He's Alive!

Well, before I get way too far behind, I need to write about the Trophy Rocks and the mineral season. Although they'll still hit the rocks periodically, the biggest rush for salt is now passed. I was able to get a few pictures of some decent up and comers. As we expected, we eventually got pictures of Pencil in the shack field and on the oak ridge.

He is way behind. He will need a soybean miracle to catch up to his previous year's rack. We are realistically about 3-4 weeks behind last year's growth (which was exceptional) and about 2 weeks behind the average year.
The biggest surprise was the reappearance of The 6x5. I'm not surprised that he showed up, but he did when the entire lake bottom was flooded! At what point did he leave his wintering quarters and make his way south?

That buck is going to drive me nuts! He's already come and gone, so now the job is to move cameras until we relocate him on his summer food source. I was too much of a chicken last year, but not this year. I'll just put a wildview where I want to test my hunches. The date and time stamp were wrong on the 6x5 pictures. The daylight photo was actually taken on June 12, so it was at least 16 days off. So his last year's May 24th pictures were about as grown as he was this year about 2-3 weeks later. I have a feeling that he'll still find a way to pack it on, now just to find him!
We've got some other bucks coming in, but nothing we're on the edge of our seats about yet. There are two bucks coming in to the gravel pit that are both four years old this year. I have pictures of both of these guys since they were yearlings. So they have finally earned their place on the hitlist.