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Protective Policy
Patiently you wait, enduring the cold conditions. Finally the woodland silence is broken by the slight rustling of withered leaves as the game you’ve been pursuing makes its presence known. […]
Articles by Tommy Kirkland
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Head games – Defining a trophy deer is difficult
Every year scores of hunters harvest whitetails throughout the state. Each buck, in the eyes of the beholder, is truly a trophy – hosting a set of antlers that are individually unique. […]
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Deer Dynamics: Communication
Scent pheromones and their distinct odors are instinctively utilized by whitetails to convey a realm of communication related to dominant hierarchy and sexual interactions. […]
Deer Hunting
Coyote harassment and bedding
Coyotes are known for disrupting the whitetail’s normal feeding and bedding routines. This harassment can cause deer to be highly unpredictable, becoming more evasive in their attempts to throw off the canines. […]
Deer Hunting
Post-rut bedding
Once the rut slows down and the post-rut begins, surviving deer will eventually return to bedding sites used prior to the rut — as long as there was no intrusion. […]
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Bedded down — How to use the bedding instinct against deer
After early morning foraging, the white-tailed buck moves into the adjacent woodlands. He slowly and effortlessly follows a deer trail up a steep ridge. With a steady pace, he heads to familiar ground. […]
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The Community Scrape
In search of vegetative foliage, five bucks — a mature 8-pointer, a 3½-year-old, two spunky spikes and a curious button buck — go single file along the forest edge, ascending a bluff. […]
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The rub about deer: Understanding rubs
Moving along the woodland edge, the morning dew saturates the footwear. As the sun breaks through, you finally find evidence of whitetail activity — a fresh tree rub. […]
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A surge of testosterone: One buck’s story
The rut is on. Mature bucks, if not pursuing does, are tending and breeding estrous females. […]
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Dominance dilemma
In today’s age of whitetail management the understanding and practice of mandatory antler restrictions is under way. This approach primarily allows yearling bucks protection so the animals can reach whitetail maturity with sizeable racks, as well as sound age structures and buck-to-doe ratios. […]
Deer Hunting
Predatory Pursuits
The bow season is under way. You’ve prepared the stand, scouted intensely and labored over the land — all in anticipation of enjoying the outdoors and taking a whitetail. […]
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Predatory Pursuits
The bow season is under way. You’ve prepared the stand, scouted intensely and labored over the land — all in anticipation of enjoying the outdoors and taking a whitetail. […]
Deer Hunting
How whitetails’ personalities dictate reaction to predators
The topic of whitetail personalities is being addressed more and more in the hunting industry, and here again an individual deer’s disposition of being more inclined to the fight or flight instinct will undoubtedly have an effect on how the animal responds to predators. […]
Deer Hunting
Hog wild: Impact of wild hogs on deer
Wild hog numbers are increasing in certain areas of the U.S. and, although not classified as carnivores, they are predatory in that they can locate and consume baby fawns. […]
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The Old Traditional Deer Rub
The rut is close. By procreative instinct, a mature hefty 8-pointer traverses the land. […]
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Deer Dynamics: Signposting
Along the forest edge, a whitetail buck hesitates beneath the overhanging branches of a pine tree. Then with ease, the animal stretches its neck up toward a particular limb and begins to rub its mouth and forehead on the limb. Closing its eyelids, it resumes this behavior on the tree. […]