Think rutting bucks can’t be patterned? Steve Bartylla explains how mature bucks use doe concentrations, funnels and familiar home-range circuits — and how hunters can identify those movements.
Tag: whitetail behavior
Mr. Big Has a Pattern. Here’s How to Find It.
The rut isn’t as random as it looks. Steve Bartylla explains how mature bucks work predictable circuits between doe groups — and how hunters can find them.
Big Rubs: Are They the Superhighway to Big Bucks?
The whitetail’s most visible rut-time signs also have spawned deep-rooted myths. Count, if you can, how many times you’ve heard someone say, “Small rubs always equal small deer. You have to find big rubs to find big deer.” What’s the count? Probably dozens, right? Unfortunately, that blanket statement is yet another whitetail myth. Although big […]
Collared Deer Part of Ongoing Research Project
Research conducted on two wildlife management areas and two private land sites in Pickens and Marengo counties is attempting to answer questions that will help biologists better manage Alabama’s deer herd. Hunters are asked not to kill any deer they see with orange collars so those deer are kept in the research project. In fall […]
Big Buck Secret: Success Lies in the Details
If you think you are going to march right into a buck’s core area, climb in the stand and put him down, then good luck! Although it will happen on rare instances, the majority of the time it takes intense attention to details and planning. By Jeremy Flinn One of the most common actions that will […]
How to Get Into the Mind of a White-tailed Deer
During a spring turkey hunt I eased to the edge of a treeline near a small, secluded food plot and peered through with my binoculars for birds in the field. Instead of hens and a longbeard, I saw two big ears perked up and an anterless deer looking in my direction. It wasn’t stamping the ground […]