Rub and Repeat: Bucks Return to A Few Rubs, Not All

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Have you ever placed your trail-camera to monitor a rub without success? Many rubs are never visited again by the bucks that made them or by other deer. However, some rubs are a little more special and are visited by multiple bucks and even does. Deer even visit these unique rubs across multiple years. These …

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What Causes Deer Food Impactions?

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Grotesque facial swelling on a deer, known as a food impaction and sometimes also called “lumpy jaw,” is one of the weirdest sights a deer hunter can encounter on their trail-camera images or in person while hunting. QDMA is often asked about the cause of this condition, and since we recently received new photos from …

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3 Big CWD Facts From the International Deer Biology Congress

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The 9th International Deer Biology Congress (IDBC) – which is held every four years and brings researchers and managers from around the world together to discuss and advance deer management and conservation – was held in Estes Park, Colorado, in August. Nearly 130 presentations were given at the meeting, and at least 20 of those focused …

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Are Deer Evolving Resistance to CWD?

| By Stacie Robinson and Michael Samuel
If you hunt whitetails, you’ve probably already heard of chronic wasting disease (CWD). This neurodegenerative disease is caused by an odd sort of protein called a prion that develops in the brains of infected animals and causes abnormal behavior, loss of body condition and eventual death. Animals usually die from a variety of indirect causes …

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Melanistic Whitetails: Here’s What We Know

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Each fall, deer hunters see or harvest albino or piebald whitetails and discuss what a rare occurrence that is. But an even greater rarity exists: melanistic whitetails. Melanistic whitetails are a true gem of whitetail color morphs. With very low odds for this genetic mutation and low reported harvest, viewing a wild melanistic whitetail is …

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