I suppose I'll try this again. I remember seeing this young buck for the first time last year and saying if he makes it long enough I have a feeling he could be awesome. The 2 to 3 year old jump he made was pretty huge. He probably went from 115" to the upper 150's, maybe even pushing 160". He is a major homebody and I saw him quite often last season, so I have a feeling he'll be visible again throughout the fall. I've made up my mind that if I can get some quality video of him and a very high quality shot I'll shoot him, but if he lives another few years this is one that could be really special.
Ya that was the first scrape tree I put in on the property. I have now taken down all my rope licking "branches" except for one of my plots. For whatever reason in that one plot that scrape got hit non stop while the other ropes were not as productive as most natural scrapes with overhanging licking branches. I started a few using a vine (about 1" in diameter and roughly 3' in length) which already have been working very well. I also just put in a little clover plot in a creek bottom with a small scrub oak on one end and that seems to be the ticket. There was a scrape already started the size of something you see in November and a pile of shavings around the base of the tree from being rubbed on the first few weeks out of velvet.
Anyone having the opportunity to manage a property with the goal of growing and holding mature deer knows that occasionally you loose them, one way or another before reaching your desired age class. It sure seems like I am on a hot streak for loosing some really good young bucks in dramatic fashion. Locked together and drowning in a pond last year and now I believe the buck I intended to hunt next year may not survive the winter. On a lighter note I shot the big 6 year old I was hunting this year on October 20th which allowed the remainder of my season to be spent developing a plan to kill the buck I call "Benny." Being one of the major homebody bucks on the farm I started to become weary something happened to him when he stopped showing up on cameras in the middle of the rut. I don't touch the property during gun hunting because of nearby pressure which usually results in recruiting new bucks and allowing the younger deer to make it another year. Well after gun hunting I was shocked he was MIA from November 11 -30th. After looking much closer at pictures and every video I realized he was in fact here, just without antlers. There was a pretty nasty sounding fight and glimpses of two bucks locked up on the 11th. A giant bodied mature buck I've never seen showed up for 3 days and I suspect the 3 year old I had high hopes of watching grow into a Booner took a beating that night. It appears he has puncture wounds on his side and some sort of infection. I am not very optimistic he will survive the winter but I have learned to never underestimate the survivabilty of these animals.
