Deer University
recording a Deer University podcast
Deer University podcasts are all about deer biology and management. Drs. Bronson Strickland and Steve Demarais are both deer hunters, deer biologists, professors of wildlife management, and co-directors of the Mississippi State University Deer Lab. Steve and Bronson are so crazy about deer biology and management that they made it their career!
Our goal is to explain how you can use deer research to improve your hunting and management experiences. Don’t take for granted what your buddy says or what you read in a hunting magazine – we’ll train you to think like a deer biologist. As national leaders in deer research, we’ll keep you up to date on the latest and best information, and deliver episodes that cover every deer management topic you can imagine, and then add some that will surprise you.
If you are interested in deer hunting and management, this is your podcast! Every shot you take this fall is either a step forward or backward in your management program, so use our knowledge to make every shot count!
Hosts of Deer University:
Dr. Bronson Strickland, Professor of Wildlife Management, Mississippi State University Extension Service
Dr. Steve Demarais, Professor of Wildlife Management, Mississippi State University Forest and Wildlife Research Center
Listen
This episode is devoted to mineral stumps. Marcus Lashley joins the podcast and reviews all the details. How to make them, when to make them, where to make them.
Summer can be a nutritionally stressful period for deer. When bucks are growing antlers and does are gestating or lactating, there should be abundant high-quality food for them. In this episode we visit with Dr. Craig Harper from the University of Tennessee and discuss the important role of habitat and warm-season food plots during summer. Craig talks about the best summer food plot forages, and strategies to ensure their success. He also discusses his recent research on the effects of mowing perennial plots during summer.
A topic of much debate and argument is cull bucks. Do cull bucks exist? Are they different from management bucks? All good questions. In this episode we review this terminology and discuss scenarios where harvesting cull bucks, or management bucks, makes a lot of sense.
At the beginning of the episode we revealed a new Deer Management Online Seminar Series. Below is the link to this program, and if you have questions, please reach out to Bill Hamrick at w.hamrick@msstate.edu
https://reg.extension.msstate.edu/view/cal10a.aspx?ek=&ref=&aa=&sid1=&sid2=&as=81&wp=324&tz=&ms=&nav=&cc=&cat1=&cat2=&cat3=&aid=MSU&rf=&pn=
On this page, you will find 8 courses related to Deer Biology and Management.
Buck Selective Harvest Strategies
Deer Management Concepts: Management Approaches and Population Dynamics
Food Plot Principles
Cool-Season Food Plots
Pine Management Affects Deer Habitat Quality
Regional Variation in Body and Antler Size: Is it Nutrition or Genetics?
Reproductive Ecology: Seasonal Breeding and Reproductive Success
Understanding Nutrition and Life Stage Requirements
Last, we mentioned a book we wrote that goes into great detail about culling or harvesting management bucks. We call the process the Strategic Harvest System and we titled the book “Strategic Harvest System: How to Break Through the Buck Management Glass Ceiling”
https://www.amazon.com/Strategic-Harvest-System-Through-Management-ebook/dp/B076VXY475
In this episode we discuss the anatomy and physiology of deer relative to making effective shots that result in a rapid recovery. Our guest is Dr. Joe R. Bumgardner who is a retired surgeon. Dr. Bumgardner practiced abdominal and chest surgery in Starkville, MS for 28 years and took his expertise from the operating room and applied it to white-tailed deer. Dr. Bumgardner explains how broadheads and bullets disrupt the primary physiological systems of deer and cause their death. Additionally, he provides real-world examples with advice for optimal shot placement and what to do after the shot to increase your odds of recovering your deer.
In this episode we discuss a food plot system that integrates both cool season and warm season food plot forages in the same plot. Mitt Wardlaw has been using this system for over 5 years with great success. During the hunting season, Mitt has both high-energy grains (soybean or corn) along with high-protein clovers in his food plots. Join us for this episode to learn how to make this food plot planting system work on your property.