The Deer Camp Chronicles

Plenty of big bucks with very large and symmetrical antlers on the landscape.

Wall hangers they are.

Let's face it - Southern Door County is home to some awesome whitetail genetics.

Then there is this...

I don't suppose this buck has an inferiority complex about the appearance of his headgear.  It's not like they use mirrors.

Situations like this are generally the result of genetics.  Sometimes an injury.  And sometimes if you live long enough you out grow the awkward adolescent appearance.

Not that it matters too much to me.  That is a big two and a half year-old buck.  Besides, I still haven't found a good recipe for antlers.....

And More Buckaroos

The rut is kicking it into high gear now and the chase is on as male whitetails have romance on their minds.

There's been plenty more daylight deer activity so it's appropriate to share some more buck and doe photos.

Including a mutant!

More Buckaroos

Last Saturday Blonde Dog and I ran the trail camera trap line and swapped-out SD cards.

No shortage of bucks making themselves known.

And the pre-rut has picked-up the pace with some very active scrapes to be noted.

Here's a handful of nocturnal and a few daylight deer photos from three different locations...

Idiom of the Day

 

Lock Horns

Become embroiled in conflict, as in At the town meeting Kate and Steve locked horns over increasing the property tax. This expression alludes to how stags and bulls use their horns to fight one another. 

A whitetail's antlers are useful for defense against predators and other deer. Here are some photos taken mid-December of a couple of two-and-a-half-year-old bucks sparring.

When this behavior occurs in autumn during the pre-rut these matches are considered behavior that strengthens the social bonds among males in the local herd.  As the rut progresses sparring contributes to establishing the dominant males for purposes of breeding.

From time-to-time these matches will turn into all-out fights.   

On rare occasion bucks will find themselves locked-together which may result in death of one or both animals.  

These are some sweet photos on a couple of levels.  The composition and lighting is very good and it is not every day you capture this behavior digitally....

 

Raggedy Deer

 
This animal looks a bit mangy and scruffy.  Of course, so do I.  Life under quarantine has kept me from a previously-scheduled visit to my barber.  But I digress.  

As the days grow longer the hormonal levels of whitetail deer begin to change.  For the boy deer in the photo testosterone levels gradually rise.  

As a consequence antler growth begins and the gray winter coat with its thick guard hairs begins to molt.  And it is not at all unusual to find deer hair on the forest floor as a consequence of this process.                

Fluctuating hormone levels twice a year bring-about these seasonal molts and deer alternately grow a faded gray coat consisting of longer guard hairs and replace it with the rusty-roan, red-colored coat of summer.  The red heat-reflecting summer coat will only last about three months before the critter begins to regrow the extra layer of longer, stiffer, hollow hair over the softer hair closer to the skin.         

Until the transition is complete the local whitetails are going to continue looking a bit raggedy.  

Young Bucks Out for a Stroll

A short (and silent) fifteen second video vignette of a couple of younger bucks our for a stroll.

Three weeks into the new year there's plenty of evidence that antlers are not dropping in significant numbers.

Older (and bigger) bucks won't be found with their competition like these two...

 

Survivor

The result of letting the little bucks walk is this.

He'll be a bigger boy next fall if he makes it to then...

Antlers are Forming

The girls and I fetched the SD cards from the trail cameras today and they insist I share this video with you.

Velvet-covered antlers are forming on the local bucks and this vignette is fun.

It's a windy day (even the tree the camera is strapped-to is swaying) and something has got this guy a wee bit agitated...

Roll Of the Dice

From last weekend - the ever-patient trail camera never takes sides and misses nothing.

My Pal Six-Deuce heading east-bound on a trail in search of a spot to ambush a whitetail.

In reasonably short-order is the local prong-horn buck moving west-bound.








None of this is surprising considering Six-Deuce's turkey-stalking skills.

This is why Jill will tell you it is hunting and not shopping.....

Pronghorn

click on image for a closer look at this fork horn buck

 

Pronghorn whitetail buck.

That is all.

Move along - nothing further to see here...

Same Deer - Different Time

One of the things about trail cameras is that from time-to-time you might think you've seen the same animal more than once.  Of course, the critter would have to have some sort of identifier or distinguishing characteristic to know it is the same one.  Antlers make the job easier.

Like this buck from the close of last October.

The only reason I remember this one is that the antlers set it apart from many of the other one and a half year old bucks.  The forked antlers.

Here's a picture of him in the same location from a couple of weeks ago.


I had this fork horn in the crosshairs during the gun season - Thanksgiving day.

It's neat to see him around.

Mr. Sunshine

The sun came out this afternoon.  Quite a pleasant sit.  Watched a fork-horn buck pick thru the woods to the north.  Caught a whiff of my scent as he passed but he didn't bolt.  With a snort he trotted-off to the east and disappeared.

Fork Horns

A couple of fork-horned bucks have been showing-up on the trail cameras,  I figure them for one and a half year-old buddies.  They're lacking in the bulk of an older buck yet otherwise show potential.  If you look closely at the antlers there is a slight variation so they're not one and the same.  Moultrie trail camera takes an OK photo dontcha think?

Good genetics around here.   

Raising a toast to the rut....

Bucks

The cameras have captured everything from bunnies, skunks, coyotes and some bucks with very large racks - but too poorly composed to bother publishing.  Here's couple of one and a half (possibly two and a half) year-old boys. 

Mama and the Twins

click on image to enlarge

That would be mom on the left warily eyeing-up the camera.  The twins are center and right and both look like boys.  Adolescent boys that are almost full grown.

Yes, boys.  Say it along with me class:

That's a buck because a boy deer is characterized as having a flat-top.  Girl deer have a dome-shaped head.

Very good.

Always a good rule of thumb during hunting season when you might want to favor the taking of a doe and let the little bucks walk.

Mr. Buck

click on image to enlarge

Yes, a buck.  Say it along with me class:

That's a buck because a boy deer is characterized as having a flat-top.  Girl deer have a dome-shaped head.

Very good.

Always a good rule of thumb during hunting season when you might want to favor the taking of a doe and let the little bucks walk.

Snow is about done for the season.  Anything else we git sure isn't going to stay for very long.

Little Buck

This is a little buck.

How can you tell?

Inside his ears the top of his head is flat - although careful scrutiny reveals small buttons adjacent to the inside of each ear.  Future antlers.

Girl fawns (and all does) have a dome-shaped top of their head and boys are flat-tops.
 

click to enlarge

Spike

click to enlarge

One of two spike bucks caught on the trail cameras the second to last week of January.

He's a nice one and half year-old deer if you can get past that crazy head gear.  I sure would hate to be impaled by one of those antlers.

Wonder what kind of a rack he's going to sport this year?

Little Buck

 click image to enlarge

If you look closely at this deer you can tell it's a boy.  A boy fawn to be exact.

His head is flat on top.  It looks flat because he got tiny antler nubs growing just inside his ears.  That's why a boy fawn is sometimes referred-to as a 'nubbin buck'.  

Does have a domed head.  

Next year he should be sporting antlers.

Active Scrape

An evening IR photo taken over the active scrape of a spike buck giving the licking branch a tug.

click on image to enlarge