Am I the only one who is tired of saying / thinking that about a nice young buck.... But never see it "next year" on cam or in person? It's like I have a never ending supply every year of yearling and 2.5 year olds but the 3.5 and especially the 4.5+ bucks disappear for the most part Aliens perhaps Don't get me wrong I have located a few good ones this year, just the way last years 2.5 year olds vanish is beyond me....
I sure am Scott. I cannot tell you or count how many bucks I've passed over the years to not ever see them again as far as I know. Perhaps one of the 3.5 year olds that I've taken I passed at 1.5 but I'll never know. I always ask myself, when is it my turn for that one. I wish we could paint ball them with a perm marking to know for sure. I've also had some real dandy's on my older 35mm that I quit using to only never see them that year nor years after.
I've gone back thru my old trail cam pics lots of times to see if I can find the same buck a couple of years in a row. I might have 2 or 3 that look similar, but can't say for sure it's the same buck. Maybe they change more than you think they do and we don't recognise them. Or maybe the Drury's get them.
I've only ever knowingly seen the same buck 2 years in a row once. It was a scraggly dink of a 6 pt, as a 1.5 old, & it had some white splotches on its side. The next year I saw a nice 15" wide perfect 8 with white splotches on its side.
Back home in WI I have pics from an 8 pt the previous three seasons. He's very distinct, as his main beams point straight out and have a funky squiggle to them. I'm guessing last year that he was 4.5 and would only go around 110". I also have pics of a big 10 from 2004. In 2005 there was no sign of him. In 2006 he showed up again and we got multiple pics again. Where was he in 2005? Did he relocate? I have no idea. These are the only 2 bucks that I definately know was around multiple years. Then again, most anything used to get whacked and if you saw a 3.5 year old you were lucky as hell.
I agree 100% as well. I have been watching this really cool broken leg buck for 3years! This year I had a trail cam shot of him on Jan 22 with both antlers, and on the 24th both antlers were gone. I looked everywhere never found them (two years in a row). That was my last photos of him. I was hoping he would show up in the last few months. But he has not - It seems like another vanishing act. He was one cool buck. Here is a photo of him in 2006, 2007 and 2008. I have to say I am pretty SAD First Picture of him ever - He is 2.5 years old here. I saw him the year before when he had no antlers, just limping along. Here he is 3.5 years old Here he is during the rut! Here he is 3.5 years old after the hunting season with no antlers, have not seem him now for over 7 months. http://s51.photobucket.com/albums/f362/toddgraf/?action=view¤t=131b5a2b.pbr
Another example of an antler affected on the same side as a front leg injury. Where as a rear leg injury affects the opposite side antler.
All I know is that the 6 (different) 2.5 yr olds I passed last year from ONE stand better be there, this year :/
i have a pair of bucks i filmed the other day that i have watched grow from a one and two year old when i first moved here 3.5 years ago... they both look great this year... RYBO saw the older of the two, a 4x4 when he was 3.5.. he is 5.5 now i will finally hunt the canyon they live in for the first time this year, very tricky wind and thermals to compete against... should be fun. these two bucks have drastically reduced their willingness to move during daylight while feeding over the past three summers, during hunting season....zilch!... they like many bucks as they mature seem to vanish, when in reality they are simply less tolerant of daylight movement imo.
I thought this problem only happened in PA. Seriously, I see a good number of 2.5s, but not a ton, and let a bunch go knowing they will grow to be big 3.5s, but never see them again. I would say nocturnal maybe, but as you said they don't even show up on camera or in the spot beam.
I can update this with a I found one of them! This is one I was seriously pumped about last year, I had a shot op on him but did not attempt to shoot him.... I told Donny boy all about him last fall.... BTW I have had a camera out on this place since velvet first started to show and I have zero pics of him so far..... He wasn't but 75-100 yards from my cam tonight. I am glassing 3-4 nights per week now as well.... How about you guys?
Speaking of needing a towel..... LOL.....Yeah, this must be quite a buck......I sure hope you run a trick through him this year w/out tearing your shoulder apart....j/k Hopefully you got some pics of him bro, I would like to see that bad boy! I went out glassing first time this evening. I saw 2 small bucks (read a forkie and spiker) and several does and spotted fawns. Not bad overall....
Try livin in MI!!!!! 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 yr olds are all you will see. Thats why I hunt out of state. Jay
