Even though California has the biggest population and some of the biggest cities in the country, 97 percent of its land is rural. And about 24 percent of it is protected as public wilderness.

It’s now prime time for bowhunters, auto body shops, and roadkill cafes, all thanks to something known as the whitetail rut. It’s a time when amorous deer throw caution to the wind and many end up ...

The peak of the deer rut, when they are most active, runs from late October to mid-December. Drivers are urged to be extra cautious during morning and evening commutes when visibility is lower. If a ...

The attention of this magnificent white-tailed buck is completely riveted on the doe in the foreground. This sort of single-mindedness can cause problems when deer cross roads at this time of year.

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. The prospects for deer hunters filling that buck tag in New York state this year have never been better, even though the tag ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. The likelihood of hitting a deer is highest during morning and evening twilight. Patrick Pleul/Picture alliance via Getty Images ...

The rut gets all the attention when it comes to big bucks hitting the dirt, but let’s be honest; during the frenzy of the breeding season, with deer running willy nilly through the woods, a lot of ...

It was the heart of the breeding season one fall when I shot a nice buck in the act of rubbing a tree. I didn’t pay much attention to this at first. But when it happened a second time, I realized that ...

Stumbling across a fresh rub or scrape in the woods gets any hunter's heart racing. These territorial markers have long been considered prime indicators of deer activity, guiding decisions about stand ...

Why does a backyard deer become dangerous only after people have stopped seeing it as wild? An attack by a buck in Ohio draws ...