Chronic wasting disease in deer has emerged over the last 20 years as one of the most significant issues in deer hunting in modern times. The fact the disease is complex and difficult to manage…
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GPS Tracking Collars Are Amazing, but Do They Change Deer Behavior?
Jul 12, 2023Lindsay 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,…
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How Far Can a Deer Swim?
May 17, 2023Matt Ross
We’ve all seen at least one of numerous amateur video clips floating around the Internet in which a boater or fisherman captures a deer doggy-paddling its four little hooves off so far from shore it…
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3 Promising New Ways to Detect CWD, Dead Deer Not Required
Mar 15, 2023Lindsay 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…
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8 Ways Deer Are the Opposite of What Many Hunters Think
Mar 8, 2023Lindsay 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…
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14 Stats From New Deer Research
Dec 7, 2022Lindsay 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…
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Do Whitetail Bucks Ever Mate With Their Own Doe Offspring?
Nov 16, 2022Lindsay 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…
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What We Learned From a Buck With No Eyes
Oct 12, 2022Lindsay Thomas Jr.
Deer scientists have known for decades about the powerful influence of light on deer behavior and physical characteristics like antler growth. Early theories about latitude affecting things like rut timing were close – but incorrect….
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How to Hunt Food Plots: Maybe Don’t
Sep 21, 2022Lindsay Thomas Jr.
You worked hard to prepare that fall food plot, from filling the first soil-sample baggie to the final roll of the cultipacker, leaking drops of sweat onto the Earth the whole way. Now a green…
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To Hear More Gobblers, Stop the Squeal
Aug 24, 2022Lindsay Thomas Jr.
If there are feral hogs in the woods you hunt, there may not be as many wild turkeys as there could be. Hogs have previously been named among many suspects for causing the recent national decline…