First Sheds of the Year - Now Just To Find Them!

Joe and I went out with the bows yesterday afternoon and before I got settled in I decided to check the trail camera I had out there. After several does, fawns and yearling bucks, I got two pictures of a buck that had shed both sides! I'm almost positive that it's a buck I nicknamed Whitey. In the picture, he's leaving a field and coming back through the swamp. His pedicles are still pink, so I'm lead to believe that his antlers are just out in the field behind him less than a couple hundred yards. The funny part is that the first time I laid eyes on this buck, he was out in this same field. I got pictures of him west a mile, south east about 3/4 mile, and now here he is again. It would be very interesting to see what his antlers score. I'm sure they're around 52 and 48 or so. He was a very aggressive buck this late summer. There were bucks that were four and five and they were all shying away from this big bodied three year old. I'm pretty sure he is three because of his short main beams. He's a very stocky deer and should grow into something good next year. I gotta scoop up those antlers. I also got another picture of Contender and one of another buck I had pictures of late summer, but haven't seen until this month. I'll give him until next year to name himself.

I also was able to get out to the camera that's been on the creek. My hopes were high and when I opened the lid and saw that the batteries weren't dead after 18 days, my hopes were even higher. I rifled through the 50 some pictures on there only to see 1 yearling buck and a coyote and everything else does and fawns. Needless to say, I moved that camera. I also made it northwest of the bus with the snowmobile and checked that camera. Those batteries died on the 15th. I debated leaving that one, but I figured I'd bring it back in a week or two. It was good to see a few pictures of Contender and I also got some pics of the buck I let walk on the 18th of November. I'm glad I did. He wouldn't score more than 105. He's got nice potential. He has a big body, but I can't see how he's more than 2 years old. Here they are:

Soybeans

Deer need food. Nothing complex about that. This time of year, it's surprisingly easy to get pictures of deer and/or bucks I've been looking for all season by finding the best food source. There is a bit of myth to be busted regarding 'food sources' though. Not every buck is going to choose an agricultural food source over their own survival. Last winter at this time, we were getting amazing pictures around some grain bins with spilled soybeans. However, the bigger bucks were only coming through for an hour or so once every week or every couple nights. Not consistent. The only thing that made sense at first was that there was a bit of 'second rut' activity going on. There were a few bucks who would pass right through and only give you that one picture every two to three weeks. Obviously they weren't as concerned with the food.

This year, I've pin-pointed the best three food sources - all agricultural remnants. I've set up five of my six Cuddebacks on the heaviest trails I can find heading to these sources. Even if I don't get any 'new' bucks, I'm hoping to get better pictures of a few of the ones I already know about. I only have one instance of a buck I'm pretty sure is Mr. 140, but I really don't feel 100% confident that it's him. I would also like to get a picture or two of Skyscraper out of velvet. That has yet to happen this year. Those really are my two goals. Beyond that, I would be fit to be tied if I could confirm if The Clown or WideWeb were still alive. Boy would that be something to see. An in-law of a neighboring hunter said he saw a monster at a half mile opening morning of rifle season. He was sitting up on the west end of the swamp, along the border. WideWeb? Anyway, I'm starting to get some pictures of some bucks I really haven't seen much of since late summer. Pretty neat. I just replaced a bunch of batteries, so hopefully I can keep my cameras out until New Years.

Black & Blue

I went up to the hill to do a few things and as I was hopping down from my endgate on my truck, my left foot (my first foot to hit the ground) landed on the slope of a track in the snow. I don't know if it was a truck track or a snowmobile track or what, but it was very uneven and I rolled my ankle hard. I came down with all my weight (and then some) and folded right to the ground. I heard my ankle pop or crunch. I rolled around in pain for a minute or two and then I told myself to get up and see if it's broken (which I immediately thought it was). I stood on my good foot for about a minute before I tried to put any weight on my left. Slowly I was able to put weight on it. I knew that it was a matter of time before it would swell and that if I was going to finish my project, I needed to get right back to it. That was friday.

Today, tuesday, I can walk on it without too much pain. I limp a little and I've been trying to ice it in bed.

Besides that depressing story, I still managed to check two cameras that were close to the main road. I was pleased to see some pictures of Scabby 10. He's a beautiful deer. Last year he was a marginal heavy 8 point that would've net somewhere around 120. This year he should net around 130. He's got a tiny bit more mass, he's got longer beams, and he added some G4s. His 3s might be a half inch shorter, but he makes up for it all around. He's very dark this year, which suggests at least 4, maybe 5 years old.

I also got pictures of the Pencil 7, which is now a 6! he broke of his left G3 completely. I got another picture of the little buck I'm going to call The Mouse. He's got 8 legal points, but wanted to be a 10 with double split brows. Next year he'll probably be that 12 point 120 as a 3 year old. If he makes it to 4, He just might be 150.

I'm hoping to check and move some cameras on thursday but for sure by the weekend.

December's Off and Running (Sit # 26)

Well, on my sister's birthday I headed out to check a few cameras and try to kill a doe. I got a few decent pictures (one more of Bullwinkle) along the creek, but they sure are slowing down. I put a camera along John's farmyard on the 16th of November and since then I've missed 4 big bodied deer. All I'm getting are their butts. Of course this is a trigger speed issue and I completely blame my one and only Wildview camera. The more unbelievable part is that I put up a Cuddeback only 100-150 ft away and wasn't getting any of these deer at all. I trust my Cuddeback completely, but this does go to show how setting a trail camera in a 'good location' can only give you so many predictable deer pictures. Deer are not predictable 100% of the time. Camera scouting is a game of percentages, predictions, and possibilities. I can't stand when I walk up towards my camera in the snow only to watch the deer tracks walk directly behind my camera or cross the trail just 50 yards wide of the camera. Thinking back over the years, if I knew some of the deer that I just missed, I think I would be sick to my stomach.

Anyway, we're definitely post-rut, with a sprinkling of second rut about to begin in 4 days to a week from now. Food is now the top priority and since we've had a lot of snow early, the deer are getting a little desperate to find good browse. I moved a few cameras to try to capitalize on this desperation. I'm thinking December will bring out some good photos.

I sat from about 3:25pm to 5:05pm and I froze. It was zero when I got back to the cabin. I was a bit surprised that I didn't see anything. Almost every day there has been does and fawns walking right by that stand - just like last year. The times I choose to sit... nothing. Maybe I stink.

November's End

In order to wrap up November, I'll need to do some sort of montage that flashes over all the nice bucks that were taken around the county. However, where we hunt, I don't think anything over 3 1/2 was shot. The buck that mom found her first set of sheds to got killed less than a quarter mile from us. He was a respectable buck. I'd like to see him up close. A neighboring hunter shot and missed Splitbrow. Wheew. What a relief. I hope he stays nocturnal until after muzzleloader. Another neighbor shot a 9 point, but he said it wasn't anything that big. I'll just have to see for myself.

The rut was slow at first, and again from like the 6-10th we had south winds of some kind and warm temps. I saw four deer opening morning and that was about it. The deer were out there, it's just a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Then on the 18th we got a bunch of snow. That put a damper on what foods were being used the most. Since then, we've gotten about 6-10 inches of snow. The deer have started to move around though. I want to move my cameras, but it's right in the middle of muzzleloader season right now and it's not an ideal time to be driving a snowmobile or anything else around for that matter. There's too much snow to drive my truck out in the fields, but it's not quite froze up solid enough to trust taking a snowmobile around in the swamp. So I guess my cameras will sit where they are for another couple weeks. Maybe by the tail end of muzzleloader it'll be better conditions to move cameras. In order to get the cameras close to the food, I need to not have too many people around. I don't want any cameras stolen.

If some of these deer can make it through the muzzle season, we'll be in for another great year of big bucks next season. It's been so fun to watch these deer grow up and mature. It all started in 2006 and 2011 season will be great to see the youngest ones reach 4 and 5 years old.

I still need to shoot a doe with my bow. I will succeed.

"Buck Down"

My 100th post is of a dead deer. How great is that! We got pounded with snow on the afternoon of the 18th and into the 19th (Thursday and Friday). I was planning on hunting the 19th and 20th with the bow northwest of the bus, but on the 19th I decided to just check cameras and head back home and go for a drive with dad. We were hunting the second week of rifle season and although the weather was brutal, we decided to go for a drive. Not thinking we would be getting out of the truck, I didn't dress very well. We had 25 mph winds and temps in the low teens. Windchill was around -5 degrees. We came across a good looking place and I decided that one of us needed to face the brutal cold. I bundled up as best I could and walked across this field. It was about 4:00 and I didn't know if I could even make it until dark. My fingers started to freeze and my face was getting whipped. After about 20 minutes, I saw a deer poke out and I quick examined it. It was a buck. It looked to be a decent buck too. I saw lighter colored main beam and at least 8 points coming off. I had to make a quick decision and I decide to end my season for bucks. I clicked off the safety and as the buck got within 175 yards he stopped. I held where his neck met his front shoulder. The wind was pushing so hard that I hit him low and forward. I threw in another shell and eventually put the buck down before he made it to the woods. I text dad in the truck - "buck down". I headed back to the truck and we were able to drive right to the deer. Super simple, season just about over. He looked to be a very healthy two year old, which was a little disappointing, but I'll take it. When he first came out, he looked like a bigger bodied deer so I figured he was three or so and would score about 115. He'll end up around 100 inches, which is something I'm trying to get away from shooting, but at least we have a full freezer. It was very exciting. Now, I just need to kill a doe with my bow. So far, there have been zero does registered for Streiffs Big Buck/Big Doe Archery contest. Top prize is a Cuddeback IR package.

Sit # 25 - Short Sit

I went out to retrieve my ground blind on Thursday. I put it up in the end of June (so the deer would get used to it). Haha. I never sat in it once. It was always a decent option, but it was in an island woods so basically the deer had to be bedded in there. However, the other morning after that buck ran by me, he ran north and into that island in the middle of the morning. So it's not out of the question that a deer can and will run in there in daylight, but they've got to have a reason to do so. I've still got my cameras up, I'm still trying to pattern this mature buck's movements before, during and after the rut, and I'm still trying to locate any new bucks in the area. I've got most of them I believe, but at the same time, it would be foolish to think that I could ever achieve 100% inventory.

After reading Bill Winke's blog about the poor rut, I'd have to say it hasn't been that bad up here. It seems to me that we had good pre-rut, nudging, not-so-much chasing, then the lock-down, then the cruising on the backslope of the peak of breading. I've noticed all the stages up north, although that doesn't mean that I'll be face to face with a rutting buck from my tree stand. The rut doesn't happen on our watch. After like the 20th of September, there is more dark than there is light in a 24 hour day. Tell me you don't think they're getting most of their business done in the dark and coolness of night. I've seen plenty of rubs, plenty of scrapes, and plenty of trail camera pictures of mature deer. They're moving. It's just during night. We've got too much hunting pressure up north and so this is just the reality. It's the odd buck that you encounter in daylight that you can get a shot at. To have an encounter with a shooter in bow range is a rarity in and of itself. I had four encounters this archery season. I was lucky. I only got to shoot once and I missed low. Bummer. The buck I believe I missed was a deer we've nicknamed Splitbrow. I'm glad I missed, because next year, he could be a real dandy. I also heard he got grazed by a rifle bullet. Lucky deer.