Editor’s Note: Wildlife biologists, land managers and knowledgeable deer hunters all agree that the more we learn about deer, the more we know that there’s a lot more to be learned. No one has all the answers. However, there are some standards that are fairly dependable and are universally accepted and this is the information that I’ve included in my “Deer Hunter’s/Manager’s Pocket Reference.” I wanted a booklet I could keep in my daypack in a Ziploc bag and refer to when I was in hunting camps or out in the field and had a question about deer and deer hunting. So, we created the Deer Hunter’s IQ Test that has appeared in newspapers and magazines across the country. Read below to learn how well you and your hunting buddies did.

* “I know you’re not going to believe this, but we’ve got a chain-link fence that’s 10-feet high around our manufacturing plant, and we’ve got a wooded area inside the fence where there’s always deer. Just as I was leaving work, I saw a coyote chase a really-big buck up to that fence, and the buck jumped that 10-foot-high fence.” What do you think? Can a buck jump a 10-foot-high fence?

Answer: Maybe, but more than likely not. The general rule is, from a standing start, a buck can jump 7 feet. From a running start, a buck can jump 8 feet. However, as I’ve said before, and I’ll continue to say, when you’re talking about wild game, especially individual deer, there can be an exceptional animal that’s a rule breaker. However, a more-likely scenario is that the fence wasn’t actually 10-feet high. Let me explain. Even if the fence was 10-feet high, if it went down in a valley, and the deer jumped from the high part of the hill toward the low part of the fence, even though the fence may have been 10-feet high, because of the terrain, the deer could jump over the fence at a low place in the fence. Another possibility is that the fence may not have been 10-feet high. If you measure the fence, it may be only 8-feet high and look like it’s 10-feet high. Another scenario is that the man saw the deer jump the fence and asked one of his coworkers, “How high is that fence?” The coworker may have answered, “Oh, I bet it’s at least 10-feet high,” not really knowing the exact height of the fence. Now I’m not saying that there may not have been a super deer on steroids that jumped that 10-foot fence. However, it’s highly unlikely.

* “Our hunting club is going to go on a trophy-management plan this year, because we want to take a lot of big bucks each season. We’ve got an awful lot of does and spikes, but very-few older-age-class bucks.” Will a trophy-deer-management plan produce “a lot” more big bucks? Or, will this hunting club be better off considering a quality-deer-management program? What’s the difference? Do you know?

Answer: Most hunting clubs who use the phrase “trophy-deer-management plan” are really talking about a quality-deer-management plan. Through habitat manipulation, hunter education and controlling hunting pressure and the doe population, you can have more quality bucks on a piece of property than you’ll have without any management scheme. The goal of a trophy-management strategy is to maintain a low deer density with a good portion of the bucks being large antlered bucks in above-average physical condition and the habitat in excellent condition. This type of program usually requires 5000 or more acres and is sometimes done by forming a deer cooperative. This strategy requires a commitment to:

• Fully-mature bucks with large antlers being the focus;
• hunter pressure being controlled;
• outdoorsmen hunting who have above-average field-judging skills and self-control;
• low deer density;
• aggressive doe harvest;
• intensive habitat management; and
• the strategy being designed and monitored by a wildlife biologist.

This is one of the reasons I compare a quality-deer-management program with a trophy-deer-management program in my reference guide. And by far, the majority of hunting clubs opt for a quality-deer-management program instead of a trophy-deer-management program. With a quality-deer-management program, you can grow more older-age-class bucks on your property than you will with a trophy-deer-management program.

Editor’s Note: Wildlife biologists, land managers and knowledgeable deer hunters all agree that the more we learn about deer, the more we know that there’s a lot more to be learned. No one has all the answers. However, there are some standards that are fairly dependable and are universally accepted and this is the information that I’ve included in my “Deer Hunter’s/Manager’s Pocket Reference.” I wanted a booklet I could keep in my daypack in a Ziploc bag and refer to when I was in hunting camps or out in the field and had a question about deer and deer hunting. So, we created the Deer Hunter’s IQ Test that has appeared in newspapers and magazines across the country. Read below to learn how well you and your hunting buddies did.

* Many outdoorsmen are having problems with deer, and like me, I’m sure you’ve heard your friends say, “You boys aren’t going to believe this. We live in a subdivision that’s covered-up in deer. My wife’s petunias, pansies, tulips and other plants are just getting eaten-up by deer. She’s asked me what she can plant that the deer won’t eat. Now I know at the hunting club we’re trying to figure-out what plants the deer will eat. But in my neighborhood, everybody is trying to learn what ornamental plants deer won’t eat.”

What plants won’t deer eat?

Answer: You may be surprised, but there’s a long list of different types of plants that are deer-resistant in my “Deer Hunter’s/Manager’s Pocket Reference,” including annuals, biennials, bulbs, ferns, groundcovers, ornamental grasses, perennials, shrubs and trees that you can plant in your yard that the deer are not supposed to want to eat. But always remember, that deer are often much like children. Although children are supposed to look both ways before the cross the street, sometimes they don’t. Here are a few of the more-popular plants in each category, but you can get a complete list in my deer reference guide.

Deer Resistant Plants:

Annuals – dusty miller, poppy, snapdragon
Biennials – common foxglove
Bulbs – bluebell, daffodil, ornamental onion
Ferns – holly fern, cinnamon fern
Groundcovers – bishop’s weed, lily of the valley
Ornamental Grasses – blue fescue, purple moor grass, Indian grass
Perennials – wild ginger, cactus, iris, lavender
Shrubs – bayberry, fragrant sumac
Trees – mimosa, pawpaw

* “That big 12-point buck I saw last season was killed 20-miles away on another hunting club I heard at the gas station when I was filling-up to come to the club,” one hunter said. Before the words were fully out of his mouth, another hunter jumped-in and announced, “That can’t be true, because a deer’s home range is only 1 mile.” Which man is right? How big is a white-tailed deer’s home range, how far do they travel during the rut, and can that buck that the first hunter has seen traveled 20 miles before another hunter has harvested him? What do you think?

Answer: A generally-accepted fact is that a deer’s home range is 1-square mile. However, that square mile may not be square. You see, deer don’t understand square. They go where they go and do what they do, but generally speaking, they do live within a 1-square-mile area, more or less. Now, when the rut arrives, a buck may travel as far as 5 miles from his home range, and there are rare instances where bucks may travel even further. Some radio telemetry studies show that certain individual deer may travel great distances due to hunting pressure, a low doe population or they’re being pursued by predators. While I don’t think we can say for sure that the 12-point buck the first hunter saw wasn’t the same buck that was taken by the hunter 20-miles away, more than likely there was more than one 12-point buck living within a 20-mile area. Several of those 12 pointers may have similar antler configurations.

My guess is that the hunter saw a 12-point-buck, and when he heard another hunter had killed a 12-point buck 20-miles away, the first hunter assumed that the buck that was harvested was the same buck he’d seen. And, he could have been right. However, the odds are against that buck traveling 20 miles. Normally, an older-age-class buck that has lived long enough to have a 12-point rack has found sanctuary on his home range and stays in those sanctuaries during daylight hours, except during the rut. Even then, most older-age-class bucks, especially in areas with a great deal of hunting pressure, will travel only at night.