Early season deer hunting can be very effective because white-tailed bucks are more easily patterned prior to the rut. Novice deer managers may think that removing a high quality buck prior to the rut is a bad idea because it limits the buck’s ability to pass on his genes. Yes, harvesting a buck prior to the rut does limit his ability to pass on his genes, but it does not limit the ability of his offspring. When it comes to deer management we must manage the deer herd, not individual animals. If you manage the herd as a whole then good things will happen.
The most important aspect of managing the buck segment of the deer population on your property should be maintaing good quality bucks in each age class. If you are interested in improving antler quality of bucks then inferior bucks in each age class should be removed. Bucks that are deemed inferior (by your standards) in the yearling, 2 1/2, 3 1/2, 4 1/2 year old age classes should be removed each year. By doing this you ensure that only the best quality bucks remain each year, pass on their genes, and once mature are ready for harvest. Continue reading “Impact of Pre-Rut Buck Harvest on Genetics”
When it comes to timing your deer hunting activity, every deer hunter knows that hunting during the rut is a great time to be in the woods. Sure, this can a great way to harvest a white-tailed buck because during the rut bucks can be downright stupid.
In addition to bucks having only one thing on their mind, they may stray up to several miles from their summer range in search of does or chasing does to breed. And as exciting as this may be, there is another way to bag your buck that can take some of the guess work out of the equation.
Pre-Rut Success: Pattern Bucks
The secret is patterning the movement those early season bucks way before the breeding season kicks off. Early season bucks are motivated by safety and food. Bucks feel rather safe during the early fall because for 9 months no one has bothered them — no hunters in the woods, no funny scents, no 4-wheelers running around both before and after dark, and nothing strange at all. It has been quiet.
It’s during this time of year that whitetail bucks find food sources and eat in preparation of the breeding season and winter. They may be hitting a feeder, a food plot, or an ag field, but they are all the same as far as you are concerned. If you can figure out a buck’s pre-rut pattern you drastically improve your chances of bagging that big boy.
Pre-Season: First Shot is the Best Shot
Now as I mentioned earlier the rut can cause bucks to travel long distances, so once the rut begins the buck you may have had your heart set on may no longer be in the area, so why wait? You don’t want him throwing caution to the wind somewhere else now do you?
But as easy as it is to say get out there early, early season hunting brings its own set of challenges. In addition to facing warm, maybe even hot weather, you will be heading out into the woods battling mosquitoes, chiggers, and lots of leaves that have yet to fall. Hey, I never said it would be easy even though hunting pre-rut bucks can be highly effective.
In addition to potentially tough environmental conditions, many hunters have another huge obstacle when it comes to patterning and hunting bucks early in the season. This is the fact that the rut actually occurs prior to hunting season.
This can happen in many cases. In Texas, there are many parts of the state where the general deer hunting season opens after the rut has already begun! Many hunters across the country know this fact — and in many cases it’s probably one of the important reasons they picked up a bow. In areas where the rut takes place prior to the gun (general) season, bow-hunters have the best shot at both pre-rut and early-rut bucks.
Pre-Rut Turns to Post-Rut Hunting
The rut kicking off prior the gun season opener is not unique to Texas so it’s important to know when the rut takes place in the area where you hunt, because timing can be everything. It is very difficult to pattern a pre-rut buck that’s locked into a feeding pattern when you show up a few weeks late, after the pattern has been broken.
But not all is lost, assuming that buck you are chasing is still alive. Once the whitetail breeding season is complete bucks will return to their pre-rut patterns, hitting food sources hard to replenish fat reserves before the worst of winter sets in.
However, increased hunter activity, hunting pressure, and colder weather may cause the buck to shift to a more nocturnal pattern. All of these factors contribute to a buck that is much more difficult to hunt, so take advantage of the hunting pre-rut bucks early and you will not have to hunt late.
Deer can sometimes grow hooves that are much longer than normal. Long hooves in deer is not common because I’ve seen reports from many different places over the years, but it’s not something that hunters will commonly see in the field. Just this week, I received an email that contained photos of a white-tailed doe than had long hooves (it was actually just her front left hoof and back right hoof).
This condition is referred to as foundering and I believe the term comes from the word “floundering” because under extreme conditions the animal appears to be floundering around as it walks. From reviewing the literature, there appears to be three main reasons for long hoof growth in deer, but all are related to diet.
Why do Deer Founder?
A deer that exhibits foundering is taking in way too many carbohydrates. Either this is a problem directly related to the forage that the animal is eating or it has to do with the way the deer is processing its food. More often than not, it has to do with what the deer is eating. A diet high in corn or protein pellets contributes to foundering. Corn, of course, is primarily carbohydrates.
Hoof tissue is very similar to antler tissue. If you are feeding protein to grow larger bodied deer and larger antlers then you are also feeding to grow deer with longer hooves. Foundering is almost always the result of a deer consuming too many carbohydrates in the diet too fast.
The result is a buildup of acid in the rumen, which kills the bacteria that digest carbohydrates. This process then results in an increasing pH in the blood that can hurt or possibly even kill the deer from acidosis.
Foundering is a result of these physiological changes within hooved animals. The technical term for problem is laminitis, and refers to the physical separation of the hoof wall and rotation of the coffin bone. So rather than a deer walking on the ends of its hooves, it walks on the sides of its hooves. This causes improper wear and hooves lengthen.
Photos: Deer with Foundered Hooves
Foundering and Deer Mobility
White-tailed deer than have foundered, long hooves will often walk on the backs of their hooves because the acid buildup agitates the growth plate in their hooves. As a result of the deer attempting to ease the pain, the hooves grow longer than normal because the hooves do not have proper contact with the ground.
Without proper contact hoof-ground contact, the hooves do not wear down as they normally would. This problem can be exacerbated on “soft” soils such as clay and sand because hoof wear in deer is already decreased in these areas.
Looking to harvest a good white-tailed buck? Who isn’t? I’m going to first assume that you have a place to hunt and know the terrain of your hunting property. If not, this is critical information you need to know, so get out there. In addition to learning the lay of the land, another one of a hunter’s first objectives should be to determine whether or not the hunting area holds any sizable bucks. And I use the term “sizable” as defined by you. To some, sizable may go hand-in-hand with the term “mature buck” while others may put a number to it, such as 140 Boone and Crockett points.
Big bucks are territorial. You can find these areas by looking for both scrapes and rubs, but scrapes are really what you want to be looking for and I will explain why. Other than how they are made, do you know how scrapes and rubs differ? For one, it’s seldom that one particular buck rub will be worked again later in the year. In fact, a certain tree may be rubbed in consecutive years by a particular buck, but seldom is it ever worked again during that same year. This is not the case with buck scrapes because they will often be revisited and reworked throughout the breeding season. Keep in mind that I am not saying that all whitetail scrapes will be revisited, but the odds are more in your favor than against you. Continue reading “Better Deer Hunting: Whitetail Scrapes or Rubs?”
Acorns. We know white-tailed deer like to eat them and that they serve as an important fall and winter food item for deer, but how good are they really? This question crossed my mind as I sat in my bow stand intently listening for deer walking quietly through the leaves, but all I heard over and over again was snap, thud, snap, thud, snap… acorns! Live oak acorns, the dominant oak in my neck of the woods, have been falling for a couple of weeks and they are still going strong.
Acorns are rich in nutrients although quality varies between oak species. One thing I do know is that all acorns contain high amounts of fats, carbohydrates, and good amounts of protein, too. From what I have researched, one ounce of dried acorn has on average 140 calories, of which 9 grams is fat, 15 grams is carbohydrate, and 2 grams is protein. Using some simple math, that means a whopping 50% (72 calories) of the caloric intake is from fat! Now you now why deer pig out on them prior to the onset of winter. But the buck doesn’t stop there. Continue reading “Acorns As White-tailed Deer Food”
