DannyD

Do some deer need glasses or do they all have perfect vision.
Heck if a deer saw like i do without glasses he'd run into every tree

retrieverman

I see there arealot of unanswered questions. Where is the "answer man"?

huntinyoung

I dont know all the answers about whitetail deer and that is acually why I posted this. There are many things most people dont know and stilldont know about whitetails. I posted this to find out what hunters like me dont know about them so the next time im in the woods that is something for me to find and answer to. Or hopefully a question that someone else has the answer to will be put on here. There are many questions that still are not answered and no one has tried to find the answers. Just in the past couple of years questions that hunters asked that was never know about them were answered to further help a hunter when season came in. P.S.: Please keep ignorant questions and comments to yourself. Thank you.

Dirt2

Ok, here's my list of questions I'm still working on for myself:

Is pre-rut, peak rut, or post-rut "the time to be out there"? Is there really a "second rut" 28 days after the first? Do bucks rub trees to get the velvet off, or does it come off all on its own?How do scrapes really relate to the rut? What are the antler scorerangesforbucks of different ages?How useful are funnels in big woods environments? Is stand hunting or still hunting more productive in big woods environments? Do 4 1/2 year old bucks truly become nocturnal wraiths, or do they just seem that way because the vast majority get shot by 3 1/2 years old? How much impact do predators actually have on my deer herd? Whatfoods do my local deer herd favor? How seasonal are the distribution patterns of my local deer herd?

Just a sampling of things I am currently working on in my area.

huntinyoung

Thank you so much for replying. Those are great questions that I would like to work on finding out. To try and answer some of them: Personally I think peak rut is best because bucks are careless and more active at all times. Most research says 28 till second rut. Antler score is not dependant on age but more on genetics and nutrition. I am sure for younger deer their may be a score range but older deer cannot really be determined age=certain scores. Funnels are best to hunt in any area. Predators have a huge impact on herds. Ex:Friends area with too many coyotes slowly brought fawn numbers down until they started shooting more coyotes. And these answers generally are in all areas of the country. Thank you so much. Hope you find your answers. And I hope more people like you will let me known of things they are trying to find out in their areas. Good luck.

Dirt2

I put those questions down because they are just that, questions. I do however, have an opinion on most of them. But I'm open-minded about these opinions, and will alter my beliefs based on future evidence.

I believe, currently, that either pre or post-rut may be a little better than dead peak rut. By peak rut, I mean that one week period where most of the does are bred. In my country, that's about the third week of November (15-21). I have seen some frustrating lulls in the 15th to 20th time frame, which I take to result from all the bucks being holed up with a hot doe. Consequently, my 3 1/2 year old and older bucks have bit the dust on these dates in November: 11,12,13,21,28. Note the donut hole between the 13th and 21st, which is almost precisely the peak of rut. Regardless, I'm out there hunting every possible hour no matter the date.

I am doubtful about the existence of a second rut. The clincher was an article that appeared last month in one of the major hunting rags (can't remember which, I read them all where I work). This guy says there ain't no such animal as a second rut, and I found his logic convincing. I've sure never seen it.

On buck ages, here's what I think I know. Skipping yearlings, bucks 2 1/2 years old score about 75-100 net. From 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 their racks grow by roughly 1/3. So bucks 3 1/2 years old will net score 100-125, 99% of the time. I get hazier from that point, but think that racks grow by roughly 1/5 from 3 1/2 to 4 1/2. That makes 4 1/2 year old buck range from 120-150 net. Thereafter, I agree that antler score will bump up into the glass ceiling of genetics and feed.

I think that predators are wildly overrated by most hunters. I live in the heart of newly-reintroduced wolf country in MT, and our game populations are just exploding. Not to say that predators have zero effect, just that it's less than many people would have you believe.

Finally, on funnels. I think there is good funnel country and bad funnel country. I hunt in both types, so I have a fairly wide experience. In one area that I hunt, in "good funnel country" I hunt almost exclusively from stands, dawn-to-dusk day after day. In the other area, I find stands placed on "funnels" next to worthless, a sure route to frustration. So, most of my hunting in this area is stillhunting.

I think a person can judge a piece of country as to whether it will be good funnel or bad funnel country. Three factor decide this:

1) Deer density. This one should be self-evident. Good funnel country will have higher deer densities than bad funnel country.

2) Amount of bedding cover. Good funnel country is basically, well, Iowa. Bad funnel country is the panhandle of Idaho. Good funnel country will have bedding cover on maybe 10% of the land form. On the flip side, if virtually every square inch of habitat is heavy cover, that would be bad funnel country.

3) Amount/Diversity of agricultural crops. Rich food sources funnel deer movement. If you've got a standing cornfield right next to the bedding area, you can bet that 90% of the deer are going to lock-step to that cornfield every evening. Lack of premium food sources means that deer have to spread out and browse here and there as their nose leads them.

To try to sum this up, in good funnel country with lots of deer, limited cover, and lots of crops, it doesn't take a master's degree in common sense to identify a working deer funnel. You know where they bed within a few hundred yards, and you know where they're going to feed within a few hundred yards. Find even the most rudimentary funnel between the two and you're in business. People in this kind of country can be a little smug about funnels, preaching to those of us hunting the big woods.

In poor funnel country, it's a different game. The deer are scattered at very near random all over the countryside. Then when they rise to feed, they pretty much head whichever direction their nose is pointed, because there is no "honey hole" (cornfield, bean field, alfalfa field, etc.) to draw them in. Finding productive funnels in this situation can be very tough. It's not that funnels are worthless, it's just that they won't produce anywhere near the deer sightings that good funnel country yields, even if deer densities are similar. In poor funnel country, you might sit a funnel all day to have a single deer sighting. On a non-funnel, you would probably sit for two days to have a deer sighting.

Anyhow, this is the time year to have these kinds of talks.

G5

yes, if you are in an area with a terrible buck:doe ratio than all the does willnot breed during the first rut. when this happens does not bread will go on a 28 day cycle (same as your girlfriend). this will continue until all the does are done. there has been reports of deer still breeding in january. though its not likely it can happen.