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Learn all about wild deer behavior, habitat improvement, food plots, hunting techniques, and much more with over 500 free articles available on our website. If you enjoy our content, we'd love to have you as an NDA member!

Habitat

5 Easy Steps to Better Deer Forage and Cover

Jan 22, 2025 Lindsay Thomas Jr.

One of the easiest ways to quickly improve forage and cover for deer is to remove a plant that doesn’t belong here. Whether it’s a non-native tree, shrub or vine, the space and resources it…

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Hunting

Mature Buck Harvest Rises to Another New U.S. Record

Jan 15, 2025 NDA Staff

U.S. deer hunters took more than 3 million whitetail bucks in the 2023-24 hunting season and set a new record in mature buck harvest, as 43% of those bucks were estimated to be 3½ years…

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Deer Science

4 Reasons Mature Bucks Are Critical to Deer Herd Health and Hunting

Jan 8, 2025 Kip Adams

Mature bucks can take your breath away. Whether it’s a frosty fall morning in the woods or a summer evening in an alfalfa field, the mere glimpse of a mature buck will make your heart…

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Habitat

A Guide to the Most Important Weather Factors in Prescribed Fire

Jan 7, 2025 Lindsay Thomas Jr.

Prescribed fire is a fantastic deer habitat management tool, and nothing is more important when using it than ensuring a safe, effective and contained burn. By planning and waiting to burn under the right conditions,…

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Avoiding Glyphosate Resistance

Jun 25, 2012 Brian Sheppard

Over the last 30 years, no other herbicide has proved as useful to corn and soybean farmers and deer managers as glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup®. Glyphosate and Roundup Ready® technology have simplified weed…

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Food Plot Species Profile: Turnips

Jun 22, 2012 Bob Westerfield

It is always fun to experiment with new crops when it comes to building food plots and seeing which ones are most attractive to the resident deer population. One such crop I have enjoyed playing…

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Sanctuaries: Attract, Protect, Hold, Hunt

Jun 22, 2012 Lindsay Thomas Jr.

As the Quality Deer Management philosophy becomes further anchored as the dominant mindset among whitetail hunters, achieving greater numbers of mature bucks is not the hurdle it once was. Instead, there’s another hurdle: Killing them….

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Food Plot Species Profile: Cowpeas

May 30, 2012 Bob Westerfield

For a fast-germinating summer food plot or early bow-season hotspot, try planting some cowpeas. Cowpeas, Vigna unguiculata, are a warm-season annual that can be grown throughout the United States. Often called iron-and-clay pea or black…

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Why We Can’t Manage Deer Genetics

May 30, 2012 Lindsay Thomas Jr.

The power of selectively controlled breeding is incredible. With it, we transformed a wolf into a chihuahua over the course of 15,000 years – mere milliseconds in the echoing depths of geologic time. We transformed…

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Know Your Deer Plants: Allegheny Chinkapin

May 24, 2012 Matt Ross

If you’re interested in planting something on your property that can quickly provide mast, attract deer and provide groundcover at the same time, it’s time to consider an alternative to the standard oak tree plantings….

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How to Calibrate a Food Plot Sprayer

May 23, 2012 Craig Harper

So, you have learned to identify your major weed problems. You have done your homework and identified the herbicide necessary to control the weeds in your food plots. You have planned ahead, and you are…

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Will Dominant Bucks Dominate the Breeding?

May 17, 2012 Kip Adams

“Do a handful of bucks sire the majority of the fawns?” This question is often followed with a series of questions, such as: “If the dominant buck in my area has narrow antlers, will I…

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