All 3 of them look like they're going to be the type that would cause me "shake, shiver, and drool". Thanks for sharing. Bill
Yeah that one in the second pic actually made me squeal a little bit. That's the one that had a drop tine off his left side in 2013 that I named Gnurley and I found that shed from him in Feb 14. Last year the drop tine receded into a pronounced bump. Late in the season he showed up on camera and had a pretty raunchy looking gouge in his right rear flank and carried that leg up for a few weeks, got really puny and then disappeared completely. I thought sure he'd gotten an infection in an antler stab wound and died or yotes got him. I never did find a carcass so I still held out a shred of hope even though I was pretty sure he'd died. A while back in May I saw a buck on this same camera who I suspected, based on what he had growing already, to be Gnurley. His frame shape is pretty unmistakable even without that drop tine. His left brow tine is also a big split though you can't see it in that shot and it's always been that way. He was a huge bodied deer last year until he got hurt near the end of the rut, he really looked like a shadow of his former self...it's amazing how fast they can go downhill and even more amazing they can survive the yo-yo effect. I suspect the big boy that started running that property late season probably kicked his but and gored him in the rear as he fled, that's what the wound looked like. Lightning got my desktop the other day so I don't have any pics at the moment from last year. I had pics of him posted here on the forum though. He's also got a funky long face. I spent a lot of time in 13 watching that buck chase does while I was in my favorite tree stand. Ahh, I found a pic of him from last year I'd added to photobucket. You can see the remnants of his 2013 droptine near the outer end of his left side. It's funny how their antlers can morph from one year to the next as they age.
I wish I lived in an area where people hunted in a manner that would preserve and let bucks grow to maturity. I think part of the fun is being able to recognize a deer from one year to the next and learn. To often a rifle hunter step out of his truck an shoots the first thing with a little bone on top of its head so I hardly ever see an actual deer that is anywhere near mature. That's a great buck you have there. Good luck this season!
Thanks, yeah we're lucky enough to have a lot of land (relatively speaking) and a lot of cover here. We still have the random smuck that will stop in the road and shoot a deer out in a field though...anywhere there are people there are those types. One of our mature bucks, a wide eight point, was pot shot out in my cut corn field last November. They just shot it and cut it's head off and left the rest of it for the eagles to eat. He was never going to be a monster but still an irritating wrong done on private property. We are pretty lucky to have mostly decent neighbors that allow us to have surviving deer year after year. Sparsely populated and lots of cover and low hunter densities...yeah it's nice to enjoy it that way for sure.
Yes owning your own land is a plus, but your neighbors also have to help a little too. I have a small chunk of family land that I hunt on about a mile from city limits and that's part of my problem. People find it convenient to drive around close to town and shoot deer. It's just how people are around here. Part of my problem is my own fault because I choose to hunt there, but having 2 young kids and also starting my own business limits my time a little. I get out to enjoy the outdoors so I can't complain to much.
SHUT IT, MAN! actually, I wondered when you were gonna start goading us... a few weeks ago, when I went to refresh minerals and pull the cam card that had been out since first part of April, I intended to just swap the card... but camera would not power back up after swapping the card. batteries were dead... so when I went back to the truck to scrounge for batteries, I popped the card in my laptop and discovered only 132 pix... for the first several days after checking it in April then dead. the saddest part is that in that time, there were several pix of a bachelor group with just budding antlers that I have missed watching grow. oh well. I've had crap luck this spring with my cams and it is certainly not necessarily the cameras' fault! another one on a friend's place I forgot to turn on earlier this spring during turkey season.
