Only see young deer in plots

[Mortenson]

Throw me in the group that killed a great buck this year because he was with a doe who wanted to step into the white clover for a quick bite on her morning stroll.

I hunted the same 1.5 acre plot for 3 years before deciding this past year I needed to build a permanent blind about 30 yards back where I can view most of the odd shaped plot AND some woods. I've seen nice bucks in the plot (usually they are walking straight thru it) early morning and late evening, but on all day sits it's definitely nice to have some cover to watch over throughout most of the daylight hours. For the most part, the plots are for the does during rut hunting.

 

[bigbendmarine]

Spoke earlier about challenge my property provides in that it's narrow and deer largely use it as a pass through (and night time pass through at that), but had two bucks this year come into the same plot grunting at does in the daylight. Don't think I had either slipping up with daylight appearances on camera more than twice before I shot them (MANY more hits on cams at night), but I just happened to be sitting looking over the plot at the right time (of year / rut).

 

[Tap]

Spoke earlier about challenge my property provides in that it's narrow and deer largely use it as a pass through (and night time pass through at that), but had two bucks this year come into the same plot grunting at does in the daylight. Don't think I had either slipping up with daylight appearances on camera more than twice before I shot them (MANY more hits on cams at night), but I just happened to be sitting looking over the plot at the right time (of year / rut).

Nice buck! Congrats!

SW Pa

 

[bigbendmarine]

Nice buck! Congrats!

SW Pa

Thanks, Tap. Deer in bottom picture is the same deer I shared a video of a few weeks back... only other time I personally laid eyes on him in daylight. In that thread (titled "pics taken from the house") you predicted he would score mid-120s. Couldn't be any closer if my repeated initial attempts at scoring are close. Granted green score, but I'm consistently getting between 131 to 132 for gross, 125 to 126 for net. Appreciating such size isn't unusual up north, but crazy thing for our area is that his teeth wear look like a near exact match to 3.5 versus the 4.5 I would have guessed and that you also predicted. Before looking at his teeth, taxidermist friend who caped him said he was willing to bet money that he was so lean simply from running and would be 4.5 when he checked his teeth, but after looking at them he said that the wear definitely pointed to 3.5. As horns alone go, crazy good genes for our neck of the woods.

 

[MRBB]

Cameras are great, I love having some out there. But I'm amazed at how often a camera misses getting the photo. I've often watched bucks walk past a camera and I was sure that I would have some cool pics, only to find out, for some reason, the deer didn't have his picture taken, or only got the butt-end of the critter. Short movie clips are better than single pics, but none of my cameras imprint time or date on video clips and I don't like that.
So take camera results with a grain of salt. Just because you may not get pics of mature bucks doesn't mean they aren't within a few yards of being captured (and missed) on film.

better camera's don't miss much, if your cam's are missing pic of deer your seeing standing in front of them, I say you have some poor camera's
BUT do agree, many Cheaper line cam's miss a LOT of pictures, I have place higher end cams on same tree with cheap one's and see how many pictures the cheap one's missed, its quite an eye opener

as for bucks not being seen in the open food plots in hunting season, thats isn't that uncommon, MOST older class deer didn't get old by being dumb, they also learn real fast food plots offer food 24/7, so they can simply eat at night in the open and be safe and live longer
what tends to SOME times lure them out of the rut, or cold fronts when there trying to beat snow or bad weather to get some fuel before it hits
other wise even bucks know food plots draw doe and many times they will just say back and cut them off before needing to enter the food plot even for love!

so, no mature bucks in food plots is actually rather common in many places
most of my places I do food plots are just like this, bigger bucks stay back and only hit plots at night 99% of the time
Late season in bitter cold and snow, has always been my best time to see one in day time
all the more so on many places where buck to doe numbers are way off, too many doe, no need to come out in a plot after one!

 

[Tap]

better camera's don't miss much, if your cam's are missing pic of deer your seeing standing in front of them, I say you have some poor camera's
BUT do agree, many Cheaper line cam's miss a LOT of pictures, I have place higher end cams on same tree with cheap one's and see how many pictures the cheap one's missed, its quite an eye opener

I hear ya. I do have some low-end cameras and I'm not surprised that they miss pics, but I also have a high quality Fireman Jim home brew, that is much better, but even it misses pics sometimes.
But my main point was that bucks can be right in the vicinity of the camera, but not in the detection zone. You'd never realize they were within 100 miles.

SW Pa

 

[bigbendmarine]

Guessing this issue has been discussed multiple times on the forum but something I found useful in getting more buck hits was moving my cameras high, angling them down into plot hot spots so that bucks don't see the cameras as easily / don't pick up scent quite as easily , and setting them to video. I've found that the videos tell me much more of the story behind pics / deer interactions and travel than photos alone.

This youtube video is the one that impacted me to try a few tips and have to say they helped my recon considerably on my place.

 

[Tap]

Guessing this issue has been discussed multiple times on the forum but something I found useful in getting more buck hits was moving my cameras high, angling them down into plot hot spots so that bucks don't see the cameras as easily / don't pick up scent quite as easily , and setting them to video. I've found that the videos tell me much more of the story behind pics / deer interactions and travel than photos alone.

This youtube video is the one that impacted me to try a few tips and have to say they helped my recon considerably on my place.

All excellent tips. Also, these are examples of the kinds of little details that translate into other aspects of hunting. It's the little things that matter.

SW Pa