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Watchen Em Grow: Summer Fall Nutritional Calendar

By
Jason Ashe
-

 

High Octane Summer Foods

Whitetails will seek the first available high-quality Browse and green food in early spring to revamp their winter-ravaged bodies from a long Cold Winter and the rigors of 2 months of rutting. The first new sprouting native vegetation has more high octane nutrition in it than it will have at any other time of the season. The protein and mineral content in the new spring/ summer growth is toppled with nutrition. Whitetails turn to fresh new grasses, native browse and forbs to gain back what was lost in winter. The new browse shoots from these native plants are highly nutritious, bringing high octane nutrition from 18% to 30% to lactating does and boosting muscle development and replenishing weight loss on bucks to who are beginning the journey of antler development.

Annual and perennial forbs and native browse are the main tiers of a deer’s diet during the spring and summer months. Evolved Clover Pro

Well-Rounded Nutrition

Whitetail deer require different nutritional requirements at different times of the year; just like people, whitetails need a well-rounded diet. Growing bucks, lactating does, and newborn fawns require these nutritional needs: calcium, phosphorus, fiber, sodium, carbohydrates, and fat, as well as the baseline of protein and water. By providing a good chunk of these requirements on your property, whitetails will gravitate to your ground, and more times than not, spend the majority of their life on your property.

Nutritional Calendar Summer/Fall

Woody browse or deer browse is defined as the leaves, twigs, and buds of woody plants consumed by whitetails. Whitetail deer are primarily browsers. Eating browse is an important part of what deer consume especially during the late winter months and early spring months when food is hard to come by. In fact, browse may be the only food source available during much of the winter.

The calendar date for browse is all season and includes:

  • Blackberry
  • Blueberry
  • Dogwood
  • Elderberry
  • Elms
  • Grapes
  • Greenbrier
  • Partridge pea
  • Maples
  • Oaks
  • Persimmon
  • Poison ivy
  • Sassafras
  • Serviceberry
  • Sumacs
  • Viburnum
  • Virginia creeper

Whitetails also eat a wide variety of native plants such as ferns, wild mushrooms and herbaceous forages (forbs) from April into the last days of summer when palatability and quality diminish.

  • Asters
  • Brassicas
  • Clover
  • Coralberry
  • Chickweed
  • Crotons
  • Fleabanes
  • Goldenrods
  • Lespedezas
  • Pokeweed
  • Prickly lettuce
  • Ragweed
  • Smartweeds
  • Sunflowers
  • Sweet clovers
  • Tick trefoils
  • Verbena
  • Vetches
  • Violets
  • Wild strawberry

Hard (Acorns,Hickory) and soft mast (Apples) are a whitetails main focous during the fall when antler development has finished and does have weaned their fawns, allowing deer to build up their fat reserves for the rigors of the breeding season and the upcoming winter. Acorns and corn are low in protein but have a huge high energy and fat content, so they are staple foods in areas where they are available.

  • Beech nuts
  • Blackberry
  • Crabapple
  • Grapes
  • Hazelnut
  • Honey locust
  • Oak (acorns)
  • Persimmon
  • Corn
  • Beans

Grasses rarely are a preferred food item of whitetails, except during the early growth stages when the grass shoots are more digestible, from April through June. Cereal grains, such as oats, wheat, and rye, are highly preferred.

  • Bluegrass
  • Bromes
  • Oats
  • Panic grasses
  • Rye
  • Wheat

 

A healthy white-tailed deer population, landowners and managers half to understand and provide whitetails for their nutritional needs throughout the year. Although a whitetail nutritional requirement vary by season, deer density, physiological activity, a well devised plan like the ones from the NDA management practices can be implemented to enhance habitats, providing a diversity of forages to keep whitetails on your hunting property.

Thanksgiving Rut Tracker

By
Jason Ashe
-

Last week Inside Archery called “rut on”, and this week the “rut on” echos remain the same. The rut meter is maxed out for the second week in a row. It may be reading a solid 100% on your little piece of paradise but it may be hovering in the 60’s over on the neighbor’s but that’s how the rut plays out, super here, not so hot, there. It all depends on which does are in estrus and where.

Many hunters call “rut over” after a few “little to no activity” sits which often occur during the November lockdown. That can be a serious mistake., this is no time to be watching football on a Saturday afternoon. Experienced Whitetail hunters know that the buck they have been holding out for is moving from doe to doe and can turn up at any time. Ridges, funnels and other travel corridors are still a good bet. Also food sources will begin to come into play more and more each day.

Whitetails still need to eat, thick spots are packed with leaves and woody browse and standing crops like dried off corn and soy beans are great late season attractors as are food plots full of luscious greens Brassicas and Turnips. Late season sits are often weather driven so timing hunts around the weather often makes sense, deer are more often to be out after a blizzard than during one. Of course, deer become super scarce as hunting pressure increases, so be sure to keep your scent to a minimum and dig deep into your deer hunting bag of tricks, but most of all, hunt often and hunt hard, deer hunting doesn’t get much better than this.

Whitetail Playbook: Just How Big is a Whitetail’s Home Range?

By
Jason Ashe
-

Home ranges of whitetails are areas in which they normally live (basically spend most of their time) during spring, summer, fall, and early winter. After that, they migrate and live in wintering areas until the snow melts in spring. They are sometimes forced to temporarily abandon their ranges by hunters or large predators. Lesser antlered bucks (yearlings and mature bucks prevented from breeding) are temporarily driven off-range by dominant breeding bucks beginning about mid-October — 2–3 weeks before November breeding begins — and are generally kept off-range by dominant breeding bucks throughout the two-week breeding period in November. Whitetails are also sometimes drawn off-range by special foods such as falling acorns, combined grain, scarce water, or a doe in heat.

Amazingly, some mature bucks I have photographed off-range appeared to be knowledgeable of areas as large as 16 square-miles. Yearling bucks and does normally live within the ranges of their mothers throughout their yearling year, and it encompasses about 200 acres, though they typically begin to explore short distances off-range in fall and expanding to 450 acres or more. When nearing two years of age, early during their second spring, they are driven off-range by their mothers, then forced to seek and establish their own first home ranges, which could be up to 10 miles away.

Depending on deer densities, home ranges of does with young are approx 90–250 acres in size, averaging about 125 acres. Doe ranges do not ordinarily overlap. They are separated by buffer zones made up of natural features such as openings, roads, hedgerows, swamps, lakes, and watercourses. In habitat where whitetails are not overabundant, there are usually four, sometimes five, doe home ranges in a square-mile.

First home ranges of bucks two years of age are generally 350–900 acres in size. Lesser bucks 3-1/2 to 6-1/2 years of age (bucks that lost battles with one or more other bucks) establish ranges 300–600 acres in size. Most dominant breeding bucks (bucks at the top of their buck pecking orders) establish home ranges at least a square-mile (640 acres) in size. Some larger and more aggressive dominant breeding bucks will have home ranges as large as 1000–1300 acres during the rut, but these ranges shrink to as small as 40 during winter. Ranges of mature bucks generally overlap parts or entire home ranges of other bucks and does, enabling to 3–5 mature bucks, 2–6 yearling bucks, 4-5 mature does, 2-6 yearling does, and 4-10 fawns to live in peace within one square-mile.

Limited food sources and cold winter weather might cause the deer to migrate or to move to winter home ranges. I’ve seen this winter home range shift occur as early as mid-December if the weather turns cold, the snow gets deep, the natural food sources are gone, or agricultural food sources like corn and soybeans are picked or plowed under. If you don’t see any deer in your area, they might have moved or migrated. If they have, you will have to start the scouting, glassing, and patterning process all over again if you want to be a successful deer hunter, and learn what your whitetail does and how they use the surrounding areas around you through the seasons.

Whitetail Playbook:The Best Tree stand Placement for Every Phase of the Season

By
Jason Ashe
-

 

Hunters across the United States, Canada and Mexico harvest millions of whitetail deer annually, and most of those animals are taken from tree stands.Hunters looking to harvest a mature buck (or any deer) from a tree stand should pay close attention to the stand placement to maximize their chances of success.Each seasonal phase influences your tree stand placement choices, and knowing a little more about the separate portions of time can help immensely when it comes to hitting your target.

Why Tree stand Placement Matters

Some hunters believe that one tree is as good as the next when it comes to treestand placement. They think if they put in their time eventually a big buck will come walking by.

Nothing could be further from the truth. While it is true that time spent in the woods increases your odds for success, hunters who blindly sit the same stand site throughout the season are destined to see mediocre results at best.

The best plan of attack is to establish multiple stand sites to take advantage of changes in whitetails’ behavior throughout the course of the season.

Phase One: Early Season (Opening day-October 9)

At this time of year a deer’s life revolves around food. This should be considered when thinking about early season tree stand placement.

If you are looking to harvest a doe or young buck and put some venison in the freezer, setting up on the downwind side of food source is a good bet. This type of stand location is best hunted in the evening to allow access to the stand without spooking deer off the food source. Deer will typically start entering the food source about a half an hour before dark.

If it is a mature buck you are after, you should hunt staging areas during this phase of the season. A staging area is an area located near a food source where mature bucks hang out or “stage” before entering the food source after dark. Staging areas can be created by planting small mini-food plots just inside the woods from a larger food source.

Phase Two: The Lull (October 10-25)

Phase two is a hunter’s least favorite.

Experts disagree on why deer move less during this period. Some believe it is a response to hunting pressure, others think the falling leaves and lack of concealing foliage make deer feel vulnerable, or it may be that the mature bucks are resting up for the coming breeding season. Whatever the reason, deer movement is slow during this phase of the season.

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The best thing a hunter can do to increase their chance of connecting on a mature buck is to stay out of their best spots during this phase of the season.

If you do hunt, place your stands as close to bedding areas as possible. Be careful not to spook deer as this will negatively impact the rest of your season, and smart hunters know the best is yet to come.

Phase Three: The Pre-Rut (October 26-November 3)

During this phase of the season, rubs and scrapes will be popping up everywhere. Use information from prior years and careful on-the-ground scouting to determine which scrape and rub lines are receiving the most buck traffic, and set up along these routes.

This is the best time of year to harvest that mature buck you have on trail camera. Bucks will exhibit more daytime movement than in previous phases, but still maintain a somewhat regular schedule. They will also keep mostly to their home range.

Phase Four: The Chase (November 4-12)

During this phase some does will have come into estrus, causing bucks to begin actively seeking receptive females.

Tree stands should be placed in funnels and travel corridors. Bucks will use the path of least resistance while sticking to the best available cover when scent checking for does. Hunters should be prepared to stay on stand all day during this phase, because daytime movement will be at a yearly high.

In addition to proper tree stand placement, hunters will have the most success with rattling and grunting during this phase.

Phase Five:  Breeding Lockdown (November 13-20)

This is the time of year most of the does will be bred. When a buck finds a receptive doe, he will herd her into thick cover and stay with her until breeding occurs. This process can take anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of days. Movement will decrease drastically from the chase phase.

The good news for hunters is that once a buck has bred a doe, he will move until he finds another.

Treestand placement for this phase should focus on thick cover. Set up on the downwind side of the nastiest thicket on your hunting property and put in your time. Eventually a buck will come out of the cover or attempt to move a doe into it. Patience is the key during this phase because action can go from cold to hot in a matter of minutes.

Phase Six: Post-Rut (November 25-End of Season)

Once most of the does have been bred, there may be a slight increase in deer movement, with bucks searching for the last un-bred does. During this period, which usually only lasts a few days, you should sit in your phase four stands.

After breeding is done, bucks need to eat in order to regain calories lost during the rut. Food sources are once again your best option for tree stand placement. Hunters should be prepared to hunt during periods of unseasonably cold weather as this will force bucks to eat.

A shorter less intense ‘second rut’ occurs in some areas when unbred does and yearlings come into heat. Most of the chasing and breeding during this period takes place near major food sources where does congregate, further reinforcing the food source tree stand placement option.

All Season Long

Hunters should keep a few things in mind whenever they head to a tree stand. From phase one through six, hunters should strive to:

  • Have multiple stand sites: Over hunting any stand can cause the area to go cold.
  • Practice scent control: Never sit a stand when the wind is not in your favor and adopt a strict scent control system while hunting and hanging stands
  • Establish entry and exit routes to your tree stands: Make sure you are not spooking deer on the way into or out of your hunting location.  This may mean a longer walk back to the truck but the end result will be worth it.

Tree stand placement is one of the most important elements to a successful whitetail hunt.

Whitetail Playbook: Whitetail Movement Triggers

By
Jason Ashe
-

Most people simply hunt the way they were taught and never question why. Each year thousands of hunters rise in the morning before sunrise and make the trip to be in their stands at first light. But is this really the best time to take a deer? There are other dedicated evening hunters. Most could never really tell you the reason why they believe that hunting those last few hours before dark seems to work for them. Is that the best time to find a trophy buck?

To really understand the best time to be in the woods, we must look at deer behavior and how that changes as the seasons change. There may be no hard-and-fast rule but there are certain guidelines that will help you choose the best time to get a shot at that trophy buck.

Deer will move at odd times for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately, most of these reasons will make it harder to hunt rather than something we, as hunters, can capitalize on.

What gets them on their feet

  • Weather is the year-round most common factor that will cause a deer to move at times not normal to their pattern. Heavy rain or snow may keep them bedded down longer than usual or prevent them from moving at all. Hot days can have similar effects or drive them to move to more sheltered areas.
  • The phase of the moon can have a dramatic impact on when deer feed. The old thought was that deer fed on nights the moon was bright and stayed bedded down when the moon was dark, but there is evidence to challenge that belief.
  • For the time being, understand that the amount of light will be a factor on how deer feed and that full moons drive deer to food, meaning that they will often seek forage later and head to bedding spots earlier.
  • Temperature is a good guideline to how deer will move, especially in the fall. If there is a cold front, it will often drive deer out of bed early and keep them foraging for longer. On the coldest mornings, deer may head back to bedding spots much later in the day than usual, sometimes as late as noon.
  • How pressured a deer is by hunters or other human activity in an area will make deer move more often. A deer that feels safe without humans around will stay in bed longer and be less alert heading to and from forage. This can mean that the presence of hunters can completely change the activity cycle of deer.
  • The last motivating factor of deer piggybacks off the previous one. A deer will move out of fear. If a deer is bedded and is startled, it will move immediately. Sometimes this will be the sudden bolt we all expect, but deer can be quite stealthy and leave an area without a hunter even knowing they were there.

Determining the best times to hunt with so many variables is a difficult science at best, especially without actual empirical evidence. We are making an educated guess based on recognized patterns of behavior and attempting to play some psychological games with the deer mind. We can just do our best to get that trophy buck.

Whitetail PlayBook: Backdating Big Buck Trail Camera Photos

By
Jason Ashe
-

Hunting whitetails by previous seasons wind and weather patterns can be a very confusing concept to some whitetail hunters. Nothing is more important to a mature whitetail than smelling their surroundings before exposing themselves. Whitetails use the wind like a supercharged bird dog tasting every particle they can to make a strategic decision while concentrating on the important things in life (breeding and food). Mature bucks have the uncanny ability of knowing particular stand sights and hunter entrances and exits to and from stands. Figuring out when and why they moved through a particular area should be dissected quite carefully. Mature bucks very rarely give you the full advantage when moving during daylight.

Mature Bucks can be very Patternable if your scouting is done correctly.

Trail cameras are a valuable tool when it comes to trying to connect the dots on a mature buck. Like most tools in the whitetail hunters arsenal careful planning of camera sites and information from cameras can give you the upper hand on taking a trophy buck. Backdating Unique buck trail camera photos is a lot of hard but fun work and will unlock many of the elements of why that buck moved that particular day. There are many great apps and programs for marking down particular buck encounters from the field and trail cameras. Keeping a log of weather, wind direction and time of year  will give you a detailed whitetail map to how that buck works the area you hunt on certain weather patterns and how he may have beat you this past Fall. You can find specific hourly wind directions and other weather elements such as moon phase and barometric pressure on weather channel or your local weather records. Mature bucks always have the advantage on you when you are in their round house. So backdating the previous seasons trail cam photos could be the ticket to a strategic approach to individual bucks on certain weather patterns or more importantly specific wind directions.

 

 

Whitetail PayBook:How Much Bigger does Velvet Actually Make Bucks Appear

By
Jason Ashe
-

 

I have always had difficulty judging the score on glassing August velvet bucks and also trail cam velvet bucks..Needless to say, I over judge them.I do think I can judge a live buck out of velvet with fair accuracy. But adding that extra 8-12 inches of velvet trickery can be a challenge.

Figuring a book buck will have 40″ of mass (rule of thumb, not an absolute), means an average mass measurement of 5″ on a typical 8-point. I’ve killed 2 velvet bucks, the velvet was no more than 1/8″ thick – probably less. So, with a 5″ average circumference, if antlers are perfect circles, beam diameter is 1.59″ (C = 2*pi*r, D= 2r). With a 1/8″ layer added, increases the circumpherence to 5 7/8″. In this case, 1/8″ velvet adds 7/8″ to a perfectly circular 5″ bony antler circumpherence, or a total of 7″ mass with 8 perfectly circular, 5″ average, mass measurements. In this case, the mythical, perfectly symmetrical, perfectly circular-beamed -point buck will need to net 157″ in velvet to net 148″ stripped.

Of course, in real life, there is no such deer. The more flattened the antler, the less impact of the velvet addition (the circle is the most extreme difference). It will also depend on whether velvet is dry or green, and likely there is individual variation too. Still, I doubt you’ll ever lose more than 10″ when stripping velvet from a typical 8-point, and likely quite a bit less. However, keep in mind, this is comparing velvet compressed by a tape, to stripping that velvet. The fuzzier his velvet (again, dryness or lack thereof, individual variation), the more “ground shrink” there will be, between what you THOUGHT his mass was, and what it actually is with the velvet stripped off. The more massive the rack, the less, percentage-wise, loss when stripping velvet. However, the more massive the rack, the greater, in total number of points, loss when stripping velvet.

I’ve found that there is no sure fire method, but I think I can get pretty close.

Bucks with lots of points will lose more inches because each tip of an antler will lose about an quarter of an inch. Each mass measurement will also lose an eighth as well. The inside spread will gain 2 eighths. Count up the points, and add the 8 mass measurements and call them an eighth each, and you can just about tell how much you will lose.

 

Trail Camera photo’s don’t always tell the whole story. About 4 years ago I grossly under-judged a buck by nearly 30 inches due to the distance my camera was from the buck. I did not pick up the nearly 27″ of “trash” on his bases. I knew he had some of that, but a lot of it was actually behind his ears and some of it was so close it just was not visible. He had quite a bit more mass than I thought as well… again due to the fact I had my camera quite a bit further away than I normally put it. It’s a guessing game, but I think it’s kind of fun to judge them, another tip is try to run your trail cameras on video mode so you can pick up other antler characteristics.

Whitetail PlayBook:Planting Fall Plots? Better Check First Frost Date

By
Jason Ashe
-

Seems like we no sooner wrap up the spring planting and it is already time to start putting in our fall food plots for whitetails, especially when you live north of the Mason-Dixon Line. Fall planting generally begins when the hot dry summer ends and cooler moist conditions return.

For many, planting fall food plots is a guessing game of sorts. You are betting on the heat of summer being over and enough rain to keep the young plants growing. Also, you’ll need a long enough growing season to get a good plot that will last well into hunting season. Cold temperatures and frosts can stop or at least slow down growth so fall planting dates in cold locations are very important.

The growing season for most food plot plants ends around the first frost and that’s the critical date you need to keep in mind when you begin your fall planting. Most food plots need at least 45 days of growth time to create a viable plot. The trick is to note the expected date of your first frost and plant roughly 45 days earlier. The first frost may not kill your plot, but by the time first frost rolls around the days are generally short, the nights are chilly to downright cold and the soil can be cold and wet. Bottom line, most plants shut down under these conditions.

Savvy plotters hit the internet and look up first frost dates for their area. The internet is loaded with sites that will tell you all kinds of information about growing conditions in your area. The National Weather Service keeps all kinds of weather information, predicting when the first frost (and first hard freeze) of the year generally hits among them. The USDA specialized in providing information for those of us who like to grow stuff.

My area of NY typically has its first frost around September 20. Back up 45 days and I bet you can guess what I’ll be doing the first week of August. The 45 day/first frost guideline is just that, a guideline and a bet, but a pretty darn good one, it has paid off for me for us for three decades.

You can also hedge your bet by selecting certain plants. Turnips generally do well in cool conditions, clover likes cool wet feet, and some grains (winter wheat, forage oats and rye) will generally keep growing long after the first frost. A few food plot seed manufacturers (like The Whitetail Institute) provides planting date guidelines on their packaging.

Whitetail Playbook: August-September Whitetail Shift

By
Jason Ashe
-

Every deer hunter has found themselves in this similar situation: You have a particular buck or group of bucks on your hunting grounds, and you patterned and scouted their habits for much of the summer with hundreds of photos and videos of them. They’ve been showing up in the lower bean fields sometime before dark, or they’ve been feeding every morning in the alfalfa field until about 15 minutes after daylight, or they’ve been crossing a pinch point every afternoon. But as August begins to flip the page and become September, all of a sudden the buck is gone. There has not been any trail camera photos of him in weeks and no more recent sightings. Small bucks and doe family groups dominate the fields where you watched the bachelor group of bucks in early to mid-August.

When August begins to flip the page and become September, all of a sudden, the bucks are gone.

Developing A Whitetail Playbook

Now is when you get to start your game plan all over again and shift your scouting, try to locate the bucks you want to chase in a few weeks, try to pattern their movements again, and put a plan together for opening day.

During August and early September, whitetails are, of course, the same animals as your late September and October whitetails, but their behavior, personalities, and patterns change dramatically. Some of these behavior changes occur because of changes within their bodies and the weather, some because of changes within their habitat and food sources, and mostly because for the first time in months, humans are intruding his woods.

Once deer begin seeing, smelling, and hearing the presence of humans in the woods, they become alarmed and begin to move to different feeding areas later in the evening, leaving them under the cover of darkness. They also begin using areas farther away from increased activity in their effort to avoid human intrusion.

Whitetails do not know the difference between a hunter, hiker, or person walking their dog in the woods; to them, it is all intrusion. There are times during the hunting season when deer activity will actually increase during the day because of patternable human behavior.

Whitetail Weather Watching

Just like humans, whitetails have certain temperatures, dewpoints, wind chills, and wind speeds in which they prefer to be active. These are the comfort factors that influence daily deer activity.

Once deer grow their winter coats in late August and into early September, high temperatures keep them from traveling very far from bed to feed. They usually wait until the cover of darkness and temperatures to drop to their comfort level before planning their evening excursion.

When temperatures are colder, deer often stay in areas providing protection from the wind. They move to open feeding areas waiting until the daytime temperatures rise, then move during daylight hours, especially on overcast days.

The weather has a profound impact on deer movement throughout the year. Those impacts are never more apparent to deer hunters than during August and September when weather swings occur frequently, swiftly, and at times severe. Whitetails tend to be there one day and gone for ten days.

The weather has a profound impact on deer movement throughout the year.

Not all deer react in the same way to the transitional shift, which makes it difficult to determine the patterns and habits of the bucks you have been watching. Does respond differently than bucks, and older mature bucks respond differently than younger bucks.  The movements of both subdominant and dominant bucks change, but they do not change in the same way.

The Complete Whitetail Package

By
Jason Ashe
-

When it comes to deer management, many of us automatically paint the picture of giant bucks, jacked up trucks and four thousand acres. QDMA is more about growing a healthy and well-balanced deer herd, which means they encourage and help you manage for the biggest and healthiest deer your particular property is capable of producing. Mature bucks are a possibility, but QDMA is not going to trump local genetics. Deer hunter satisfaction is viewed from two perspectives, satisfaction with the hunt/harvest and satisfaction with the overall hunting trip experience. How often have we heard the quote on a great photo of a happy hunter sitting behind their harvest, that you should have gave him one more year or what did that buck score. As much as everyone loves and strives to shoot a mature buck it is not always in the cards year after year.

Deer hunter satisfaction is viewed from two perspectives, satisfaction with the hunt/harvest and satisfaction with the overall hunting trip experience.

The complex strategy 

Managing a deer herd is an extremely complex puzzle and is influenced by many uncontrolled factors, some of which are poorly understood even by the country’s best wildlife biologists. A major goal of any deer management plan is to provide hunters with a quality hunting experience. Determining the success of their experience is the science and driving force behind hunter recruitment. More specifically, how much harvest success is related to a quality hunting experience. Most hunter satisfaction have considered the actual hunt and the overall hunting experience to be inextricable and, therefore, have not attempted to distinguish between the two. However, most hunters indicate harvest success is not the most important, or even a very important, component of a quality hunting experience. Being in the outdoors, temporary escape, and the deer camp experience often are the most important dimensions of a quality hunting trip than harvesting of an animal.

Being in the outdoors, temporary escape, and the deer camp experience often are the most important dimensions of a quality hunting trip

Healthy ecosystem 

Deer overpopulation has the potential to limit forest regeneration to such an extent that the most basic ecosystem functions of a forest habitat may be threatened and your deer management plan forced to shift gears. Even where forests appear to be healthy at present, those forests will likely be negatively impacted by overpopulation of deer in the future unless those deer and their habitat are actively managed. The observations you make in the woods may indicate the level of impact that browsing deer generally are having on that particular piece of property. A variety of browse species and signs can be used as indicators to help recognize deer impacts. Obvious signs of deer browsing to seedlings or under-story plants and shrubs can indicate deer impacts and needs for available food. Browsing on species are not typically preferred by deer may indicate substantial deer impacts, as more palatable species are usually eaten first.

Preferred browse species                 

  • Brambles (blackberry, raspberry)
  • Grape
  • Greenbrier
  • Dogwood
  • Choke cherry
  • Ferns
  • Wild flowers

Overpopulation browse indicators

  • Beech
  • Autumn Olive
  • Tartarian Honeysuckle
  • Multiflora Rose
  • Japanese Honeysuckle
  • Buck-thorn

The level of impact and your goals will help identify your habitat plans and management strategies. Beyond the impact on specific trees or other plants, deer can significantly influence wildlife habitat by altering the forest’s total composition and structure, which in turn will affect the entire forest ecosystem; being proactive in addressing this threat is an essential part of our deer management programs. Yearly evaluation of deer habitat impacts will draw you a management plan for each season. Every day you can do something in the whitetail woods that will better the deer hunting and deer health on your property.

Deer hunting is too personal to be told what you can and can’t shoot.

Shoot what makes you happy

In the course of those discussions, many hunters, including me, believe we should follow the principles of Quality Deer Management (QDM) if we want better deer hunting. That doesn’t mean, though, that many of us don’t harbor some of the if-I-don’t-shoot-it-the-next-guy-will mentality. There’s always that question in the back of my mind when I let a buck walk. QDM means different things to some hunters. Deer hunting is too personal to be told what you can and can’t shoot. What does Quality Deer Management mean to you?

The Benefits of Processing Your Own Deer Meat This Fall

By
Jason Ashe
-

Unlock the Flavor: A Comprehensive Guide to Processing Your Own Deer Meat

The hunting adventure doesn’t end when you pull the trigger and bag a beautiful deer. It’s a journey that continues through field dressing, aging, and ultimately into processing your own deer meat. This process isn’t just about saving money – it’s about quality, pride, and the pure, primal satisfaction of taking your hunt from field to table. The savviness of this self-reliant practice can improve the taste of your venison, give you the confidence of knowing exactly where your meat comes from, and offer a great opportunity for family bonding.

Venison: the backstrap, tenderloin, shoulder, hindquarters, and other cuts

Let’s explore the ins and outs of processing your own deer meat, a fulfilling endeavor that complements the thrill of the hunt.

The Bounty of Self-Processing: Why It’s Worth It

Processing your own deer meat allows you to be intimately involved in every step of the way, ensuring the highest standards are met. It’s an excellent way to continue the celebration of the hunt while learning valuable skills and lessons about sustainability and respect for the animal.

  1. Maximize Your Yield: Proper deboning techniques can help to ensure that nothing is wasted. This involves recognizing which cuts of meat are best suited for various preparations such as jerky cuts, stew meat, and ground meat. The efficiency of hide removal and the effective stripping of silver skin are also skills honed over time.
  2. Maintain Quality Control: When things get busy at deer processing shops, rush jobs can occur, compromising the quality of the meat. By taking the reins, you oversee the whole process, guaranteeing the quality of each cut. For more information on maintaining quality during field dressing, check out our previous article: Easily Field Dress a Deer.
  3. Teach the Next Generation: Home processing serves as a hands-on learning experience for budding hunters. It provides an excellent opportunity to teach the younger generation about sustainable hunting and responsible meat processing. It’s a rewarding way to ensure the tradition and ethos of hunting are passed down.

Preparing to Process Your Deer Meat

Before we delve into the specifics, it’s important to gather the right tools and resources. A great place to start is our guide on Gutless Field Dressing, which details the first steps after a successful hunt. Once you’re back home with your field-dressed deer, you’re ready to begin processing.

Processing your own venison is a project that requires some learning. Here are some resources we recommend:

These resources provide a solid foundation of knowledge to empower you to handle this task with confidence and efficiency.

The Art of Processing: Breaking It Down

Processing your deer essentially involves breaking down the carcass into manageable, usable cuts of meat. Here’s a brief rundown of the process.

Skinning: Removing the hide from your deer is the first step in processing. The key here is to be patient and methodical. Make sure to use a sharp knife and avoid cutting into the meat as much as possible.

Deboning: This is the process of removing the meat from the bones. Learning how to debone properly is a skill that improves with practice, and it’s crucial for maximizing the yield of usable meat from your deer.

Separating the cuts: At this point, you’ll identify and separate the different cuts of meat. This includes the backstrap, tenderloin, shoulder, hindquarters, and other cuts. Knowing how to do this will allow you to use each cut of meat to its full potential.

  1. Backstrap: This is one of the most sought-after cuts of a deer. It runs along the spine of the deer and is known for its tenderness and flavor. To remove it, make a cut along the spine from the neck to the hindquarters, and then another cut along the ribs. Carefully slice and pull the meat away from the spine.
  2. Tenderloin: The tenderloin is found inside the body cavity, against the backbone. It’s usually removed before the deer is fully processed due to its delicacy. It’s small in size but highly valued for its tenderness.
  3. Shoulder: The front legs and shoulders of the deer do not contain any large bones, so they can be separated from the carcass by cutting the connective tissue.
  4. Hindquarters: The hindquarters contain several key cuts including the round, shank, and rump. These cuts are excellent for roasting and slow cooking. To separate the hindquarters, cut through the joint where the pelvis meets the spine.
  5. Neck and Ribs: The meat here is often used for ground meat, stews, or slow-cooked dishes. For the ribs, trim away the meat and save for grinding or roasting. The neck meat can be cut away from the bone in chunks, or you can cook the neck whole in recipes requiring slow cooking.

Knowing how to separate these cuts properly will allow you to use each cut of meat to its full potential, maximizing your yield from the deer and providing a variety of options for cooking and preparation.

Trimming and packaging: This final step involves cleaning up your cuts, removing excess fat and silver skin, and packaging your meat for storage. Vacuum sealing is a popular method for preserving venison, though butcher paper can also work well.

Remember to save the ribs as well. As one of our followers, Mark Kendall, pointed out: “Not a whole lot of meat but what is there makes a great BBQ.”

For a more detailed look, here’s a great article on field & stream:  How to Butcher a Deer: A Step-by-Step Guide

Getting Creative: Making Sausage, Jerky, and Ground Venison

Once you have your cuts separated and cleaned, it’s time to get creative. Ground venison, jerky, and sausage are great ways to utilize your deer and can provide some of the most satisfying and delicious results.

The process of grinding your own venison is relatively simple and offers a great deal of flexibility in your cooking. Venison sausage is another option that allows you to explore a variety of flavors and seasonings. For some inspiration on how to use your freshly ground venison, check out our recipe for The Best Deer Camp Chili.

As for the jerky, it’s an art of its own. Selecting lean cuts of meat, marinating, and drying at a low temperature will yield a delicious and portable protein snack.

Conclusion: The Full Circle of Hunting

Processing your own deer is a highly rewarding extension of the hunting experience. It not only ensures that you get the most out of your hunt, but it also provides a tangible connection to the meat you consume. As the final stage of a successful hunt, meat processing closes the loop, turning the labor of the hunt into a hearty meal to share.

To put it simply, doing it yourself gives you complete control, saves you money, and deepens your connection with the whole hunting process. So, why not give it a try? Equip yourself with the right knowledge and tools, and step into the rewarding realm of deer processing.

 

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