days. Spread the seed in question on a moist paper towel, sponge or an inch of soil. Use about a half dozen seeds (depending on size) per square inch.

Moisten and cover the seeds with another paper towel or a little soil. Cover with a baggie or saran wrap to help keep the medium moist. Be sure to establish and maintain contact between the seed and the testing medium you have placed the seeds on. Keep the whole thing moist, warm to the touch, and provide plenty of light. Basically, you are trying to simulate growing conditions and most seeds won’t germinate in soils below 60 degrees.

In a day or two most of the viable seeds will swell, crack open and start sending out roots and shoots. That’s the germination you are looking for. If nothing happens for a week, the seed you are testing is probably dead (unless you have allowed the seeds to dry out, or drown, and die). Feed them to the birds or make jewelry out of them.

Most experts look for a germination test level of at least 80% before using seed in a stand. Less than that will generally result in a poor stand that invites weed competition or failure. You can double upon seeding rate but you are still gambling.

As this piece is being written a dozen or so plastic containers are sitting on the window sill to my right. I placed a few dozen seeds in each one and am happy to report everything (corn, clover, brassicas, etc.) is sprouting except the soybeans and oats. I’ll give these slow pokes a few days to come swell and grow but if nothing happened there will be a couple of hundred pounds of bird feed over in our seed locker.

For more information on planting food plots and seed visit www.northcountrywhitetails.com.

Wisconsin Indian Tribe Authorizes Deer Hunting at Night

Alex Robinson — Wed, 01 May 2013 14:44:29 -0400

In late November, the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, which oversees the Chippewa tribes' treaty rights in Wisconsin, voted to authorize night hunting for deer by tribal members.

To participate in the after-dark hunt, tribal members would be required to pass a marksmanship test. According to an Associated Press report, 74 members met those requirements but, thus far, none have applied for a night-hunting permit.

But they might. And that has hunters and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources officials concerned.

A little history here. In the 1800s, the Chippewa entered into a treaty with the U.S. Government that reserved the right for the tribes to hunt in a "ceded" territory that covers about 22,400 acres of northern Wisconsin. The tribes are allowed to set their own hunting and fishing regulations including season dates and bag limits. The tribes are allotted a percentage of all state-mandated quotas on fish and game.

The law isn't entirely clear on whether tribal hunters are allowed to hunt on private lands not owned by them or the tribe outside of the recognized reservation boundaries. But public land is clearly on the table.

In 1989, the tribes also attempted to incorporate night hunting for deer into their regulations stating that because the WDNR allowed night hunting for fox and coyotes, they should be allowed the same opportunity for deer. U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb ruled that the hunt would present a risk to public safety and therefore was not allowable under the terms of the treaty.

But the debate has been rekindled thanks to the Chippewa's recent decision to authorize the night hunts.

Why now?

Well, this doesn't seem to be a simple case of the tribes wanting to offer additional hunting opportunities to their members. Instead, it seems to be a case of tit for tat.

The tribes are upset by the Wisconsin Legislature’s decision to hold a wolf hunt (which allows for night hunting) and its attempts to loosen mining laws.

The tribes consider wolves to be sacred and they fear more relaxed mining laws will result in the establishment of a large-scale mining operation that would impact an area lake.

Perhaps the tribes are truly interested in providing members with more opportunities to hunt and night hunting is an important part of their cultural history. I'm not a tribal member so I clearly don't know for sure.

But the timing is interesting. When the Legislature was working on the mining regulations, the tribes made an announcement: The Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission authorized tribal members to target an elk, a species that state wildlife managers have had difficulty reintroducing.

Now, on the heels of the state's wolf hunt, the tribe authorized night hunting for deer.

I certainly don't pretend to know all of the background and history concerning a consent decree from the 1800s. Nor do I understand all of the cultural implications of the methods of take for tribal members.
But I do know this: The decision to hunt deer at night concerns a public resource in the Wisconsin deer herd and that any decisions made by the tribes can have an impact on public lands that we all own.

And, as a hunter, I'm not inclined to look fondly on playing a game with such stakes.

The Ultimate Red Meat: Venison vs Beef

Alex Robinson — Wed, 01 May 2013 12:24:59 -0400

Beef has taken a beating lately. Biblical droughts in the Heartland last year have prices on the rise, new research suggests that bacteria in the human digestive system could make red-meat eaters more prone to heart disease, and health-conscious consumers from Seattle to Brooklyn are demanding "grass fed" and "free range" fare.

And the flaws in beef only seem to highlight the qualities of venison. With the latest (and strongest) trend in dining being all about eating organically and locally, there should be no meat trendier than deer right now. Not to mention that the whitetail deer population, approximately 15 million in the U.S., has never been larger than it is today.

As hunters, we like to brag about the qualities of wild venison: "Most people can't even tell the difference between a beef steak and a venison steak;" "It's way healthier than beef is;" "I haven't bought beef from a grocery store in years;" and on we go.

But is eating wild venison truly better than eating beef? Or is that just something we say when we feel the need to justify killing deer? I conducted an objective (and partially subjective) investigation to find out.

NUTRITION
This one is pretty straightforward. Deer are leaner and wilder animals than cattle. Venison - even taken from a slob, cornfed buck in the Midwest - has less fat than beef does. Three ounces of lean beef contain, 247 calories and 15 grams of total fat. Three ounces of venison contain 134 calories and only 3 grams of total fat. Most importantly, venison contains about one sixth the amount of saturated fat that beef does. Venison has more protein: 26 grams to 23 grams in beef. The only category in which venison loses is cholesterol: 95 mg to 76 mg in beef, according to Livestrong.com.

Venison also has more vitamins and minerals per serving than beef does. It has advantages in iron, vitamin B6, niacin, and riboflavin.

But there is a wild card in this debate: a compound called L-carnitine, which is found in venison, beef, seafood, lamb, and dairy. A recent study published in the journal of Nature Medicine found “significant dose-dependent associations” between levels of L-carnitine and the risk of heart disease. Bacteria in the human stomach breaks down this compound to produce trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) which prior research has linked to heart and artery damage. Venison has a slightly higher level of L-carnitine than beef does, but this research is still very new and ongoing.
Advantage: Venison

TASTE
To tackle the most subjective category, I conducted a blind taste test pitting backstraps and steaks from a 2 1/2-year-old Catskill Mountains buck against ribeye steaks bought from the best butcher shop in south Brooklyn. Ten friends with discriminating palates served as the test panel. Both beef and venison were seasoned evenly and cooked on a charcoal grill to medium rare. The meat was cut to bite-size portions and served on color-coordinated toothpicks (white for venison, black for beef). Venison crushed beef 8 to 2.

Venison just might be experiencing its glory days in the culinary world. It has a rich flavor (don't call it gamy) that hunters have appreciated forever and foodies have finally seemed to discover.

Beef is generally more tender, fattier, succulent, and versatile.

Even though I was raised on venison, I personally would still take a thick ribeye or T-bone over a whitetail tenderloin when given the option.

However, the test panel has spoken.
Advantage: Venison

COST
The cost of beef is on the rise. An epic two-year drought in Texas has ranchers struggling to keep their cattle grazing while drought across the Great Plains has driven feed prices sky high. Retail beef prices have risen on average by about $1 per pound since 2007.

"We can't let beef turn into lobster," Ed Greiman of Garner, the president of the Iowa Cattlemen's Association, recently told USAToday.com. Experts say beef prices could rise another 10 percent by grilling season.

In February, USDA choice steak and sirloin had a national average retail cost of $7.08 per pound, the highest since July 2004. Ground chuck cost a national average of $3.40 per pound retail, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But how much does wild venison really cost? It's impossible calculate a perfect figure. The farmer who shoots three deer off the back 80 acres spends significantly less money than the nonresident hunter who flies to Kansas for an outfitted hunt.

But we can at least get a close estimate…

The average cost of a deer hunting license is about $21 across the top 10 whitetail states in the country. But a lot more goes in to the cost of venison than license fees. A 2006 survey conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that deer hunters spent $885 per year on hunting and trip expenditures. The survey also found that only about 50 percent of the deer hunters across the country killed one or more deer in a season. This isn't perfect math, but we can figure that deer hunters take an animal about every other year. This means it would cost $1,770 per animal. Factor in about 60 pounds of venison per deer and you get $29.50 per pound. Even if you take a deer every season, the cost per pound still runs $14.75.
Advantage: Beef

FOOD SAFETY
Venison taken from a healthy deer that has been field dressed and butchered properly might be the safest red meat on the planet. But there are still some diseases and bacteria you need to be aware of. The two most publicized safety concerns with venison are chronic wasting disease and bovine tuberculosis.

CWD has been found in 16 states, but according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there has never been a documented case of a human contracting CWD from a deer. However, the CDC recommends not eating deer that test positive for the disease.

It's possible for a human to contract bovine tuberculosis through venison consumption but it hasn't happened yet, says Dr. David Wolfgang, a whitetail health specialist from Penn State University.

"We're getting theoretical here," he says. "We're talking very rare."

Bovine tuberculosis has been found in deer herds in Michigan and can be identified by white spots or abscesses on the lungs.

Wild deer can get all kinds of diseases and parasites (from Lyme disease to worms) but none can be transmitted to humans through consumption. The real safety concern for venison is if bacteria from the stomach, intestines, or anus is spread to the meat during the gutting or butchering process. If this bacteria is spread and the meat is not cooked properly, it's possible to get E. coli, Wolfgang says. If you butcher and cook your own meat, you can eliminate this risk.

Beef has it's own host of safety concerns, but if processed correctly, it's perfectly safe too.

"A healthy steer in a feed lot does not bring any more baggage with it than any other animal," Wolfgang says.

The catch is that you just never know what you're getting with commercially processed meat. In April, Louisiana-based Manda Meat Packing Company recalled 468,000 pounds of meat (including roast beef, turkey breast, and corned beef) because of possible bacterial contamination. In January, investigators found that 37 percent of beef burgers sampled in Europe tested positive for horse DNA. Some burgers contained 100 percent horse meat (while this isn't a health concern it shows the sometimes shady nature of commercially processed beef). A recent study by the Center for Science in Public Interest monitored all of the documented food poisoning cases caused by meat in the U.S. over the last 12 years. Rearchers tracked outbreaks in bacteria like E. coli and salmonella and found that chicken and ground beef were the 'riskiest meats' to eat among all commercial meats. Ground beef accounted for 336 illness outbreaks and caused more than 3,800 people to get sick, according to the study.

This is only a glimpse at a long history of illnesses stemming from bad beef processing practices. The worst case in recent history occurred in 1993 when four children died and 700 people became sick from E. coli after eating undercooked hamburgers from Jack in the Box restaurants.
Advantage: Venison

WINNER: VENISON
Wild venison is the ultimate red meat. It's healthier, tastes better, and is safer than any meat you can buy in a store. It's also the more ethical choice. Beef cattle all meet the same destiny, but deer are hunted and killed in their own environment, where the smartest and luckiest animals survive and reproduce. It's the predator-prey relationship as it has been for millions of years.

ALL PHOTOS BY: Aaron Binaco

Deer Breeding: Are Whitetails Wildlife or Livestock?

Alex Robinson — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 18:04:02 -0400

The whitetail deer breeding industry has been getting more than its share of headlines lately. It seems deer breeders and captive whitetail hunting operations are working hard at loosening restrictions on deer breeding operations. They want state wildlife agencies to hand regulation responsibilities over to state agriculture departments. They believe that state agricultural departments will be better for business and will be more willing to ease “excessive” restrictions like curtailing deer transport, identifying and monitoring unique deer for disease, and double fencing to prevent wild deer from contacting captive deer.

Case in point---deer breeders in Missouri recently attempted to have the classification of captive whitetails changed from “wildlife” to “livestock.” They lost, but the battles continue elsewhere.

State wildlife agencies have a real stake in keeping captive deer breeding operations under tight control. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) has been associated with deer farming, and wildlife agencies are deeply concerned about increasing outbreaks of CWD in wild deer. CWD is a highly contagious fatal disease of the brain. Agencies believe the disease is spread through close contact of deer and that transporting captive deer from area to area has contributed to the rapid spread of the disease across the country. State wildlife agencies are strong supporters (and enforcers) of laws designed to curtail the transportation and free commerce of cervids (deer, elk, moose etc.).

Wildlife agencies are also raising concerns about deer with artificially manipulated genes (for antlers only) getting into wild herds. They view genetic manipulation as contrary to nature where the fittest survivors generally do most of the breeding. Genetic manipulation for antlers only, typically leads to whitetail bucks producing massive racks (200-300” or more) at very young ages followed by earlier than normal death and/or other physical defects. Whitetails bred only for antlers would tend to weaken the overall gene pool which has been selectively bred and refined in the wild over many thousands of years.

Deer breeders are quick to point out the economic impact of deer farming. The whitetail deer breeding and shooting preserve business is estimated to a billion-dollar operation. It provides jobs (30,000) in rural economies, and is promoted as a boon to hard-hit family farms. Deer farming for antlers and shooting preserves is one of the fastest growing segments of the livestock or alternative livestock industry. Estimates put the number of deer breeding operations at well over 10,000 and growing every day. Texas and Pennsylvania each report over 1,000 deer farming facilities. The deer breeding industry argues that oversight by state agricultural departments would lead to better disease control measures and less restriction on commerce. This is a popular position among many lawmakers who favor economic impact over regulation.

So, the captive cervid battle lines are drawn. Less regulation means more dollars for the deer breeding business. More regulation means better protection for wild deer herds and the public who “own” them. A survey conducted in 2009 by QDMA showed 10 states have their departments of agriculture responsible for supervising deer breeders, while 9 were supervised by wildlife officials; 31 states reported joint responsibility between agriculture and wildlife. A survey indicated that, 36% of responding states classified captive deer as “livestock”.

It’s not likely that these issues will be resolved any time soon. The captive deer breeding industry is well heeled, dug in, and intent on creating a favorable business climate. State agency personnel are professionally trained to follow the much revered the North American Wildlife Conservation Model and manage wildlife populations for the common good according in accordance with the Public Trust Doctrine. They will not sit by idly and watch as whitetail deer are decimated by disease.

One thing can be resolved however, and that is the matter of shooting pen raised “trophy” deer. As hunters, we can stop buying “trophy” deer to shoot at anytime we choose. If these deer are being called “livestock” by breeders, how can they be called “trophies” by “hunters?”

Planting Clover for Deer

Alex Robinson — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:18:03 -0400

We have been planting food plots for almost 25 years and have learned a thing or two about what works with whitetails and what doesn’t. And, when it comes to planting food plots you can’t beat clover.

Clover is relatively easy to grow, is loaded with nutrition, and whitetails simply love it. A good clover plot will produce 2 to 4 tons (per acre) of easily digestible plant matter and give your whitetails a shot in the arm when it comes to nutrition.

Clover can be grown in most food plot environments. It does best when a good seed bed is prepared and the seeds make firm contact with the soil. Clover seeds are tiny and should never be incorporated into the soil through disking or some other method that will cover them with more than ¼ inch of soil. Buried seed is dead seed. Unless you have a roller or similar tool for pressing seed into the soil it is best to spread the seed and walk away. The rain will take care of the rest.

Clover tolerates wet conditions well but has a tendency to go dormant in hot-dry conditions typically found in some areas during the dog days of summer. Adding chicory to a clover plot will hedge your hot-dry bets as chicory loves heat and dry conditions. Perennial clover plots green up early in the spring (when deer need it most) and generally will produce well into the frost season. Our whitetails work clover plots all winter long and will dig through 8 to 12 inches of snow to get to it.

The average whitetail eats about 6 pounds of forage per day which nets out to roughly a ton per year. Much of what they eat is browse which typically contains about 6 to 8% protein so a pound or two of clover at 25% protein is a welcome addition to their daily protein intake. Whitetails thrive in diets containing roughly 16% protein.

It’s tempting to save a few bucks on clover seed buy buying from the local feed and seed stores. In one word: don’t! Much of clover sold by agricultural feed stores is designed to be baled up and fed to livestock. Long, tall clovers (like most reds) look good in the field but they contain a high percentage of stem like material (lignin) and whitetails do not digest lignin well.

The Whitetail Institute of America started the clover rage in 1988 and has been the “king of clover” ever since. You can’t go wrong with a good name brand product. There are hundreds of specialized food plot mixes on the market today and most of them perform as advertised. But, when it comes to a day in-day out food plot performer, and keeping it simple, it’s hard to beat a good plot of clover.

For more information on planting food plots and food plot forages visit www.northcountrywhitetails.com.

NY Youth Hunt Controversy Finally Laid to Rest

Alex Robinson — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:14:16 -0400

With overwhelming support from most of the state’s sportsmen, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation held the state’s first youth deer hunt last fall. The results are in and the three-day Columbus Day weekend hunt was a great success. The DEC estimates that 7,800 junior hunters (along with non-hunting mentors) took 1,411 whitetail deer.

The hunt was strongly opposed by New York Bowhunters Inc., who aggressively lobbied the New York legislature to stop it. In fact, the hunt was legislatively “up in the air” until a few days before it was held. The bowhunting group argued that a firearms hunt would disrupt the relative tranquility of their newly expanded bow season and interfere with their ability to hunt “undisturbed” deer. It was also opposed by those who felt there were safety concerns or that there was a possibility of illegal activity by hunt participants.

Fortunately for the kids, harvest data published by the DEC did not support the opponents’ contentions. The data show no decline in bowhunter success for either the weekend of the hunt or the weeks following it. Bowhunter success in 2012 was nearly identical to that of 2011 and the average of the past five seasons. The hunt was highly monitored by DEC officials and no junior hunters were cited for law enforcement violations and no shooting incidents were reported. In other words, the hunt went off without a hitch.

The DEC estimated that 61 percent of eligible youth (age 14–15) participated. Of those who participated, 78 percent were accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. A strong majority reported being highly satisfied with the hunt and 91.4 percent of 14-year-old junior hunters said they would like to participate next season as 15 year olds.

The major concern registered by participants was that the special hunt was not well publicized and the last-minute decision to hold the hunt left little time for planning. Still others reported that adults did not want them to hunt with a firearm during the bow season. Sadly, 39 percent of eligible youth sat it out, and 10 percent of the youth who did not participate had no one to take them.

With all of the major objections laid to rest it looks as though a youth deer season in New York is a done deal going forward and we can now concentrate on getting our participation numbers up in the 90-percent range. Next year, unless some group figures out how to screw it up, the season will go on as planned with plenty of notice. We need to do something about the kids without hunting mentors and those who were discouraged from participation due to a perceived conflict with bowhunters. Mentored youth programs have been a huge success nationally, (as well as in New York) and are one of the best hunter recruitment tools we have at our disposal.

Photo by: New York Department of Environmental Conservation

New Record Whitetail: Michigan's Biggest Archery Buck

Alex Robinson — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 16:08:22 -0400

At the risk of offering cockamamie advice that’ll get readers in trouble with their spouse or ruin a perfectly good friendship, I propose one piece of sage counsel: Never resist the urge to go deer hunting.

Before you brusquely throw me out of the fickle court of public opinion, I submit to you exhibit number 182 1/8, which is the Boone and Crockett score of Michigan’s new archery state whitetail typical record. The exhibit is presented by Robert Sopsich of Milford, Mich., who illustrates another oft-repeated hunting adage: Always be prepared.

On the afternoon of November 2, Sopsich was planning to go bowling with some buddies. His younger brother Donny Sopsich suggested the two should go hunting before knocking down some pins. Being late in the day, the elder Sopsich wondered if they’d bump more deer than they’d see, but Donny reminded him that it was the heat of the rut and they shouldn’t miss the opportunity. To sweeten the deal, Donny offered to let Robert sit in his stand, where he’d already taken a nice eight-pointer.

Robert gave in to his brother and headed for the stand. Instead of taking the usual path to the stand, Robert walked along the far side of a stand of pine trees in hopes of not bumping deer.

“I looked to my left and I saw the buck walking across the field, quartering away from me,” explained Sopsich. “I [already had an arrow] nocked, so I was ready for the shot.”

Aiming for the top of the buck’s back, Sopsich took one last look at the deer’s rack before looking through his peep sight.

That’s when he made his only mistake. Adrenaline sucker punched Sopsich and he was overcome with buck fever for a split second. Refocusing, he let the arrow go.

“Watching the arrow felt like forever,” added Sopsich. “I heard a thud and the deer took off running. I didn’t see if I’d hit him or any blood – I was just hoping.”

Sopsich texted his brother that he’d just shot the 12-pointer they’d seen on a trail camera photo. Donny was busy helping to find a buck his neighbor had just arrowed. Both brothers joined in the tracking job and found the neighbor’s deer.

That’s when the rain started to come down.

“My neighbor wanted us to help him load and haul the buck out, but I just told him that we had to go,” Sopsich said.

After going back to where he’d shot his buck, the Sopsich brothers started carefully tracking the deer. The buck made a beeline across a field, dying 400 yards from where it’d been shot.

Sopsich’s preparedness made the difference between taking down the Michigan state archery record and just watching it waltz by. He also knows he owes his brother Donny a beer the next time they go bowling.

“If it wasn’t for my brother, I wouldn’t have even gone hunting.”

The Sopsich buck was officially scored as the new Michigan state record buck last month. The deer has 12 points and boasts a 19 1⁄8-inch inside spread. The main beams measure 26 4⁄8 and 26 3⁄8 inches, and the longest tine is 11 inches. It beat the previous record buck (shot by Mitch Rompola) by 2/8 of an inch.

Deer Hunting: How to Test Your Food Plot Soil

Alex Robinson — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:45:39 -0400

Last week our phone and website came alive with foodplotters placing their spring seed orders. Sadly, few inquired about the most critical aspect of growing a successful food plot: soil testing.

Before planting, it’s of the utmost importance to analyze your soil to make sure that the soil composition is conducive to growing the seed you’re about to sew. Most parts of whitetail country suffer from soils with a low pH; somewhere in the 4 to 5 range. That means they are acidic in nature and most food plot forages won’t do well in them. The solution is simple. Adding pulverized lime to the soil will sweeten the soil making it less acidic. You are looking to raise your soil’s pH into the 6 to 7 range with 7 being ideal.

Sure the seeds will germinate and a bunch of green shoots will start to grow and you’ll feel real good about your food plot, but if your pH is not in the 6 to 7 range, your plants will begin to struggle in a month or so. If you are trying to work with soils in the 4 to 5 range the forages you planted will be unable to extract the minerals and nutrients from the soil or from any fertilizer you may have added. Just when the plants should be thriving, they will run out of grow-power and be overtaken by weeds or grasses.

A week or two before planting (that means now) collect a few samples of soil from your plot location. Mix them in a plastic pail, put some of the mix in a plastic baggie, and head to your local Ag store, or USDA office and order a soil test. You can also mail it to the Whitetail Institute of America for analysis (you must follow their ordering procedure).

The results will be back in a few days and if you tell them what you are going to plant your report will specify how much lime (if any) to add to your soil before planting and what fertilizer mixture to use and how much to spread. Bottom line, for optimum planting results you want your soil’s pH to test somewhere around 6.5 to 7. Lower than that means your soil needs some help usually in some form of pulverized lime.

Soil tests are simple to take and only cost a sawbuck or two to have done. They will save you dozens of hours of hard work and hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars in the long run.

For more information about food plots visit: Northcountrywhitetails.com

Battle of the Bucks Contest: Northeast and West, Round 2

Alex Robinson — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:48:15 -0400

Each year, we round up photos of the country's biggest bucks and most thrilling hunting stories for the Outdoor Life Deer of the Year contest. Now, we're calling on you to help us pick America's best buck. We've selected the 24 finalists and divided them by region. Today we feature matchups from the Northeast and the West. The overall winner will be awarded a Cabela's gift card and a Weaver range finder in addition to eternal bragging rights. Select your favorite buck from each match-up and then hit the submit button at the bottom to enter your votes.

Today's Matchups...

Brush Piles: Make An Instant Food Source for Wildlife

Alex Robinson — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 09:53:07 -0400

This is a great time of year to get out there on your property and do something for whitetails. One of our favorite projects is to create living brush piles for wildlife. As you might guess, living brush piles are piles of limbs and brush that still produce stems, buds, sprouts and leaves for wildlife food and cover and are virtual wildlife magnets. Let me explain.

Unlike traditional brushpiles comprised of stacked dead limbs and brush, living brushpiles are made by stacking living trees. You cut three-quarters of the way through 4- to 8-inch tree and letting it tip over without breaking totally free from the stump. We call this hinge cutting and the trick is to create a living hinge that still allows nutrition to pass from the roots to the rest of the felled tree. In essence, it lives on its side before eventually dying.

We like to work in dense stands of low-value, pole-sized timber (poplar is a good choice). Dense stands of pole timber do little for wildlife as they typically have a dense canopy, which will shade the ground from daylight allowing little to grow on the ground beneath. We often refer to them as green deserts. We don our safety gear (chaps, helmet, gloves, eye-and-ear protection) and wade into the stand. A few hours with a chainsaw and the green desert is turned into a green smorgasbord.

The moment the tree hits the ground, it provides instant nutrition for whitetails. Buds, leaves and fresh new growth, that minutes before were 20 feet up, are now chest high or lower. But, because of the hinge cut, the tree will sprout fresh buds in the spring and once again will be a food source for hungry whitetails. The cycle can continue 3 years or more if the tree takes hold and somehow manages to hang on. We have 5-year-old, living brush piles which are still alive and producing food and shelter for deer turkeys and a host of other birds and critters.

So grab your chainsaw and do something good for wildlife next weekend. To find out more about creating wildlife habitat visit www.northcountrywhitetails.com.

Ultimate Venison Recipe: La Caja China Box Whole Deer Roast

Alex Robinson — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 12:09:56 -0400

Any venison recipe that starts with taking a head shot on a deer is worth investigating. So when butcher extraordinaire Pat LaFrieda invited Senior Editor John Taranto and me to his New Jersey home for a Caja China deer roast, we couldn't refuse.

LaFrieda had never roasted a whole deer before, but he has plenty of experience with venison and Caja China boxes. As one of New York City's most well-established meat purveyors and a fourth-generation butcher, he also knows his way around a carcass.

After a few hours of cooking and filming, Pat sliced up the most delicious venison I have ever eaten. The meat was perfectly tender and moist, it tasted wild but not overpowering, and was cooked to an ideal medium-rare. Here's LaFrieda's recipe.

INGREDIENTS
Roast
1 full deboned deer, 45 pounds
Caul fat
Salt
Pepper
Cloves
Apple cider

Chutney
Apple
Korean Pear
Raspberry
Ginger
Apple cider
Apple vinegar
Brown sugar
Cloves

INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Head Shoot
To follow this recipe correctly, the deer carcass needs to be in perfect condition, which requires a head shot. Only take this shot at close ranges. Also, only take this shot if you are fully confident in your gun and shooting ability (Find out how to make a head shot on a deer).

This shot guarantees that there will be no damage to the meat, and it will also keep all of the blood in the deer's muscles - key to juicy venison. It prevents blood clots and internal bleeding.

2) Debone
The most technical part of this recipe is the deboning process. Skin the deer immediately after the kill, but do not field dress it. Place the carcass on a table and make a long cut from the neck down the left side of the spine along (but not through) the backstrap. Run your knife all the way down the back of the deer to the belly. Do not cut through the belly of the deer. Make an identical cut along the right side of the spine.

Pull the entire spine and ribcage through the back of the deer, peeling off meat as you go. Remove internal organs and vitals with the ribcage. Bone-out the front and back legs, leaving the meat attached to the torso.

3) Gather Caul Fat
The caul fat comes from around the intestines of the deer. Because you are deboning the carcass from the back, you won't cut through the caul fat as you would when typically field dressing a deer. Pull the caul fat from the intestines in as many large pieces as possible and wash well before using. If you want to cheat a little, you can also buy caul fat from butcher shop.

4) Prepare Caja China Box
A Caja China is simply a large wooden box lined with aluminum on the inside. An aluminum top holds the coals. When the coals are lit, the heat radiates through the box and cooks the meat inside. This prevents flare ups and drips, and creates meat that is more moist than that cooked on a grill. A Caja China is ideal for cooking meat slowly at consistent temperatures and is most popular for pig roasts. You can build your own box, or LaFrieda suggests ordering one from Roberto Guerra (lacajachina.com).

If buying a Caja China and roasting an entire deer seems overwhelming, you can adapt this recipe for your grill. Simply debone a quarter, follow the steps above, and grill slow and low until medium rare.

5) Roast
Roll the carcass so that the backstraps are folded inside the body cavity. Season with salt, pepper, and cloves. Wrap roast in a layer of caul fat and secure with butcher's twine every 4-6 inches along the length of the roast. Pour apple cider over the roast and place in Caja China heated to 180 degrees. Cook for about 3 hours or until medium rare (130-140 degrees). When cooked, glaze with chutney.

*See our interview on wild-game cooking and preparation with LaFrieda in the May 2013 issue.

White Clover: The All-Around Best Food Plot Plant

Alex Robinson — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 10:29:21 -0400

Successful food plots start with the right vegetation. Choosing the perfect plant to put in the ground in the spring and summer can be confusing. But it doesn’t have to be—at least, not if you plant white clover.

“It’s the workhorse of food-plot plants,” says Whitetail Institute vice president Steve Scott. “One planting can last three to five years, and in some regions it provides high-protein forage 12 months of the year.”

Even better, it’s easy to grow and requires virtually no maintenance. In most soil types, a tiller pulled behind a tractor will produce an adequate seedbed. But a small disc pulled by an ATV can work fine too, making clover a good choice for small plots. Clover seeds will sprout and root as soon as they come in contact with soil. There’s no need to cover them, either. Spread five pounds of seed per acre and wait for a good rain to push it into the loose dirt.

Once fertilized, even marginal soil will often produce an adequate stand of clover. Unlike less tolerant plants, such as warm-season grasses and brassicas, white clover can weather harsh conditions. It also produces higher levels of protein—a vital ingredient for antler growth and nursing fawns—than most other t ypes of forage.

A stand of white clover is also a great early-season bow spot, but it doesn’t just attract whitetails in the fall. Hen turkeys eat it in the spring, and they’ll nest around a clover plot, too. Rabbits devour it, quail chase bugs in it, and even bears will eat it.

Avoid Generic Varieties
The best food-plot clovers are the Durana or Ladino varieties, both large-leafed plants that produce high yields and are suitable for any region with adequate moisture. Avoid generic feed-store clover, and be leery of food-plot seed that doesn’t list the variety of white clover included in the bag. It might be Dutch clover, which provides far less nutrition to wildlife than the Durana or Ladino varieties.