Deer Hunting Tips – What Influences the Size of Antlers?
Proper management of the deer herd are usually the most effect deer hunting tips. To prize hunters, the goal is to harvest a deer with big antlers. Every hunter dreams of bagging a deer with a humongous rack. All of us hear about and tell each other tales of huge antlers; points, spread, diameter, length of tine… The question is, how can you increase the chances that the deer you are hunting will have large antlers?
There are three main factors that decide the overall size of a buck’s antlers.
1. Genetics
2. What The Deer Has To Eat
3. The Age of the Deer
The genetics of a deer help to determine how big the antlers have the “potential” to get. In other words maximum antler size is a trait that is inherited. This is a fact that experienced deer hunters and game managers know and that science has proven. Leases are often managed in a way to produce the biggest bucks by limiting the size of the antlers that are permitted to be harvested. By restricting the number of genetically superior kills, the inferior herd is culled and the gene pool is allowed to “antler up” as a result. Although there is some doubt regarding the benefit of these practices (effective killing of inferior antlered deer is sometimes impossible given the harvest rates to population in general), it has a genuinely good motive.
Nutrition is the next contributor to antler size. Regardless of a deer’s genetic potential, it won’t reach it’s optimum level if it doesn’t eat the right diet. Most experienced hunters have hunted through seasons where drought has affected the food sources for the deer and the large antlered deer just weren’t there. In order for the deer population to realize it’s complete antler producing potential, it has to eat a proper diet all year long. Summer and spring diets are the most vital since the majority of antler growth really happens during those seasons. Inferior foliage growth during these months can greatly limit antler growth. Good habitat management will help promote healthy nutritional options. There are many times that supplemental feeding is needed.
The last major factor to consider is age, but the age of a mature buck (3 or more years old) isn’t as relevant to antler size as is diet or heredity. Usually antler size potential increases throughout the first few years of life. It continues to increase some during the fourth through sixth year. However, the actual growth rate and size depend on the breed of deer and the deers genetics. It’s not recommended to kill bucks that haven’t yet reached four years old. I can still hear my father complain when the people on the farm next door shot a two year old buck. My dad would always state with frustration that “That deer still had milk on its breath.” It’s best to allow the young bucks to mature and only harvest them afterward. If you are at a point where you need venison, but can’t seem to get a mature buck, then you should harvest a doe. The next season’s hunt will be better for it.
If you really want to learn what it takes to be a master deer hunter, keep these deer hunting tips in mind when your next hunt comes up.
And please visit us at www.Deer-HuntingTips.com to learn more secrets and advanced deer hunting tips.
Get A Great Hunting Spot With These Deer Hunting Tips
Knowledge of how to decide on a smart hunting spot is a vital element to deer hunting. Finding the right hunting location can give you the ability to get that trophy rack that you’ve always wanted, as well as plenty of venison for the freezer. You might be deadly accurate with your deer hunting rifle, but you won’t catch anything if there simply aren’t any deer around you. As a result, follow our deer hunting tips so you can find the perfect spot to hunt. Knowledge of how deer behave and move around is necessary when deciding on a spot. Deer will feel the safest in low light, and during the day, as well as the late night, they’ll be resting. Usually, deer will depart from their resting space during late afternoon in search of food. Deer will drink and eat, and then return to where they rest. They’ll follow this same pattern during the early hours of the morning also. Find out where you can settle down to hunt at least two weeks prior to the beginning of your hunt. Explore the area that you plan to hunt in. Find out where the deer move the most, and where the largest bucks are located. Find blinds or stand areas and spend time in them as you research where to hunt, so you know what it’ll be like when you start hunting. During midday, walk through the area and look carefully for any signs of deer. The deer often provide their own deer hunting tips. Keep your eyes open for deer tracks and trails. Look at how many tracks there are in one area, and where they’re going; this will tell you a lot. Bucks usually have their own trails, but sometimes use the same tracks as the does. It’s common to see buck trails running parallel to the doe trails, but sometimes the two cross. Keep an eye out for scrapes, the places where the ground or brush has been scratched by bucks. In the weeks coming up to the rutting season, you’ll see a lot of scraping, but once they start, you’ll stop seeing the scrapes. And locate the rubs — the areas on trees or posts where bucks either rub the velvet off their budding antlers or mark their territory when rutting. Watch for a consistent rub pattern – usually more than six within a line of 100 yards. You’ll usually find these tree markings facing the direction where the buck has come from, so take note of this direction also, as you’ll be able to locate the origin of the bucks’ travel more accurately. Bedding areas can also tell you what what size and how many deer are in the area.
Don’t just go to a forest you don’t know and pick your deer hunting spot arbitrarily; with the right work and research, you’ll be able to have a great hunting season ahead of you!
You are welcome to use these deer hunting tips in the coming deer hunting season. We also welcome you to visit www.Deer-HuntingTips.com to get more useful information to help make this your best deer hunting year ever.
Deer Hunting Tips for Advanced Hunters
As a deer hunter, you’ll only succeed as far as your dedication and knowledge will take you. You might be satisfied with just getting that single deer every couple of years, but if you want better than that for yourself, learn how to get that trophy buck.
The following contains some deer hunting tips that the experts of deer hunting use every day to get the big ones.
1. Scout Your Area Ahead of Time – I don’t mean analyze where you are going to sit when the truck drops you off, I mean really get to know the area you are hunting. Some of my most successful hunting seasons were started months before opening day. Scout all the areas where you plan to hunt, being sure that you have permission to do that first. I would survey all the available hunting sites and “dry hunt.” Act just like I was hunting but not bring a gun (only a camera) to evaluate which areas had the most deer movement, biggest bucks and highest buck to doe ratios. You can walk around the lease in the middle of the day, looking for big buck signs that I could see.
2. Know the Signs of Big Bucks. When you know what you’re looking for, you can zero in on the spots where the trophy deer gather. Keep your eyes open for tracks. Be aware of the size, number of, and the direction of the tracks, which will clue you in on the size, number of and movements of the deer. You also want to look for scrapes. These are areas where a buck scratches the ground and sometimes urinates to mark their territory and attract does. Bucks usually do this below low hanging tree branches that are located on the border of heavy brush areas during the rut. Another thing you want to look for are rubs. As a buck attempts to get the velvet off their new antlers thy need to rub on trees and posts. They also do this to mark their territory during rutting season. If you find a “rub line,” you will be able to find six or more rubs in a matter of about 100 yards. Bucks usually rub on the side of the tree or post that he is traveling from. With this in mind, if you pay attention to which side of the trees are being rubbed you can have a clue as to which way the deer is moving. Also scout for and note the size of bedding areas. If you don’t see any bedding, there aren’t any bucks!
3. Know How Your Firearm Shoots – Know the ballistics of the caliber and cartridge you are using. Know the distance you will need to shoot and be able to make adjustments for geography; for example, the rise on short shoots and the fall for long shots. Take some time to practice estimating distances. If possible, walk around the likely sighting areas ahead of the hunt, so you’ll know what length of shots you’ll be making and what sort of drop your bullet will make at that distance.
4. Know Where To Place Your Shot – Once you fully understand the aim and ballistics of your deer hunting rifle, you will be able to concentrate on where you are going to place your shot. I am a “neck shooter,” which means I believe a shot well-placed anywhere on the neck will bring your deer down every time. There are many hunters who disagree with me on this preference. If you hit the deer lower on the neck the carotid arteries will be severed. If you hit the deer high on the neck you will break the deer’s spinal column. Finally, if you hit the deer in the center of the neck you will get a combination of both of these effects. If you’re shooting from the side, front, hindquarters, or head-on, the neck is the most effective target, even more so than the traditional “behind the lower shoulder” target. Don’t ever try a full rear shot, unless it’s the only way to get a fantastic trophy buck; you won’t be nearly as effective at bringing down the buck, and it’ll be very uncomfortable to have to clean a butt-shot deer. You want to make smart decisions when you take a shot. The best deer hunters make a fast and efficient kill.
5. Attactants, Calls, and Rattling – While we do not have time to go into a lot of detail, some important deer hunting tips are to use attractants (like natural food plots, salt licks/mineral blocks, feeders, and flavored blocks), deer calls, and rattling methods. The food related attractants require previous preparation. Planting food plots takes time ant attention much as any gardening does. You want the deer to get used to feeding in the area of the food plot weeks or even months prior to hunting season. This is important so you know when and where they will be eating their free meals. Only try rattling for bucks or using calls during rutting season, as that’s the only time it will usually work. It’s been my experience that bucks would approach my rattling cautiously, and only out of curiosity when they weren’t rutting. When it does work during the rut they usually come rushing. There were times when I was nearly run over by bucks when I was rattling in a field. So if you get good at this, be prepared for some quick action. Proficiency is required, and it takes lots of practice. There’s a bit of a learning curve that comes with accurately recreating the sounds of deer fighting, but if you get it right, it’ll be very advantageous.
Every deer hunter wishes he or she could display a trophy buck at some time during their hunting career, some of us are not happy unless we bag at least one monster every season. If you want to be able to regularly bag trophy bucks on a regular basis, you need to know and understand the deer hunting tips explained here.
If you want to learn more about deer hunting and tips that can help you land the large bucks that get you trophy racks, go to http://www.deer-huntingtips.com and have a better hunting season than you’ve had in years.