By: Lindsay Thomas Jr.

Lindsay Thomas Jr. is NDA's Chief Communications Officer. He has been a member of the staff since 2003. Prior to that, Lindsay was an editor at a Georgia hunting and fishing news magazine for nine years. Throughout his career as an editor, he has written and published numerous articles on deer management and hunting. He earned his journalism degree at the University of Georgia.

It’s Time to Worry About Our National Doe Harvest, Especially in These States

Sep 27, 2023 Lindsay Thomas Jr.

In 1988, faced with declining hunter numbers and too many deer, our founders and leaders called deer hunters to action: reduce pressure on bucks and increase harvest pressure on does. Deer hunters responded and led…

4 Ways to Avoid Bonehead Mistakes of the First Deer Hunt

Sep 20, 2023 Lindsay Thomas Jr.

The long wait was over. Opening morning of archery season and with it a new deer-hunting season had finally arrived. I rose early, showered, dressed, geared up and headed to the woods. In the glow…

I’ll Never Raise a Ladder Stand by Myself Again

Aug 22, 2023 Lindsay Thomas Jr.

The date is memorialized in an Instagram post: July 23, 2021, the day I relocated four, two-man ladder stands and put them up by myself, then bragged about how it was my cross-fit workout for…

GPS Tracking Collars Are Amazing, but Do They Change Deer Behavior?

Jul 12, 2023 Lindsay Thomas Jr.

In the past 23 years, GPS tracking collars have revealed a ton of new information about deer behavior and biology. But a few hunters, skeptical of science or doubtful of the conclusions of specific studies,…

No Patterns of Prion Disease Among Hunters in CWD Zones, New Data Shows

Jul 10, 2023 Lindsay Thomas Jr.

Can eating the venison of a deer with chronic wasting disease cause a person to acquire a related, fatal prion disease? There’s no evidence it has ever happened, but prion diseases also have notoriously long…

The Guts of Predatory Cats Can Destroy CWD Prions

Jun 21, 2023 Lindsay Thomas Jr.

Chronic wasting disease prions are the Chuck Norris of infectious materials. Incinerating them at 1,112°F will only slightly degrade their infectivity, and you must hit 1,800°F to destroy them. They are just fine left out…

Wild Pig Fertility Crushes Deer. Learn 5 Ways to Use It Against Them.

Mar 29, 2023 Lindsay Thomas Jr.

There’s a grim joke circulating among wildlife biologists who fought wild pigs and lost: “The average sow gives birth to eight piglets, and nine of them will survive.” Plug this fatalistic humor into a mathematical…

3 Promising New Ways to Detect CWD, Dead Deer Not Required

Mar 15, 2023 Lindsay Thomas Jr.

Good news is scarce in the fight against chronic wasting disease, so I’m pleased that I have some to share. A series of new tools could give us the ability to detect CWD in deer…

8 Ways Deer Are the Opposite of What Many Hunters Think

Mar 8, 2023 Lindsay Thomas Jr.

Using your common sense isn’t always a good method for understanding deer behavior and biology. It’s easy to believe deer move more on a full moon night because it makes common sense: They must be…

5 Things Deer Hunters Should Know About Deer Warts

Feb 12, 2023 Lindsay Thomas Jr.

Deer warts are one of the most easily visible diseases of whitetails, and every year deer hunters ask us about this health problem. Deer warts are hairless black or gray tumors caused by a type…