Review: Deer Smoke Screen Eliminates Odor


One of the biggest factors impacting the success of whitetail hunting is odor elimination—or better stated, scent control. A new product on the market that claims to eliminate alarming downwind scent is Deer Smoke Screen. A few days ago, I received the opportunity to try this this product free of charge. It arrived well-packaged on Saturday. Sunday was my testing day and my goal was not to influence the results one way or another, but rather only give a fair and accurate account of my experience with the product.

Fellow hunters, take from it what you will. I arrived at my deer lease at before sunrise with hog hunting on my mind. There was a small tank that had been covered in hog sign, so I knew where I wanted to set up. There are no game cameras in this area so I did not know when these pigs were frequenting the water source. I got settled in, unloaded a few supplies and I was ready for the hunt. I wanted to test this product prior to the deer hunting season and we all know that pigs have darn good sniffers too. Continue reading Review: Deer Smoke Screen Eliminates Odor

Buck Harvest and Deer Herd Management

Question: “The guys that I deer hunt with on our deer lease always say that we should only shoot whitetail bucks that are 3.5+ years older or those that are 130+ Boone and Crockett inches or bigger. These guys say that if we hold our buck harvest this strategy our deer management plan will benefit and we will have bigger and better bucks for each whitetail hunting season. Do you think this is a good plan for improving our deer herd?”

Answer: From my experience, this is the wrong way to think about buck harvest and it will not help the overall deer management program or the whitetail hunting on your property. At 3.5 years old, whitetail bucks have a lot of unseen potential left in them and are not really what most hunters would consider mature. Some bucks will reach the 130 inch mark at 2.5, 3.5, 4.5 years old, or maybe even older; maybe never. Continue reading Buck Harvest and Deer Herd Management

Blue Tongue in Llano County, Texas?

Question: “I live in Llano County and have a whitetail deer feeder in my back yard. We watch the whitetail throughout the year and they will let us get pretty close too. Yesterday, we were watching the deer eat at the feeder when one came from over the tank dam. I thought it was a small buck with its head down, but when it came up to the feeder the other deer ran off, like it had some kind of disease. It was not a buck, but I actually thought the deer had been shot in the head.

I grabbed my binoculars and looked and the doe’s tongue was huge, hanging out at least 6 inches! She looked bad, so I got my gun and put her down. I was still thinking that it was a shot deer so I got a tag and walked outside. I got up to her and she had no marks or entry wounds on her what so ever. The doe was very skinny and the tongue was huge. Do you think this is blue tongue?” Continue reading Blue Tongue in Llano County, Texas?