What We are Seeing Right Now
Posted By
Bill Winke
at
9/7/2009 12:00:00 AM
The teams have been posting some great shows. I am very proud of their work and hope you are checking out all the shows. Today we uploaded a new episode for the Main Show and Tony uploaded a new one for Michigan. I think we are getting better at telling the stories. Tomorrow we will get a new one from Ohio and Iowa and then on Wednesday we'll hear from Minnesota and Missouri. Indiana and the Northeast will go live again on Thursday and finally, Illinios and Wisconsin will be ofering new shows Sunday. Every week is going to be like this. So stop in every day and check out the new stuff.
The purpose for today's blog is to share with you what we have been seeing in the deer woods.
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We are noticing that the deer are leaving the open areas in favor of |
The bucks seem to have abandoned the open areas, at least during daylight hours. This was not particularly surprising as they did the same thing last year about this time. There is always a transition period when the bucks lose their velvet and break up their bachelor groups. We are in that transition period right now. To adjust, you may have relocates the bucks you have watching all summer in new areas. Those new areas depend on two things: their normal fall range and the changes in their food sources.
Fall ranges are often different from summer ranges. In fact, they are different more times than not. It has to happen. The bucks form bachelor groups in the summer and often you will see two or even three mature bucks together. You know that when the testosterone levels rise, those bucks aren't going to tolerate each other any longer. They disband the bachelor group and spread out. Some of the bucks may not go far, while others may move a fair distance away to establish their fall range. Typically, these fall ranges are the same each year. So the places where you saw a particular buck last fall is probably the very best place to look for him last year. I would put much more credibility on where you see them in the fall than where you see them in the summer.
For example, last summer we filmed several nice mature bucks in July and early August. It was as if they were everywhere. Then, when the bucks shed their velvet they disappeared. I started to run trail cameras in the same areas and only picked up one or two of the bucks instead of the entire bachelor group. When hunting season arrived, those were the only ones we saw, and in some cases, the ones we shot. The others had moved on to different ranges for the fall. So once the bucks shed their velvet, you still have work to do to find them back again in late September in their fall ranges. Get the trail cameras out. Now is when those things are worth their weight in gold.
Finally, the bucks may leave their summer feeding grounds because their food source changes. We are looking at a good acorn crop again this year. Last year the white oaks were extremely profuse - the most I have ever seen. This year, the black oak, red oak and shingle oak are loaded up pretty well. The white oak and the bur oak have decent amounts of acorns, but not profuse - at least nothing like last year.
Though the deer prefer acorns from the white oak family (white, swamp and bur here in the Midwest) they will also eat the other varieties greedily when they are falling - and they are certainly falling. If you are having a hard time finding the deer, look no farther than the thickest oak grove and you should find them back again. Good luck this fall!
