November 25
Posted By
Bill Winke
at
11/25/2011 12:00:00 AM
Filed under:
winke's blog
|
|
Scott Prucha with "Cheech", an old buck with a very small home range and a tendency to roam. This made Cheech a very visible target around Scott's farm. Scott killed this buck just a couple of hours ago. |
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving.
Most of the local pro staff and employees of Midwest Whitetail are spending time with family over the holiday. As far as I know, no one hunted yesterday (Thanksgiving) and only Scott Prucha hunted today. Scott has been after an old buck named Cheech for the past couple of weeks. He passed the buck up a few times earlier in the season and finally, seeing that he wasn't getting any trail cam photos of big-antlered bucks, he decided to make Cheech his number one quarry. Scott's farm is just 52 acres, but it seems that Cheech never left it this year!
OLD "DUMB" BUCKS
I believe this evening was the fifth time that Scott has encountered Cheech this year. The buck was much bigger last year, (I had some pictures of him on my farm too) suggesting that he is a fully-mature buck now. We see this kind of behavior occassionally from older bucks. They almost get complacent or comfortable and move around a lot during daylight. Their home range tends to shrink as they get older. One viewer said recently in Ask Winke that it seems like they try really hard to be unkillable for a few years and then they just assume that they are even after they stop trying.
That certainly describes Cheech. The hunt for this buck, and a discussion of why some bucks are more visible than others, will be the centerpoint of the next episode of the Main Show coming out on Monday. I am guessing that we will have more action to add to the show once everyone gets back in the office starting tomorrow.
DAILY ACTIVITY REPORT
Scott Prucha is not a small fellow, but he does represent a small sample size. We take whatever updates we can get during the holidays - however few they may be and try to draw a few conclusions. Overall, it doesn't seem that the deer movement here was real strong this evening.
Scott saw several other deer that came out with this one - most being does. They drew very little interest from the bucks. I drove arond the neighborhood and saw nothing this evening. I do think that yesterday morning was an active one, though. And I know that a few good bucks have hit the ground during the past three days throughout the region from e-mails I have gotten in from viewers and friends. Just file that away for future reference: once again the time from November 20 through 26 has produced good buck activity and good hunting.
I am the only one on the staff here this evening and I am too lazy to produce a video blog from Scott's hunt today, so the photo and the written description will have to suffice. I am guessing that we will be in the video blog mode starting tomorrow (Saturday).
Good luck this weekend. It is supposed to turn much cooler. I would be heading to food now and if you have to choose between hunting mornings or evenings, I would defintely choose evenings.
