Bucks in velvet

[Riorat]

Great pics!!! Those pics would really make me look forward to hunting season

[gstoneberg]

I am looking forward to it for sure. However, my suspicion is that we won't see either of those big guys until the rut, which is about Thanksgiving time down here. The young 7 pointer will probably show up many times to tempt me.

We're keeping a corn and protein mix in that protein feeder to try and hold the bucks until they shed their velvet in a couple weeks. We'd like to get some pictures with them hard horned before they start fighting and spread out. I doubt the protein is helping antler growth anymore.

George

[gstoneberg]

Well, it appears our bucks have finished growing, there's not much difference in the size of the 10 and 11 pointers from the last pictures. We're putting mostly corn in the protein feeder to try and keep the bucks coming in so we can get a hard horned picture. I'm looking forward to hunting them. Dove season opened here today and archery deer hunting begins in a month. It's my favorite time of year.

George

[bnall05]

Nothing better than corn fed meat!

[gstoneberg]

One last picture. Here is the 11 pointer hard horned. The bucks have abandoned the protein feeder now that they've shed their velvet. I've bowhunted once and saw one doe which I didn't get a shot at.

George

[gstoneberg]

Well, I hunted hard the whole season and only got one brief look at a mature buck and he wasn't one of the big 3 we'd watched at the protein feeder. In fact, nobody at the lease saw any of the 3 amigos during hunting season. The 11 point showed up in trail cams from time to time (usually at night) but as soon as season ended he showed up again, this time in broad daylight. He looks a little thin though. How do they know when season is over???

Looking forward to next season. Now we have 2 protein feeders going. I'm curious if the other 2 are still around and how much larger the 11 will be next year.

George

[barber878]

did you get any of those this year

[gstoneberg]

Nope, I sure didn't. This is the only mature deer I saw all season.



He came through really fast and I had to move quick to get the gun up but he caught the motion and bolted. Too bad. We saw several deer on the trail cams during the rut that we had never seen before. Unfortunately, work really kept me from hunting so I only had 1 hunt during the rut. Really sad. I did shoot 3 does so the freezer is full and I was able to give one to a family out of work.

The bucks aren't hitting the protein feeders yet. There are some does showing up. We still had a buck that hadn't dropped its antlers a week ago. The hogs are beginning to hit the feeders again. I'll go do some hog/turkey hunting in the next few weeks.

I'll post more velvet pictures once the bucks start showing up.

George

[barber878]

He is going to be a beast come the start of the season

[gstoneberg]

Yup, both he and the 11pt are gonna be real studs this fall. We also had a gaggle of young 8pt bucks that will be pretty nice. I'm going to try and save as much vacation as I can this year. I'd like to spend a week during the rut.

George