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Right On Time

BSK said:
I'm still seeing a ton of pestering, but no signs of actual estrus. That's very late for my place.
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They're just now hitting stride on my Ohio place which is usually about two weeks ahead of TN. It's all big oaks with no acorns. My TN place had ample/average acorns and is right on time. Shot an old buck Sunday afternoon as he tended a doe. But my Ohio place is just now getting activity i usually see in late October.
 
Ski said:
They're just now hitting stride on my Ohio place which is usually about two weeks ahead of TN. It's all big oaks with no acorns. My TN place had ample/average acorns and is right on time. Shot an old buck Sunday afternoon as he tended a doe. But my Ohio place is just now getting activity i usually see in late October.
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Absolutely fascinating. The "late-rut-when-there's-no-acorns" pattern is holding strong.
 
Very few mature bucks on cams last couple weeks. Slight up tic on young bucks last few days, but still mostly at night.
 
The bucks are still hitting the scrapes pretty hard here. Usually they are done with them and simply cruising. Makes me think it will be late in western Montgomery County as well. Does are showing no indications of being ready as of yet.
 
Watched one get bred yesterday. Pretty cool to see, took an hour or more for the ol boy to mount but he finally did.
 
My cams are going crazy right now. Chasing, cruising, freshening scrapes etc

Crazy as in all day long today. I've had more daylight pics of bucks this year than ever before. Mostly 2.5's and a 3.5 but daylighting constantly
 
watched 6 different bucks chasing does in Fall Branch yesterday afternoon. 3 nice 6-pointers, one wide 8-pointer, and a ten point with a spread considerably outside of his ears. 🦌
 
I've been seeing some deer the last week after a prolonged absence. I've seen probably 4 new bucks, smaller than any I've seen so far, including two in the last 2 days. I've also had a little doe traffic, including daytime movement, but nothing following them, yet. This is in the mountains near the NC state line in Monroe county.
 
lol said:
I've been seeing some deer the last week after a prolonged absence. I've seen probably 4 new bucks, smaller than any I've seen so far, including two in the last 2 days. I've also had a little doe traffic, including daytime movement, but nothing following them, yet. This is in the mountains near the NC state line in Monroe county.
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ever hunt up in top end of Citico above Indian Boundary ?
 
As of last weekend (Nov. 16-17) FINALLY starting to see some fawns alone. Still haven't caught what I would call a true estrus chase on camera though. TONS of pester-chasing-in-food-plots videos, mostly at night.
 
I saw my first real chase that I believe a doe was coming into heat Saturday. A 4 1/2 year old 6 point was running her ragged. They ended up 15 yards to my right. I didn't shoot him because I had a full slate of things to do Saturday. If he comes by Thursday or Friday this week, I will try to kill him. I could have shot him with a sling shot! Luckily I had a new Madease Bluetooth camera set up up and he stopped in front of it and I got several pictures of him while I was only 15 yards away watching him. As soon as he left I downloaded the pictures to my phone. I love that camera!

6pt1.webp
6pt2.webp
 
I don't know if others have noticed this, but I often see a significant drop in scraping activity during peak breeding. I guess bucks are too busy tending does to do much scraping. Right after peak breeding, scraping dramatically increases again. I definitely saw a decline in scraping when I checked cams Saturday. Scrapes that were getting hammered 5-8 times per night were down to once a night or even none.
 
I just saw a small 6pt buck crossing an open field into the woods across from my front yard. I went outside and hit a grunt call and he came running. Monroe county, in the valley. Not sure how they're behaving on the mountain.
 

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