it's about over , hunting for bucks .

jimbires · Jan 14, 2023

looks like things are winding down around here . Monday Jan 16 our late season , flintlock & archery ends . I think it would be tough for a hunter to get a buck now . I still have eight cameras out keeping up on how things are looking . I had one deer on last weeks camera chips with an antler , it had lost one . that was the only antlered deer on my chips . I did get a close up of a deer that his sockets are about healed over . it's been a fun season running the cameras , and seeing what goes on . I'll probably pull my cameras this week , or next week , depending on what I see on them . funny thing is about two , or three weeks ago ,I noticed a bunch of new rubs . must have been a few hot does in the late rut running around .

here's a little one , must have been a late arrival .

JD338 · Jan 14, 2023

That is a little one. I keep all my camera running year around. We are able to keep an eye on things here, wildlife and trespassing. All the cell cameras have solar panels so battery life is well over a year.
Last year Early February, I got pictures of a big 8 pt mounting a doe.

JD338

DrMike · Jan 14, 2023

Wow, that's late breeding. An early summer fawn?

AFG270 · Jan 14, 2023

Wow, that is a late fawn, Jim.
I keep my cameras up year around as well, have pictures of several mt lions, a couple black bears and many coyotes and bobcats.

jimbires · Jan 15, 2023

one of the stipulations on our lease is , we must allow ATV's , and UTV's access to ride when deer hunting season is over . we open up access around a couple gates , in the off season . the access is big enough , they squeeze Jeeps through . we lock things up for about 10 weeks , or at least we try. when things are opened up , some shenanigans always seem to happen , payback for keeping them out I guess . I'll get my cameras out before things get too busy.

that's a pretty good pic JD . I saw deer mate in my field a couple years ago . that's the only time I actually seen this happen . I did catch elk mating while I was in the Pa elk range . they probably thought no one could see them, they were hiding behind a utility pole .

DrMike · Jan 15, 2023

The sneaky rascals!

JD338 · Jan 15, 2023

Jim,
Cool picture of the elk.
Understand now why you take down your cameras. We are fortunate to own and manage our own property. We have a total of 20 cameras running 24/7/365.

JD338

jimbires · Jan 15, 2023

I'll let them out until the batteries go dead , or until it snows . I have one that's getting low batteries now. with snow on the ground they can follow my tracks right to the cameras . I pulled chips today . I got one with horns out of 8 cameras . he's young , needs a couple more years to grow .

do you guys see your camera activity switching around ? I have cameras that'll get 20 or 30 pics for a week , then it will get 100 or so . I have a camera that was always getting about 15 or 20 pics a week , but always had a couple good bucks . when the chasing phase was going good that camera got 288 in 10 days . I thought wow I better tend it sooner than a week , so I went back in 3 days , I had 180 pics . then it went back to it's normal 15 or 20 pics a week . camera 3, my only horns this week , has always been a slow steady 20 or 30 pics a week , this week 85 pics . I find it interesting how the deer use different areas , at different times . a couple cameras only had 4 or 6 pics this week .

wvbuckbuster · Jan 15, 2023

My son and I had out 3 cameras on the farm we hunt. One would have 15-20 in 2 weeks. one 30-40 and the other 50-75. It was on a trail used more or the deer making several trips, we pulled them after buck season. How many pictures it's set for makes a difference for us also. We pulled them after buck season. Dan.

JD338 · Jan 15, 2023

The action varies from camera to camera throughout the season.
We have several bucks hanging out. Next seasons stock.

JD338

RL338 · Jan 15, 2023

DrMike said:
Wow, that's late breeding. An early summer fawn?

Through out this years hunting season I keep seeing a little guy , no spots though. Probably a Valentine baby too.

jimbires said:
I'll let them out until the batteries go dead , or until it snows . I have one that's getting low batteries now. with snow on the ground they can follow my tracks right to the cameras . I pulled chips today . I got one with horns out of 8 cameras . he's young , needs a couple more years to grow .

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do you guys see your camera activity switching around ? I have cameras that'll get 20 or 30 pics for a week , then it will get 100 or so . I have a camera that was always getting about 15 or 20 pics a week , but always had a couple good bucks . when the chasing phase was going good that camera got 288 in 10 days . I thought wow I better tend it sooner than a week , so I went back in 3 days , I had 180 pics . then it went back to it's normal 15 or 20 pics a week . camera 3, my only horns this week , has always been a slow steady 20 or 30 pics a week , this week 85 pics . I find it interesting how the deer use different areas , at different times . a couple cameras only had 4 or 6 pics this week .

I have 2 cameras on my food plot now. Getting 500 pictures a week. All kinds of critters deer , fox , turkey , squirrels , raccoons , and birds. They’re all eating well.

jimbires · Jan 16, 2023

the deer have just about cleaned up our food plots , there is little to nothing left . the food plots were about bare by the end of October . we have one plot planted in winter rye , or winter wheat , they don't seem to be using it much at all . it's nice and green , but the snow has laid it down . even when it was standing the deer didn't seem to be using it .

I never put a camera on our food plots . the other guys had cameras lined up along all the food plots . I kept my cameras in the woods on trails , or if I found acorns , which were very skimpy this year . I'm sure there are better places in the woods for cameras too . I figured the way the deer were eating up the food plots , there would not be enough food to keep attracting the deer through the end of the season . we did kill on the food plots early to mid season , then the kills were mostly in the woods or not in food plots .

RL338 · Jan 16, 2023

Yep , turf wars were still running into the new year. The top pair have a little growing to do

Ridge_Runner · Jan 16, 2023

here in wv, 90% of the does are bread either late october or mid november, mid november is peak rut. 21 days after the peak, does that were not bred or born late the spring before can come in, 21 days after that those that have not been bred will come into estrus again. the bucks that drop antlers in dec. are those whom do not fully participate in the rut, without the high testosterone levels they lose antlers early, the older dominant bucks that rut hard. drop hornns around mid febuary or early march.

jimbires · Jan 18, 2023

I pulled one obvious camera today . looks like this one has lost his too .

I had to resize the pic , it was to big .

edit , the pic looks like a antler stub , but it's at the eye socket , not the right place for an antler . must be something weird with he pic .

ShadeTree · Jan 19, 2023

Jim, I went hunting about all day on Monday. We were putting on drives on the side of a mountain. I was shocked at the number of bucks we had out. I figured this late in the yr, antler sightings would be low. I was on drive all day and numerous times in the drive somebody would get on the radio and say buck out ahead, or buck coming up, buck coming down,1 time the call was big buck coming up.

I ran 3 bucks with a group of does out to 1 guy when I came out to him. Another guy seen 2 different buck walking in on that same drive. I didn't see a lot of deer only 1. But it was a buck........had I had a buck tag I would've taken the shot. It wouldn't of been an easy shot, but I would've attempted it. Not a lot of deer killed........a lot of misses, ha. Exhausting, but fun day.

I did get a deer out of the deal. The one guy that killed one didn't want it. Yes sir, I'll put it in my freezer. Hanging in a cooler right now. It was a buck without the headgear.

RoHa · Jan 19, 2023

ShadeTree said:
Jim, I went hunting about all day on Monday. We were putting on drives on the side of a mountain. I was shocked at the number of bucks we had out. I figured this late in the yr, antler sightings would be low. I was on drive all day and numerous times in the drive somebody would get on the radio and say buck out ahead, or buck coming up, buck coming down,1 time the call was big buck coming up.

I ran 3 bucks with a group of does out to 1 guy when I came out to him. Another guy seen 2 different buck walking in on that same drive. I didn't see a lot of deer only 1. But it was a buck........had I had a buck tag I would've taken the shot. It wouldn't of been an easy shot, but I would've attempted it. Not a lot of deer killed........a lot of misses, ha. Exhausting, but fun day.

I did get a deer out of the deal. The one guy that killed one didn't want it. Yes sir, I'll put it in my freezer. Hanging in a cooler right now. It was a buck without the headgear.

Man, I wish someone would give me a free buck...
On the offnote, anyone familiar with Pnuma? Seen it at a few stores and it has okay-ish reviews( https://gritroutdoors.com/expert-guides-tutorials/ like here for example). Price seems to be decent, but I've pretty much never seen it, hence wondering.

jimbires · Jan 20, 2023

it quit raining yesterday around 2 PM . me and the dog went for a walk just behind the house . we saw two bunches of deer . the first bunch all I saw were tails . the second bunch jumped up and took off , except for two decent bucks that just stood there watching us . it seemed they watched us forever , it was probably less than 30 seconds . they were good bucks hanging with probably 5 or 6 other deer . made me wonder if there was a doe coming in heat in that bunch . I still have seven cameras out . I'll pull cards over the weekend . I'm anxious to see if I have any bucks , this week .

the week after rifle season closed , I worked clearing the tail ends of two growed up roads , and cutting a road between them. the bucks were rubbing along these fresh cut roads . it was funny , I'd go up the next day and think that wasn't there yesterday , or how'd I miss that . during that time fresh rubs were showing up scattered around the place . I don't know if there were more than normal , or if I'm just paying more attention to it . I just found a fresh rub this past Tuesday . it would have happened between Sunday and Tuesday . he really tore it up .

the one I just found

these were the ones that showed up along my road clearing job. one's a pretty nice rub . we killed one good buck from in that area . I have a camera not far from here , with a bunch of good bucks on it .

I also got to watch a woodpecker hammer a new hole . LOL

DrMike · Jan 20, 2023

Well, a few animals are still active. And that is great. Sounds as if you've witnessed a good year. Good on you!

That promises a fine year ahead.

jimbires · Jan 21, 2023

a couple pics of the one food plot .it was really nice around the beginning of October . went in there the other day looking around for sheds and took a couple pics .

August 2022