Scouting: Grapevine Hill Aug 15 Report & Pics

SCOUTING FOR DEER 2013 is Sponsored by, ThermaCELL, ACCESS Original Roll-Up Cover, Bowhunting Adventures Magazine and BowTube.com.

In August the bucks still have some antler growing time left; we’re talking about things like longer main beams, increased tine length, lengthier stickers and possibly a new point or a  crab claw point. One thing for sure, the bucks that are going to have a big rack already have an impressive rack in August.  They have the width they’ll have this year and, with very few exceptions, the number of points.

To me, this time of the year is super exciting and every chance I get  I take deer pictures. Also I use several SpyPoint cameras to take pictures of trails, crossings, ridges, fence lines and other places where I might get pictures of this years deer, with an eye out for the big boys of our area.

Monday I picked up the SpyPoint camera at a new, potential stand site I’m calling the Grapevine Hill. Here is the layout. I’m in a narrow strip of woods running East and West with a 90 acre field to the North and planted field to the South (that currently has cut corn and will soon be planted in oats). A barbed wire fence borders the 90 acre field and the woods (which are only 80 to 100 yards wide).

Earlier I walked the fence and found a new, very big, crossing under the fence. So I put a camera there on August 1.

Here are the Highlights…

There were over 100 doe pictures and most of them were along the trail in this picture. This tells us that the basic deer travel pattern is from deer coming out of, or going to, the 90 acre acre field. And dito for the nearby corn field. There are also three cross trails in this narrow strip of woods (20 to 25 yards wide).

I got the SpyPoint camera a bit too close to the first trail there were a couple dozen close up pics that consisted of deer body parts. Here’s a young buck that was in several pictures.

This is the same young buck two days later. Note that when I picked up the camera I noticed there were plenty of new grapes growing on the many grapevines in this area.

Ok, here we go. On the right we have a buck with a nice rack. His belly is bulging a little. The deer to the left is a few yards closer to the camera but it is a buck too.

Here is another night time picture of a different buck (the antlers are a little bit different than the previous buck).

And now we’re talking. For starters, this buck is in the area during daylight, which is always a good thing. It’s early morning. And this buck has a nice 9-point rack that appears to have a a kicker on his left second tine. It is possible, in this pic, that he could have an additional point on the right main beam that is blocked by the camera angle.

After I picked up the SD card from the camera I moved the camera down the cross trail about 25 yards. At that time I didn’t know that this buck was hanging around here; but after seeing this series of pictures, if I don’t pick him up where I moved the camera, I’ll bring the camera back here.

Things are looking sweet on at Grapevine Hill.

SCOUTING FOR DEER 2013 is Sponsored by, ThermaCELL, ACCESS Original Roll-Up Cover, Bowhunting Adventures Magazine and BowTube.com.