BowGuy84
Well-Known Member
I didn't see many/any pics from your place this past year.
Got any trail camera pics and/or harvest pics you care to share?
Got any trail camera pics and/or harvest pics you care to share?
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BSK
Well-Known Member
This last season, we experienced one of the strangest years yet (out of 14 camera monitored years). We started out by have NO older bucks at all on the property during the summer. I've never seen anything like it. All bucks older than yearlings had abandoned the property, the reason for which I'm still trying to figure out. As the season progressed, bucks began filtering into the property. However, we did not pick up any mature bucks until the rut range-shifters began to appear around the first weeks of November. Eventually, enough bucks moved in during the rut that we ended up with an above average total number of bucks and a fairly normal buck age structure, but it was a "seasonal range-shifting" pattern like we've never seen before.
This buck was certainly our most interesting buck, with his double left beam:
But the below buck was our top-scoring buck:
This buck was certainly our most interesting buck, with his double left beam:
But the below buck was our top-scoring buck:
BSK
Well-Known Member
As for buck harvests, we took a 3 1/2, three 2 1/2s, and a yearling (hunters first deer).
TheLBLman
Well-Known Member
Regarding your "top-scoring" buck, what did you guess to be his age?
And you "wiped out" your best-scoring 2 1/2's?
And you "wiped out" your best-scoring 2 1/2's?
BSK
Well-Known Member
Wes Parrish said:
His spread, beam length, and tine length give the impression of a buck that could break the 150 mark, but his very short browtines probably kept him below that level. Although he doesn't have all of the classic body characteristics, I got enough pictures of his neck in a "normal" position to believe he was 4 1/2.
And you "wiped out" your best-scoring 2 1/2's?
Yup, and enjoyed every last second of it!
Actually, we only took two of the four 2 1/2 year-olds we had that were in the 90-110 range.
Here's mine (grossed 97):
TheLBLman
Well-Known Member
AGE, MY OLD FRIEND, AGE?
And, ACTUALLY, that 2 1/2 you're posing with probably could have broken the 150 mark IN A COUPLE YEARS!
OH, YOU WENT BACK AND EDITED IN THE AGE!BSK said:
And, ACTUALLY, that 2 1/2 you're posing with probably could have broken the 150 mark IN A COUPLE YEARS!
BSK
Well-Known Member
Wes Parrish said:And, ACTUALLY, that 2 1/2 you're posing with probably could have broken the 150 mark IN A COUPLE YEARS!
Very possible!
...and if high antler scores still meant much too me, I might be concerned...
boweye91
Well-Known Member
Interesting that an area as vast as yours could be completely void of a mature buck for a substantial portion of the season. Was there any difference in the ag in the surrounding bottoms this year? Drought influence on browse? Since it isn't hunting season, I'd think that food would be the driving force not pressure.
boweye91
Well-Known Member
BTW, thanks for the pics.
BHC
Well-Known Member
Yeats a pretty 2 yr old!
BSK
Well-Known Member
boweye91 said:
And it wasn't just void of mature bucks. It was void of any buck older than a yearling. I was rather shocked to see an area that had regularly held a summer population of bucks totally 12-15 every year for a decade, including all ages of bucks up to and including mature bucks, suddenly having a summer population totaling just four yearling bucks.
To say I spent time pondering what had happened would be an understatement. However, in any natural system, so many "inputs" exist that teasing out which input or combination of inputs may have caused any change in population is virtually impossible. Yet, after lengthy review, I believe the cause for the sudden change in resident buck population was a sudden and major change in habitat on a small adjoining property. I had always suspected that adjoining property (only 40 acres) played an important role in travel patterns on our much larger property, but I never expected it played such a dramatic role.
During the previous deer season, a massively large logging operation moved onto that adjoining property and virtually stripped it of all standing timber in a matter of a few weeks. From the day that logging operation moved onto the property until the following fall, not a single 2 1/2 or older buck was photographed using our adjoining property.
Normally, logging operations cause little disruption in deer activity. But for whatever reason (and I suspect it has something to do with how critical this 40-acre property was as a sanctuary), heavy logging of this property caused a massive disruption in buck range usage and travel patterns in the local area.
boweye91
Well-Known Member
I'd be trying to buy that 40 acres tomorrow. Doubt it is worth much if it has been stripped that clean but in a few years it could be a highway of traffic that strategic tripods could take advantage of.
BSK
Well-Known Member
boweye91 said:
Already tried. Owner is having none of it at any price (fairly wealthy and doesn't need the money).
BowGuy84
Well-Known Member
Well you tried...wonder why scalp it then?
BSK
Well-Known Member
BowGuy84 said:
Free money. Who turns down free money? Although the owner did not think the property was going to be scalped. At least, before hand, he told me he was going to have a light thinning done, taking only the most mature trees. "You probably won't even be able to tell it's been logged" as he put it. Ouch, I wonder what he thinks now...
Assuming he wasn't feeding me a line, the logging company really screwed him. He told me it was supposed to be a cut to 18-20" DBH. Yet I saw load after load after load of pulp-wood going out the door.
BSK said:This last season, we experienced one of the strangest years yet (out of 14 camera monitored years). We started out by have NO older bucks at all on the property during the summer. I've never seen anything like it. All bucks older than yearlings had abandoned the property, the reason for which I'm still trying to figure out. As the season progressed, bucks began filtering into the property. However, we did not pick up any mature bucks until the rut range-shifters began to appear around the first weeks of November. Eventually, enough bucks moved in during the rut that we ended up with an above average total number of bucks and a fairly normal buck age structure, but it was a "seasonal range-shifting" pattern like we've never seen before.
This buck was certainly our most interesting buck, with his double left beam:
But the below buck was our top-scoring buck:
That sounds just like about every year at my place Bryan. Sometimes I have some 1-1/2 yr olds show up, but for the most part, the doe sink wins out year after year. We do, however, enjoy some 3-1/2 yr old rut range shifters as you mentioned, when the rut starts heating up,and, just on occasion, a rare 4/-1/2+ buck every now and again.
BSK
Well-Known Member
MUP said:
Logic would suggest that the oldest bucks should show up as the rut approaches, as it would make sense that older bucks are going to be the most likely to "cruise" great distances looking for receptive does. But surprisingly, over the years, I've found that there is no age difference between the three different groups of bucks we annually track on my place: the summer residents, the fall-season range-shifters, and the rut range-shifters. Each of the three groups have almost exactly the same age-structure. That finding really surprised me.
And that's why last year was such a shock. Now summer residents generally only make up 1/3 of the bucks we're going to have to hunting during the hunting season, but that group usually includes all ages of bucks.
The "older" bucks I had on cam last summer totally disappeared before season opened, bow season that is. A totally new batch of bucks showed up in their place, and I must say, a much improved batch at that. A 2-1/2 yr old and a 3-1/2 that were taken, 7 and 8 pt respectively, and some smaller bucks that weren't seen during the summer months even. The only decent buck I've ever gotten on cam, that stayed around till season opener was a nice little 6pt that had really good potential I was thinking....until he got shot crossing into the neighbors field on opening day of rifle that year.
Now, I did have extenuating circumstances this past summer tho. I had some trespassers break thru and totally trash around my mineral sites with 4 wheelers, where I keep my cams. I guess this was the reason they lit out for other property, to get away from those idiots.
Now, I did have extenuating circumstances this past summer tho. I had some trespassers break thru and totally trash around my mineral sites with 4 wheelers, where I keep my cams. I guess this was the reason they lit out for other property, to get away from those idiots.
BSK
Well-Known Member
MUP said:
I'll bet that movement from summer to fall is a far more natural process. I see it all the time, even on properties that experience very little human traffic in late summer.
