RE: What are the 5 biggest hunting myths?
1. Deer and elk see in black and white. Scientific research, instigated by me, and done by Vision Scientist Dr. Jayy Neitz, and Deer hIologist and Researcher Dr. Larry Marchinton, shoed that whitetails see the colors blue and yellow very well, but not red and green.
2. Peak breeding of whitetail deer occurs during the full moon. Scientific resaerc, condudted by the Minnesota DNR, and myself, showed that peak breeding of whitetails generally occurs within about the same 10 day period every year, regardless of the phase of the moon. This study was later backed up by Dr. Karl Miller at the U of GA, who used the breeding dates of over 2500+ deer.
3. Whitetail does use an "estrus call". No such call has ever been recorded by, nontheless mentioned by, whitetail researchers.
4. Cow elk use an "estrus call". After 4 years of research on captive elk, and seeing over 20 cows get bred, I never heard any of them make any sound (that could be associated with breeding) within 20 minutes of getting bred. A bull determines if a cow is in estrus by smelling the area where the cow was laying down, or by smelling the cow itself.
5. Female mallards make a chuckling sound, often referred to as the "feeding chuckle", that is used by ducks to get other ducks to come and feed with them. Research by Dr. Paul Johansgard showed that this call is an "incitement call". The hen is using this call to incite her mate to attack any other drake that is tyring to "cozy up to her".