Ryan Rothstein

When the month of May kicked off hot and dry in Minnesota, I became uneasy in a hurry. While deer here aren’t quite as susceptible to the worst effects of drought as are their counterparts in the southern United States, severe drought still has the potential to set back the herd in several ways.
Drought, particularly in spring and early summer in these northern latitudes, can substantially set back vegetative growth, especially for ground-layer plants. These also happen to be the ones deer are primarily consuming this time of year.

In my May 30 column, I made the case for fire being a critically underutilized tool when it comes to whitetail habitat management, particularly on private lands.
While I laid out why burning is a good thing, I didn’t get into the nitty gritty of putting fire on the ground. That’s where this week’s column comes in. Here’s what you need to know if such a fire is in your future.

In many ways, the serious modern deer hunter has a tremendous knowledge advantage over deer hunters of yesteryear. The advent of social media and the online information sphere have made the culmination of human whitetail-hunting knowledge available at your fingertips.
This has created a generation of deer hunters who are as hardcore as they come, and who are also pretty knowledgeable about deer biology and behavior as a result. But in many ways, the serious modern deer hunter is at a major disadvantage compared with our deer-hunting forefathers. 

I’d be lying if I said I’m a diehard shed hunter, but I’ve also done it enough to know a thing or two about locating bone discarded this winter by whitetail bucks. Every spring, I find myself inadvertently looking for antlers, with varying degrees of success. 
As with much of my deer hunting the past couple of years, the second I start thinking I have everything figured out, I proceed to immediately take a whooping from the deer gods. Last year’s shed-hunting endeavors were no exception. To be fair to myself, last winter was beyond mild, and deer just weren’t doing “normal” deer things during the course of winter.