Growing Bucks

The first look at pictures of the spring deer in the game camera revealed a very interesting buck. For several years now I’ve put game cameras out in the woods. I always start early to see what is there, and to watch them grow up. Sometimes, a few different bucks will be regular features on each weeks file. Other times, a buck might be seen once and never again.

So, anyway its always difficult to look at a buck that has just grown 2 or 3 inches of antler and positively identify him through the summer. But this buck has been distinctive as he’s growing a third antler!

In his first picture you got a clear look at the left antler and realized it was branched right where it left his skill.

This was exciting as it was obviously different. Several weeks went by before I saw him again, but it was without a doubt the same buck. The left antler had two distinctive main beams now, each with a normal brow point, and growing secondary points along its length.

He is an occasional visitor to pass by the game camera. Not frequent enough to have any sort of pattern, but occasional enough that I’ve been able to watch him grow.

One of the most recent pictures is not about 2 weeks old and he’s a nice looking buck. The two main beams grew points, one with 2 points, and one with three. Which gives him a total of 7 points on the left side and 5 on his normal right antler.

Will he score well? Probably not. Will he be in danger if he walks past me? Likely. I’m really hoping he will walk by one of the tree stands while I’ve got my boy David up in it. He is going to do the youth hunt this year. We’ve been practicing quite regularly with a scoped .22 rifle and a deer target. When it comes time to hunt, we’ll swap that over for a scoped muzzleloader. That seemed the gun of choice as I can load just enough gun powder to give him realistic practice shots without a lot of kick, then a somewhat stiffer hunting load for close range deer. We’ll restrict out shots to standing broadside deer at 30 yards of less. I’ve got a two person deer stand already in the woods. It has a rifle rest built into it.

Am I excited about the upcoming deer season? Yes. It might actually be hard to tell if David or I am more looking forward to it.

Other game camera happenings? Coon and turkeys. Turkeys are occasional photo models in each weeks pictures. As an experiment this summer with one of my young naturalist groups, I put a handful of eggs in front of the camera to see what might come along to eat them. It took 3 or 4o days before anything did. Then there were coons that appeared. They ate the eggs in one event, but they are now frequently back at the same spot apparently looking for another free lunch. Before I put the eggs there, I never saw a coon.

Of the other larger animals in the woods like coyote or fox, they are never in front of the camera. I wonder if they completely avoid the area and its traces human scent that surely result from my comings and goings?

The other frequent visitor this year are bats. Bats themselves would not trip the camera, but if a deer is there and the camera trips and a bat happens to be flying past, you can get a good photo of the bat. This has never happened before this year, but has been common in the early summer.