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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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Ryegrass: Going Against the Grain

Mar 29, 2012 Bob Westerfield

I might get shot just for mentioning the use of annual ryegrass as a potential food plot crop, but the truth is I have killed too many whitetails over this stuff to completely ignore it….

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Mixing Corn and Soybeans in Food Plots

Mar 28, 2012 Craig Harper

The species and rates of plants included in a seed blend is an important consideration when planting food plots. Certainly, you want to include species that are compatible with each other in terms of growth…

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Sex Among the Persimmons

Mar 28, 2012 Lindsay Thomas Jr.

If you think this is about people having sex in the woods, I’m sorry to disappoint. It’s about persimmon trees having sex in the woods. Far less interesting, I know, at least until hunting season…

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Don’t Get Burned by Fireblight

Mar 27, 2012 Lindsay Thomas Jr.

A southern crabapple planted at QDMA Headquarters in Georgia was one of those uncommon trees that blows past all of its sister seedlings planted the same year – rocketing upwards in height, spreading a beautiful…

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Create Living Thicket Cover by Hinge-Cutting

Mar 21, 2012 Jeff Jackson

Timber stand improvement (TSI) involves removing unwanted trees that are competing with desirable trees. What is the best thing to do with the unwanted trees? Cutting them off at the ground line is a standard…

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Tarsal Glands: What We Know

Mar 21, 2012 Kip Adams

The tarsal gland, arguably the most important gland in deer communication, is found on bucks and does. Each hair is associated with an enlarged sebaceous or “fat” gland that secretes an oily material that coats…

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Know Your Deer Plants: Partridge Pea

Mar 20, 2012 Matt Ross

A member of the pea family, partridge pea is best known as a producer of valuable cover and food for upland game birds, waterfowl, and various small mammals. However, it also happens to be found…

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To Kill Mature Bucks, Go Somewhere Else

Mar 16, 2012 Lindsay Thomas Jr.

  I had an interesting phone conversation with deer researcher Dr. Mark Conner while I was working on an article for Quality Whitetails. Mark, who works in Maryland, has led a number of recent groundbreaking studies…

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