The Latest

Hunting

NDA’s Deer Report Finds 88% of U.S. Whitetail Harvest Occurs on Private Land

Jan 25, 2023 NDA Staff

An average of 88% of state white-tailed deer harvests occur on private land, according to the National Deer Association’s latest Deer Report, released this week. Texas reported the highest rate of private-land deer harvest at…

NDA Podcasts

Winning the War Against Feral Hogs With Alan Leary of Missouri

Jan 25, 2023 Brian Grossman

For decades feral hogs have been expanding their range, creating ecological havoc wherever they show up. Efforts to reduce or eradicate them from the landscape have been largely unsuccessful. However, there is one state that…

NDA Podcasts

Protecting Yourself From Hearing Loss With Audiologist Dr. Grace Sturdivant

Jan 18, 2023 Brian Grossman

Our hearing is one of our five finely tuned senses and arguably the most likely to be compromised by our lack of protection of it. This is particularly true for hunters and recreational shooters who…

Habitat

Food Plots, Feed or Fire: The Real Costs Per Pound of Deer Forage

Jan 18, 2023 Dr. Marcus Lashley and Jordan Nanney

Prescribed fire is one of the most useful deer habitat management tools. In our experience, members of the National Deer Association are well-versed at this point in prescribed fire’s benefits. However, there are still some…

NDA Podcasts

The Science Behind the South’s Odd Whitetail Rut With Jason Sumners

Jan 10, 2023 NDA Staff

In this episode of the Deer Season 365 podcast, we’re talking with wildlife biologist Jason Sumners about the science behind the odd whitetail rut timing in the Southeastern U.S. Jason studied the impact of deer…

Habitat

Is Craig Harper’s FSI Cocktail Safe for Non-Target Trees?

Jan 9, 2023 NDA Staff

You can quickly restore sunlight to a closed-canopy forest to fuel deer forage production – a technique called “Forest Stand Improvement” (FSI). We recommend girdling and spraying select trees to kill them standing using an…

NDA Podcasts

The Importance of Venison Donation With Josh Wilson and Peter Churchbourne

Jan 4, 2023 NDA Staff

Did you know that 38.3 million Americans suffer from critical hunger every day, or that one in six children lack the daily nutrition necessary for healthy growth? Imagine a situation where you were forced to…

Deer Science

We’re Not Winning the War on Feral Hogs. Yet.

Jan 4, 2023 Lindsay Thomas Jr.

Forces fighting the national war on feral hogs can boast a series of minor victories in small skirmishes, but the swine are still dug-in across a wide territory. That’s the main take-away from the 2022…

NDA Podcasts

Deep South Deer Hunting and Using Water Access to Kill Public Land Bucks With Parker McDonald

Dec 21, 2022 NDA Staff

In this episode of the Deer Season 365 podcast, we talk with Parker McDonald of the Southern Ground Hunting podcast and YouTube channel. Parker dives into how the Deep South differs from other states he’s…

Hunting

4 Lessons When Someone Else Tags “Your Buck”

Dec 14, 2022 Zack Vucurevich

I did everything right. I let him grow. I studied his movements. I kept my distance unless conditions were absolutely perfect. I even planted a food plot specifically to harvest this deer over, directly between…

NDA Podcasts

Filled Tags and Missed Opportunities: Our 2022 Deer Season Recap

Dec 14, 2022 Brian Grossman

It’s hard to believe that the 2022 fall hunting season has come to an end. We spend so many months preparing and thinking about the coming season that the few months of hunting we have…

Deer Science

14 Stats From New Deer Research

Dec 7, 2022 Lindsay Thomas Jr.

For the past two years, NDA was proud to voluntarily coordinate and host the largest national gathering of deer researchers, the Southeast Deer Study Group meeting, to ensure its continuation despite the pandemic. It’s fortunate…

NDA Podcasts

Winter Habitat Projects for Better Fall Deer Hunting With Zack Vucurevich

Dec 7, 2022 NDA Staff

On this week’s Deer Season 365 Podcast episode, we’re once again talking with Zack Vucurevich of Whetstone Habitat LLC about habitat projects you can start planning or working on as soon as deer season wraps…

NDA Podcasts

Michael Hunsucker on His 3-Year Quest for a Buck Named “Floppy”

Nov 30, 2022 NDA Staff

Any seasoned deer hunter will tell you that there’s nothing more exhilarating than hunting a particular buck over more than one season. It’s a rarity for most to get more than a second season to…

Venison

Venison Backstrap Grilling Tips from a Professional Chef

Nov 29, 2022 Evan Barrett

Evan Barrett of Michigan is a new hunter who killed his first deer at an NDA Field to Fork hunt in 2021. He’s also a professional chef and sommelier. He shared a photo of the…

NDA Podcasts

Post-Rut Deer Hunting Strategy and Venison Diplomacy With Clint Campbell

Nov 22, 2022 NDA Staff

On this week’s Deer Season 365 Podcast episode, we’re talking with Clint Campbell of the Truth From the Stand podcast about his strategies for finding and killing post-rut bucks. We also dive into Clint’s background,…

Deer Science

Do Whitetail Bucks Ever Mate With Their Own Doe Offspring?

Nov 16, 2022 Lindsay Thomas Jr.

The whitetail rut is a frenzied scramble. Literally, that’s the biological term for the whitetail breeding strategy – “scramble competition” – because a buck’s success at breeding does is determined mostly by his ability to…

NDA Podcasts

Deer Hunting Strategy and the Importance of Staying Comfortable in the Stand With Greg Farrell of First Lite

Nov 16, 2022 NDA Staff

It doesn’t matter if you have the best bow or gun or have the luxury of hunting great land crawling with big whitetail bucks if you’re not able to put adequate time in the deer…

Deer Science

Bucks Are More Visible When Deer Hunters Harvest Does

Nov 9, 2022 Ben Westfall

“If you shoot a bunch of does, you won’t see any bucks!” I have heard this phrase and its variations time and time again over my years as a deer hunter, land manager and biologist….

NDA Podcasts

Manage Your Hunting Property by Shooting the Right Number of Deer With Matt Ross

Nov 9, 2022 Brian Grossman

On this week’s Deer Season 365 Podcast episode, we’re talking with NDA’s Matt Ross about deer herd management. Matt explains the art and science behind harvesting the right number of bucks and does on a…

Hunting

NDA’s Guide to the Whitetail Rut

Nov 4, 2022 NDA Staff

The whitetail rut is the most exciting time of the season for deer hunters, and it’s also a time when the NDA receives a lot of questions about this important season in the whitetail’s year….

Deer Science

Are You Hunting The Average Buck or a Rule-Breaker?

Nov 2, 2022 Brian Grossman

The NDA has long been known for providing its members and followers with the latest deer research and information. Over the years we’ve reported lots of data on deer biology, movement, how deer react to…

NDA Podcasts

Rut Hunting Strategies and Debunking Common Rut Myths With NDA’s Kip Adams

Nov 2, 2022 Brian Grossman

There’s a reason this time of year is often referred to as the Super Bowl of whitetail hunting. It’s the rut and NDA’s Chief Conservation Officer, Kip Adams, joins Nick and The Doctor to talk…

Deer Science

7 Facts About Deer Vision Hunters Should See

Oct 26, 2022 NDA Staff

As prey animals, deer are well equipped to detect and avoid predators, and one of their primary tools of defense is their vision. Deer hunters can be more successful when they understand the strengths and…

NDA Podcasts

What We’ve Learned From Average Bucks and Outliers With Dr. Bronson Strickland

Oct 26, 2022 Brian Grossman

In this week’s Deer Season 365 Podcast episode, we’re talking with Dr. Bronson Strickland of the Mississippi State University Deer Lab about the individuality of whitetail bucks. While we often report the averages when it…

Deer Science

A Guide to Rubs and Scrapes, the Social Media of the Deer World

Oct 19, 2022 Kip Adams

Whitetails don’t have cell phones or social media accounts, but they are far more social than most hunters realize. They surf the information highway at rubs and scrapes to stay in contact with locals as…

Advocating for wild deer and hunting

The NDA regularly engages on important conservation issues impacting wild deer and deer hunting at the local, state and federal levels. We ask all our members and followers to get engaged with these important policy issues to help us ensure the future of wild deer, wildlife habitat and hunting.

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Action Alert: Oppose Statutory Deer Seasons in Kansas

Jan 31, 2023 Torin Miller

Kansas House Bill 2079 (HB 2079), which was introduced by the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources, would establish a statutory white-tailed deer firearm-hunting season and require Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP)…

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