Made it to the farm today
- Thread starter Bill
- Start date
j-bird
Moderator
Deer use mine for scent marking like you said as well. I just get tired of cutting saplings to have them die. I have a piece of PVC pipe sunk in the ground to act like a holder and run wood screws into it to hold it in place. I need to put something up that is easier to mess with, or at least only requires a branch and not the entire sapling. I find it interesting that your deer will use just the stick. Mine seem to prefer something with leaves on it and activity drops once the leaves are gone......
Bill
Administrator
Based on last year he's not afraid of daylight if the pressure is low. Problem is he disappeared in Oct and returned in Dec. Late season would be the best time to strike but he has to survive the vacation again. My problem for early season this year is the does. Where he is pictured is where he shows up, his preferred bedding was less than 100 yards from here. But this is the first sighting of him since he shed his antlers.
Problem is its surrounded by corn which provides no food yet and my little clover kill plot is now over run with does. 422 pics in 12 hours and with the exception of him it's all does. Same thing daily 400 - 600 Doe pics and no bone. Last year it was surrounded in beans and this plot was a buck hidey hole.
Funny how the girls demand and gaurd the good eats..
Hopefully he develops a pattern I can follow.
j-bird
Moderator
It's funny you talk about this bucks "vacation". In your case you hate it, in my case I depend on it. I count on the bucks wandering nature on my place and cater to the does to ensure they are there when the time is right. I don't have a buck on the wall I have a cam pic of.....but I also doubt I have the overall deer numbers you do....so a few does on my place will eventually bring the boys to me.
You think things will change on the plot usage once the corn is harvested as it will remove that "cover" if you will, that the does may be using? having some history will help you develop a plan, sucks you sort of have to wait in line to implement your plan however. I saw a report once where a buck went on "vacations" and went to the same spot (collard deer) and would then return home. He did this for a few years. Maybe your buck will do the same thing and survive again only to return home with you waiting patiently for him.
You think things will change on the plot usage once the corn is harvested as it will remove that "cover" if you will, that the does may be using? having some history will help you develop a plan, sucks you sort of have to wait in line to implement your plan however. I saw a report once where a buck went on "vacations" and went to the same spot (collard deer) and would then return home. He did this for a few years. Maybe your buck will do the same thing and survive again only to return home with you waiting patiently for him.
John-W-WI
Administrator
That's quite the injury on his left shoulder. Doesn't seem to have affected his antlers at all!
Bill
Administrator
Funny we are at 50% of the bucks on the wall were known summer bucks. The others?
I'm sure once the corn gets cut the Does will move on to it. Always lots of waste corn in the fields. By then the bucks wont be caring where they eat.
That's quite the injury on his left shoulder. Doesn't seem to have affected his antlers at all!
Yea the vid in post 23 shows him limping pretty good on his right side. He lost a ton of weight, shed his antlers in December and looked terrible. I actually thought he died. Looks like someone hit him high and it was a pass through. Pretty odd no affect on the antlers??
Bill
Administrator
So Lucky continues to show up at the Doe hole daily. Either the Does are not running him off or doesn't give a crap what they think. He was there at dusk last night several times throughout the night then again at Dawn this morning. Hopefully we have a pattern starting and he's using last years summer and late winter bedding area.
I can dream right....
I can dream right....
S.T.Fanatic
5 year old buck +
Thats a keeper!! It gives me hope that the buck I hit last season (the only buck I've even drawn on in my 15 years of bow hunting) will have a normal rack.
His home range was close to our property but just far enough off that I didnt get any pics of him last year. We havent checked our cameras yet this year but I'm guessing he wont be on any of them.
His home range was close to our property but just far enough off that I didnt get any pics of him last year. We havent checked our cameras yet this year but I'm guessing he wont be on any of them.
j-bird
Moderator
That is an awesome deer. And you have far more intel on this buck than I have on any I may see this year. Deer like lucky are not stupid so the info you are getting may make all the difference in the world for you. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night.....
Bill
Administrator
Got to sleep at night. There is a reason he's named Lucky. I posted these last year. He was in a great summer pattern when bow season opened. First pic is from 9/20 I had a friend set up on him. Notice the hunter in the tree above this deer who got a pass because we just knew lucky would show. Just after dark I blew in there with the side by side to pick up the hunter so as not to tip off any deer by having my friend climb down in the dark. As I was approaching a deer ran off in the dark from right under the stand. We figured it was him.
The next afternoon the wind was right again so we did it again. Just at the end of shooting light a buck came out. Friend Knew it was a buck but couldn't be sure it was our target and didn't want to chance a bad shot.
This is the trail cam pic just before I blew in there with the side by side again. Friend was still in the tree. So that's where the name "Lucky" came from. After that the wind wasn't cooperative and we laid off this spot.
j-bird
Moderator
I had a "lucky" last year.....not nearly as impressive as yours but, I saw the buck on 2 different occasions from the same stand location. Once I saw him he crossed the creek and was on the neighbors creek bank and all I could do was watch. It was archery season and couldn't reach him (that neighbor is my wife's cousin - I am allowed to kill deer over there). I was so excited I hunted there when I could based on conditions and I kept my mouth shut. As the rut picked up here him came again this time trailing a doe. Same thing across the creek - sometimes in the creek....back and forth, back and forth. In my head I was pleading with her to just come up the bank on my side and I would address this pest for her! I CAN shot deer on the neighbors place....but I wanted him standing on my dirt. And the two of them would just taunt me. Finally the one time I had a shot it was too dark. I knew it was him, but it was just too dark. I couldn't get enough light thru the scope on the gun to feel comfortable taking the shot. Oh I wanted to so badly. I later hunt from the same stand had a buck appear at 75 yards or so and I saw decent antlers and my mind went into overdrive. My head said, "It's him, it's him, it's him.....shoot you idiot!" I shouldered the gun and shot. Long story short I got the buck I shot at.....it wasn't "lucky". It was his younger brother! It was still a nice deer, but it wasn't the one I was after. I have been paying attention to this same area for this years hunt hoping my "lucky" lived and comes thru again this year. I even have a secondary stand location in mind as well. I have no evidence of him in the area this year, but I didn't have any last year either until I laid eyes on him.
S.T.Fanatic
5 year old buck +
This is my "lucky" from last year.
I missed judged the distance and hit him low. Initially had good blood then lost it. Left him alone for 6 hours before going in after him. We jumped him and never saw him again. Neighbors to the north seen him a few days later chasing does and the shed was found on neighbors to the east.
Hopefully he'll follow his late October pattern from last year. One can only hope. I wanted to do some habitat stuff in the area but didn't in fear of pushing him out.
This brings me to a question. What are the chances a mature buck walks past the same tree after being shot out of it? Providing he survived of course.
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Bill
Administrator
Haven't seen him yet but the bucks are displaced down in that area. Does are running the roost mostly.
If he didn't get a Wif of human scent before the shot there is no way it was hunter related to him. They just can't reason that way. Probably as good a chance now as last year. But it was a bad memory for that spot so..who knows for sure.
Swat, I'll send,you a PM
swat1018
5 year old buck +
Was that drilled?