GET REAL!

HUNTING MATURE BUCKS IN THE EAST IS AS MUCH ABOUT MANAGING OUR OWN EXPECTATIONS AS IT IS OUTWITTING THE DEER.

By Zack Vucurevich

Aside from the mountain lion, the whitetail deer has the most extensive geographic range of any mammal in the Western Hemisphere. This remarkable ungulate occupies a range encompassing the southern half of Canada, the entire continental United States (excluding most of California, Nevada and Utah) and Mexico, and can even be found as far south as Bolivia. With such an immense range, the whitetail is an evolutionary juggernaut capable of adapting to and thriving in vastly different ecoregions. The four most influential factors in determining a buck’s ability to reach its full potential (both for antler size and weight) are age, nutrition, genetics and stress. The ecoregion you hunt tremendously impacts the size of the bucks you will likely encounter. For instance, if you are chasing the elusive Coues whitetail in…

You're reading a preview of

Game & Fish East (Digital) - 1 Issue, September 2023

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.