re: Buck on cam with two orange tags on ears

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Called the number and it said it was tagged 5 years prior in Northwest Alberta.

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That's a pretty big "core area"

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If you hunt near the Big Black River in Madison or Yazoo counties, the Mississippi State University Deer Lab is asking you to look closely before you shoot a buck.

"What we want to tell the hunters in Madison and Yazoo counties is if they see a tagged or collared deer, don't shoot it," Steve Demarais said. "In fact, don't shoot it for the next three years."

Demarais, professor of wildlife ecology and management at the MSU Deer Lab, said 55 white-tailed bucks will be fitted with ear tags and GPS collars during the 2016-17 deer seasons for a two-year study.

"We want to tag and collar the animals this year and start the study next year," Demarais said. "What we need is evidence of what deer are doing in response to hunters and that's what we're trying to do with this project."

The GPS collars will collect data on the movement of the deer throughout the year, but during hunting seasons, it will collect data more frequently. At the same time, many of the landowners and hunting clubs have agreed to provide information about when and where they hunt through the MSU Deer Lab Deer Hunt app. Together, the two sets of data will provide a much clearer picture of how deer react to hunting pressure.

Demarais said a similar study was done in Oklahoma and it provided some revelations. Over the 13-day gun season, hunter sightings of deer declined 62 percent in highly pressured areas after the first three days, but the collared deer moved the same amount each day. What GPS tracking revealed was pressured deer movement became more complex and they remained in dense areas to avoid predation by hunters.

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