August Deer News

Game Camera Pics? I Like Real Ones Better.

Throughout the month of August all the buck’s antlers grow bigger. It’s not a level playing field. For some bucks it’s a little bit bigger, and for others it’s a lot bigger.
Living here, surrounded by the deer woods, I see what happens the whole year. As it turned out there is way more to learn than I originally thought; because a bunch what I grew up thinking that deer did, and why they did it, turned out to be false. That’s ok though, because it’s awe-inspiring learning about whitetail deer.
Something else that’s awe-inspiring is being able to talk about what’s happening and share my personal pictures and determinations about what’s going on year round with you today as well as the thousands of bowhunters and deerhunters who come to www.Bowhunting.net.
In reality I’m being taught by the deer. Real deer that are free ranging, farm crop eating, acorn browsing bucks and does, that come and go and live in the ranchland where the 1,000+ acre place, out in the deer woods at the end of a poorly maintained, rough driving, 2 mile long, un-paved country road.

Ok, here’s what happened around my end of that bouncy road as August kicked off. Antler growing is not a level playing field. Below is an 8-pointer and a narrow but long tined Spike buck. I think we’re talking a 2 1/2 and a 1 1/2 year old. They walked out of the woods you see in the background and went to the doe. As you may notice, she is snubbing them. But that doesn’t matter to them, it’s an instinctive action, they just want her to know they are in her area.

Below a doe stands in the shadows looking around. Look at her belly, she has not dropped this year’s fawn(s). It’s late for that but we have a trickle rut in our county and she, also was born later than most, and apparently the biological clock of a doe starts with her own date of birth..

The day afterward the 8-pointer returns.

A doe with a fawn in tow come out of the trees and go right to the food plot area.

They join another doe and help her eat protein pellets that are in this custom made Protein Feeding Station that my bud Donald Duck made. As you see it works just fine and it didn’t cost $1,000 for a big contraption that releases the pellets at pre-programed times. Plus the Duck’s rig is low-profile and is beyond a doubt less obtrusive.

Backing up to what I said about antler growing, here is a 10-pointer I took a picture of. He obviously has a larger body and much bigger rack than the other bucks. But he is not a 2 1/2 year old either. And this growing boy still has part of the month left to add to the length of his tines and main beams.

This buck is potentially a 9-pointer. He walked along the edge of the woods to the north and occasionally paused to browse on whatever is growing over there.

Speaking of the buck with tall Spikes check him out. He has his ears back and is encroaching on this other buck’s space.

When the buck sees the tall Spike he turns, puts his own ears back and walks directly toward the Spike. One of them has to back down to end this situation.

The Spike gives quarter and they both return to what they were doing. A buck browsed his way across the narrow food plot. This one is a 9-point but has a bump on his left main beam that may become a 10th point.