12/05/2007-THE DEER GAME

My third year of monitoring a game camera came to a close with the shotgun deer season.  It was another interesting year with its glimpse into the growth phenomenon of deer antlers, deer behavior and movements.

My first week in June that the camera was out showed two very nicely developing deer.  (this is indicated by the top left and bottom right pictures inset photos).  Both were much more developed than the other deer seen at the same time frame.  With that first weeks photos, my deer season started as I began to anticipate what they would look like when fully mature, and where they were going to frequent.

Both bucks had the somewhat unusual feature of extra points on the brow tine region, one on the left side, the other on the right, so I soon took to calling them “left brow” and “right brow” not perhaps exciting names, but individual.  Neither was a regular nightly or daily visitor to the camera, but coy, about once or twice a week they happened by.  This led me to move a camera around a bit in an attempt to see if they were frequenting a different area of the woods, but I didn’t see them anywhere else.

By September both had polished their racks and were looking nice though “right brow” was the larger.  In terms of numbers, my game camera footage seemed to indicate around a dozen different deer using the area.

Bow deer season came along eventually (not soon enough for me) and all camera appearances by either buck disappeared.  The week of muzzleloader season also came and went.  Still no sign of them.  I don’t know if there is some “deer 6th sense”, but as I was really only interested in shooting one or the other, it seemed like when ever I went hunting, other deer would almost go out of their way to walk under my tree.  But the big ones never appeared.

I even bought a decoy and that was interesting to watch other deer react to it.  They would typically approach it, stamp their feet at it, and reluctantly move off.

One other hunter was in the next woods a few days and actually shot an arrow into the bigger buck.  Hit on the shoulder, the deer ran off and was not found, but seen again several days later, apparently OK as the arrow must not have penetrated. 

He also walked past my dad later in the season, but not close enough for a good shot.

So, shotgun season came for me without a glimpse of either buck.

When the neighbors made a drive of the woods on Saturday, one of the lucky guys had a chance at “right brow” and brought him down.  It was his biggest deer and he was very happy.  The buck had broken off two of the brow tines by then, but clearly, it was the same buck I had watched grow up.  The next day, “left brow” walked past me.  He also had broken off two of his extra brow points. 

I’m occasionally of the mind (after 3 years now) that a game camera somewhat spoils me as I typically know what deer are around and takes a bit of the mystery out of the “is this the biggest buck in the woods” moment when a live deer is standing in front of you.

On the other hand, after three years of setting my sights on a particular deer or two, it has also been rewarding to watch bucks come and go, waiting for just the right one.