Growth Spurt

Every buck seems to be growing at an above average rate. It's incredible how much can change from year to year. Last year every buck seemed to be behind by two weeks, and this year they seem to be at least a two weeks ahead of a 'normal' year. We should have some bucks to go after, but I think this year is going to take a little more strategy and a little less time spent in the woods. Waiting for the good windows will be key. Early season when the bucks guards are down and patterns are more predictable, the classic rut hunts, and if we have any late season food sources and there's pressure for deer to feed - these will be the three windows. I know that these are not a new concept by any means, but I think I pressured some deer too much when I really didn't need to.
Pencil through out some good main beam length and confirmed the splitting of his left brow, with the possibility of his right. One more camera check on him and we'll have a great idea of what his brows will look like.

I finally took down the camera over my northeastern mineral site that was just started this year. There was a good sized bear and a couple younger bucks, but nothing that gave me a reason to leave the camera up out there. I'll bring it back when more deer have found that mineral lick.

The focus as of right now is on this buck that I'm fairly sure is Twigs, but I'm not 100%. He's looking really good. He's got good mass, good brows and is working on some G3s as of the 6th of June.

I got a picture of a buck at the southeastern mineral lick that had about the same shape as Twigs, but on June 3rd didn't quite have the same growth. It'll be interesting to see if these are two different deer or just how many bucks we're dealing with out there. The mineral sites are over a mile and a half from each other. It's a terrible picture, but it was the only one he presented.

I haven't put a camera out on the northwest mineral site of these four, but I'm guessing it would be mostly the same deer as the southeast one since they're only one mile from each other. I'm not being specific because I'm really excited about some of these deer and I want to kill one on film this fall and I can't afford to have anyone mess that up. It needs to be my own fault if I can't get it done.

On Tuesday, I got my first newborn fawn picture of the year. He looks really stocky or fat for a newborn. I wonder if he was born early. That'd be great if he was a healthy male.

Lastly, I killed my first deer with my truck on the way home. I was coming down the hill and out from someone's driveway came a sprinting doe. By the time I saw a flash of red, she was under my bumper. Poor thing. The most unfortunate part was that she was pregnant. I called the DNR and asked what I should do and they basically said that there really wasn't much I could do. So I drug her off the road and let nature take over. I felt bad. Not that I killed a deer, but that I potentially killed 2, 3, or even 4 deer.