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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!

Hunting

New States Climb into the Top-10 in Mature Buck Harvest

Mar 11, 2026 Lindsay Thomas Jr.

I keep thinking whitetail hunters can’t get any more selective when it comes to buck harvest, and then every year when NDA’s Deer Report compiles all the data from around the nation – we do….

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Hunting

How Long Does it Take the Average Hunter to Harvest a Deer?

Mar 4, 2026 Cole Gander

For many hunters, myself included, harvesting a deer is the culmination of many months of hard work, preparation and countless hours spent afield. Sometimes everything falls into place perfectly, and a hunt ends with a…

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Deer Science

How Do Whitetails Survive Harsh Winters? The Answer Might Surprise You.

Feb 25, 2026 Kip Adams

February is the perfect month for ice fishing, winter habitat work, and watching a highly-anticipated football game. It’s also the month that after a few hours of good outdoor exercise my dogs sleep more soundly…

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Hunting

Shed Hunting Public Land: Timing, Pressure and Tactics That Work

Feb 18, 2026 Brian Grossman

Shed hunting was created for hunters like me who can’t stand the thought of spending three long months indoors between deer and turkey season. Sometimes I need an excuse to hit the woods and stretch…

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Spike On One Side: Genetics or Injury?

Oct 15, 2012 Gabe Karns

Among hunters, few topics stir discussion like hunting over bait or hunting deer with dogs – but the dispute over “cull bucks” comes close. While ethics play a major role in other debates, the dispute…

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Estimating Deer Age with Cementum Annuli

Oct 12, 2012 NDA Staff

The cementum annuli (CA) aging technique is based on the annual addition of cementum, a specialized calcified substance deposited on the roots of teeth in many mammals. Layers of cementum produce “rings” similar to those…

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How to Hunt Native Warm-Season Grasses

Sep 25, 2012 Jennifer Pudenz

Just 170 years ago, a seemingly boundless prairie blanketed the Midwest, one of the largest ecosystems in the world, and it provided natural cover for whitetails and many other wildlife species. Today, only one tenth…

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How to Blood-Trail a Deer

Sep 21, 2012 Bob Westerfield

You have worked hard on your land all season long preparing food plots, hanging stands and clearing trails. Finally, the season has arrived and the moment of truth has just walked into your luscious food…

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8 Rules for a Successful Hunting Plot

Sep 18, 2012 Jeff Sturgis

Beautiful fields of green dot the landscape, evidence of hunters attempting to attract deer. Many of these food plots are intended not just for nutrition but for hunting, and they are often called “hunting plots”…

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The Rewards of Restraint

Sep 13, 2012 Lindsay Thomas Jr.

Look carefully at the trail-camera photo above, taken by QDMA member and private lands biologist Joe Lacefield of Kentucky. I love this photo because it captures part of the spirit of Quality Deer Management in a…

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Plant This, Not That

Sep 12, 2012 Matt Ross

Oh man! I could not believe it. In an effort to relax and wind down from a long day, I had just sat down, flipped on the television to my favorite hunting channel and proceeded…

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How Many Rubs Does a Buck Make?

Sep 10, 2012 Kip Adams

Not seeing many rubs and scrapes in your area? This may be directly related to an absence of older bucks. Just how many rubs does a whitetail buck make each year? That depends on the…

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