Mother Nature Never Ceases Imparting Her Knowledge Upon Us.  As Hunters, We Need To Be In The Woods; Present And Punctual For The Free Lesson.

In our neck of the woods, the Michigan climate has not been accommodating to bow hunters. Oh sure, if you enjoy swimming and partaking in physical activity with only a single layer of clothing on, then the weather has been suitable for you. However, the fact that October finds you reading blogs on Midwestwhitetail.com pretty much ensures that you are sick of warm weather and precipitation. Bring on the cool morning temps, the frost, rapidly decreasing available daylight, and the ability to see each breath we expel into the frigid morning air.

After suffering through three days of unseasonably warm weather and high winds; Thursday, October 20th, offered a four hour break from the elements. At least the temps would fall below 60 degrees Fahrenheit, the steady downpour reduced itself to a light shower, and the winds actually dropped below 20 mph. The change in climate was not extreme. It was still miserable out but the slight improvement in the weather provided just enough encouragement and optimism that we were intent on toughing it out until darkness descended upon us. My cameraman Josh and I conversed over the phone earlier that day. Both of us have been considerably busier this year than in years past. We had not been able to sit Josh's favorite stand (the Swamp Stand) yet this year. The West/Northwest wind was favorable for this location so we decided to trust our instincts and head to the Northwest perimeter of the Swamp, hopefully intercepting “Duckett”, “Mr. Medusa”, or another shooter buck; as the mature deer seem to mill around this area before heading out, under cover of darkness, into 200 acres of standing corn.

Both of us were cold and soaked to the core. At about 4:30, two does worked through the cover and headed toward the corn. The early movement was encouraging. An hour later, another group of five does headed our way from the Northwest. As expected, the deer worked within 50 yards of our position. At this juncture, the deer should have veered to our left and headed toward the corn. We noticed the deer were nervous and uneasy with something from the direction they were headed. The fact that the deer were still on the other side of the thicket and that the 20 mph wind was in our favor made it unlikely they had caught movement or winded us. It wasn't until then that we realized two more deer had been heading in our direction. These two deer were traveling toward us from the direction of the Corn. These deer looked noticeably larger than any of the does from the other group and their hide looked much darker. There were no fawns traveling with the second group either. These factors initially led me to believe they were 1.5 year old bucks. As they got closer, the lack of headgear and the predominantly white, ghostlike, appearance of their faces confirmed that both of these deer were very old, mature does; six or seven years-old.

Those two ole' 'slickhead Mollys' were responsible for the incredible chain of events that followed. The first group of does kept their distance from the larger, more aloof does that had just showed up. The first group attempted to walk all the way around the thicket. After getting halfway around tangled cover, the deer still seemed very unsure of the older doe's presence and eventually aborted the cornfield mission and headed back in the direction they came from. Yeah, those deer wanted nothing to do with the two ole' does... On the other hand; the four shooter bucks that were tailing those 'Dilfs' (Doe I'd like to fry) were as interested as I've ever seen a wild animal. Needless to say, the pungent scent emanating from these distinguished, mature ole' gal's had peaked the curiosity of the bucks that were now surrounding our stand in every direction

You can follow how this peculiar chain of events unravels itself on next week's show. That will be available next Monday, on November 7th! I am not a certified wildlife biologist but if the bucks from the footage were not acting in response to pheromones released from those old does; Well, I just don' have an answer. But I will be anxious to read your thoughts and see what kind of light we can shed on the matter.

It was an exciting night on stand and I was able to leave the woods with some new useful information and I reconfirmed a few old beliefs too. After reflecting on the events of that evening and having a couple days to digest and reflect on what I witnessed, I am convinced that I saw the 1st 'Hot Doe' in my area. Up until that night, I would have not believed it was possible for a doe to be on the verge of Estrous on October 20th. That is about 10-14 days earlier than I would have thought possible. I wonder if the astronomically high doe numbers, combined with astronomically high doe-to-buck ratios in my area have contributed factors leading to an earlier Estrous period.

I am a firm believer that much of the rut is triggered by decreasing daylight and gravitational forces attributable to the Sun and Moon. I believe that those forces supply the basic guidelines for Whitetail reproduction and the timing of the rut. However, Mother Nature has six billion years of experience balancing the earth's variable factors and I believe she has built-in mechanisms that allow for changes effectuated by outside forces to balance themselves out while minimizing the effects of the alterations. In my neck of the woods (South Eaton & Barry Counties) the rut seems to drag on a little longer each year, yet it appears to be less pronounced. Again; this seems to be the case IN MY AREA. It seems as if there are more does to breed each year. Yet, the population growth experienced by does has not coincided with a reciprocal increase in bucks of breeding age. Most bucks never make it past their 1st birthday. And while I have not noticed a visible decline in buck numbers, there are certainly not rising like the female sector of the population.

I believe it may be possible for old Molly does like the ones we witnessed last Thursday to reach Estrous a few weeks earlier than the majority of the females. Old does have been around the block a time or two. They are experts at rearing young. As a 'check and balance' system, instituted by God Almighty, I make sense for older does to cycle earlier in the year. Front loading some extra breeding earlier in the year when the weather is still nice and the males are still in good condition certainly beats the alternative; which is having the inexperienced, young-of-the-year coming into heat as late as January. I realize that the scenario I just mentioned seems to be reality in many places around the 'Thumb State.  'I only posit that: the oldest, most, experienced does COULD go into estrous earlier than normal. Assuming that the youngest females to be bred in any given year were ready to breed a cycle earlier; their offspring would be born earlier in the summer, giving the fawns more time through the warm months prepare their bodies for that all important 1st winter. This would also decrease the amount of chasing and fighting a buck has to do farther along into winter. The few bucks here in Michigan do an amazing job breeding all these does. I believe that any change that helps shorten the amount of time a buck has to search for does will benefit the health of the herd as a whole. A shorter, but more frantic rut would also benefit us hunters too!

Lastly, Thursday's hunt solidified that old adage, “Trust your instincts” or “follow those gut feelings”. I try to take in as many of the factors that I can when deciding when and where to hunt. There was nothing that stuck out at me when I was deciding whether to go sit in that cold rain. I just know after being stuck in the house and not being able to hunt was driving me stir-crazy... I had a hunch the deer were feeling the same. That was all I needed to make up my mind. You don't know what's happening in the woods if you are cooped up in a dwelling. You can't shoot 'Ole Mossyhorn' from the sofa!

Mike D and Cha-chi'

BTW: I would really like to hear your responses to the footage. I have my opinions as to what was occurring in front of us. And that is all they are; opinions. I can't tell you for certain what I witnessed. What I do know is this: We caught it on film. It is a fact that it happened and that is most of the battle. Now to find the supporting evidence... where to begin? I gotta hunch a that the best place to get to the bottom of the mystery is from 20 feet up; surveying the test subjects from the comfy confines of a new Muddy Bloodsport tree stand.