Egyptian wheat....mowing.....planned grazing

[dgallow]

We use a complicated expensive homemade software for patterning bucks. It is called 'hover over image with mouse, right click, then left click properties". Date and time on the beside 'Created:' are copied and pasted over the file name (it was PICT011). An abbreviation for cam location is placed after the time. We are running a special on the program this week....free!

A file for each buck of interest is created on Desktop. Renamed images are cut and pasted from SD card or other file. Our imaging software naturally sorts images according to date and time in the form of a list which is easy to follow! IF a buck visits a site for <15 minute duration then one image is saved. If >15 min or several visits within a few hours, then save first and last image. Once velvet is shed, we start a file for potential each hit list deer. Complicated? Point being we want to identify 'travel corridor' between sites.

He visited 7 camera sites which depict a core area of 1/4th mile radius (1/2 mi diameter). Four sites were visited most frequently, one of those being the area he was harvested on 27 Nov. Most visits were at night.

A few notes worth mentioning.

29 Sept to 16 Oct corresponds to first persimmon drop and laying down of sign rubs mainly. He was seen by visitors a couple evenings in persimmon and feeding on pasture forages at night during that time.

Dates for the last few days in Nov are incorrect (he was 1 day dead on the 28th). Prolly mis-set date stamp when swapping batteries. Hence, our program is not responsible for user error!

On 20 Oct (highlighted file), he traveled for a night to a cam site (erf) nearly 1 mile from his logical bedding area of his core. This same pattern showed in his 2015 file. Maybe it is a preemptive move before breeding?...making/visiting scapes/rubs for a calling card?....maybe looking for a hot doe? Who knows!

No images of him were seen from 25 Oct to 10 Nov (timeframe of blackpowder season). This denotes a shift from core to a breeding area. This contrasts 2015, in that he shifted to center of property for breeding that year. I don't know where we went this year but suspect to the fringe of the ranch as a cattle herd move just proceeding 11 Nov prompted the image at site cb. That site is a mock scrape....he was seen courting a doe as well.

For the first 7 days of rifle season (19-25 Nov), no images of him were recorded (hell, like everyone else thinks....neighbors shot him! Why are we so pessimistic in nature?). Was he avoiding hunting pressure?.....or residing in a small area of his core recovering from rut before refueling his body starting 26 Nov? I feel the latter is more true as other bucks displayed the same pattern!

Being at the right place at the right time and a token of LUCK made harvesting this buck possible. His visit to that site during daylight in the AM would put him in close proximity to the stand and likely in daylight of PM. That is the hunch I gambled upon. Predicted 4:45 PM arrival and he was late, 4:50 PM. I will tell the actual hunt story later this week.

I hope you find this program useful for pattering bucks on your property. One frequent complaint about 'deer management' is that harvesting mature bucks is difficult. I think a big part of that is because we place too much emphasis on the 2-3 yo bucks which are more visible. The older bucks seem to require more effect to figure them out. You don't need 1 GIG of cam images to pattern a buck.....just a few over several months!

One last note, for 8 1/2 straight days I hunted the same stand and maybe saw one mature buck at last light on the 8th day. Mid-day on the 9th day, I changed the way I think and was rewarded! It's not about where you hunt, it's about where he is!




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[catscratch]

Pic 2 - Basal mass is impressive for this area. Summer forages such as Eagle beans, cowpeas etc seem to enhance antler mass, IIIFFF that buck routinely uses the plot which this one did. His core area was in close proximity to bottomland native vegetation and pasture. Both areas rich in plant diversity and tend to retain soil moisture through summer.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm always on the hunt for evidence that a plot or mineral program changed antlers. I think you nailed it when you said "if they use it routinely". Do you think the summer forage has more nutrition than native, or do you think they mine and supply usable minerals better?

 

[dgallow]

I'm always on the hunt for evidence that a plot or mineral program changed antlers. I think you nailed it when you said "if they use it routinely". Do you think the summer forage has more nutrition than native, or do you think they mine and supply usable minerals better?

I think basal mass has to do with a lot of factors....age, residence time during and upon enhanced habitat lands, local area deer density, quantity of preferred high quality forage, etc) It is a loose observation over several years that bucks seen using summer plots have larger basal mass....you could argue protein and mineral, but I would argue digestible energy during summer slump! For West 10, it is confounded because he had easy access to bottom land vs many of our deer which use upland ranges.....so was it the plots?....bottomland diversity/plant resilience to summer stress?...or a combination of both? IF he is 5, he was birthed 2010 (likely resident), endured 2011 drought as a yearling, enjoyed good growing conditions from 12-16 with 1 recallable bad winter, and had access to enhanced native habitat provided by planned grazing for the last 3 years, no weed control for 7 years, and 2 prescribed fires on edge of his range. My point here is that the habitat as a whole has markedly improved in favor of deer quality and one of the biggest factors in that was heavy doe herd reduction starting prior to 2010.....so we initially addressed the 'deer density mediated effects on body and antler growth' and allowed a few generations of deer to develop under improved habitat conditions (a positive factor for epigenetic improvement).

Our goal for this week is to take out 3-4 old does and let the newer epigenetics replace them. I like what my son said about the doe he is targeting...."she is a mean doe to other does and she stares at me all the time".....as I told him, "she has culled herself all you have to do is pull the trigger". Well he missed and that will be part of my hunt story!

 

[dogdoc]

Congrats On The mature buck Doug. Sounds like you put your time in.
Todd

 

[dgallow]

Thanks Doc....wasn't an easy year by any means.....you tagged pretty quick if memory is correct.

Evening before the morning of my evening hunt, my son shot at a doe and missed from the same stand I was to hunt. HE couldn't find blood nor hair, so we met at the barn and drove back in there about 6:30 with the dog to do another search. Spent about an hour to find nothing! With all that commotion you'd think we blew every deer out of the woods, but the buck just waited until the next morning to come in....suspect he stayed in destination that night.

Morning of the hunt was cool and cloudy with wind predicted to gust late morning ahead of a front. I sat the same stand as the rest of the week as there wasn't another promising option. My boy elected to sleep in that morning with his new bride....can't blame him for that as the baby is due soon. Deer must have fed heavily the evening before as morning activity was light....4 bucks and 3 does if memory is correct....think buddy and couple 2-3 yr olds dropped in to refuel....and of course a yearling knot-head to add some chaos (typical teenager) for all concerned. Wind started gusting, so I decided to get down about 9:45 and do the weekly check of all cams and fill feeders mid-day....then scan through cards over lunch and get back just in time for the evening hunt....short days suck! Had been a long week and part of me just wanted to pack up and go back across the state line. Boy got back to the house about the time I was checking cards and I showed him who was in front of the stand he was supposed to hunt that morning and told him the buck would likely return in the evening. That hunch was enough incentive to make me stay and hunt. Boy had prior committed to going to the baby shower with his wife that evening so he didn't plan on hunting PM either. Told him I would man the set for him and make sure the buck didn't tear up the ladder stand! He had taken a nice 11 point with black powder from the same stand so the pressure was off for him.

Some scattered light rain was on the radar and moving through the area, temp was 52 and the wind not letting up. Not enough rain to amount to anything...just enough to tick one off...stowed FrogTogs in backpack and decided to deal with it! Trees lost about half their leaves so I can't walk the easy half mile over open ground and don't want to risk driving the ATV another time for sake of more commotion. Did a fast sneak through thickets, timber along the ridge slope where I figured the deer was bedded above....yet keeping out of sight of bedded deer on the high mesa. Foot noise really wasn't an issue and leaves were fairly quiet from the light rain...glassed the ridge point for a bedded prize (no-one was home) before rounding the point and covering the last 75 yards. Arrived at the ladder stand about 3:30.... it's a killer set just before a ridge point tops out so thermals fall off behind you.....ladder stand is attached to a sturdy limb of one of two motte type old post oaks (trunks are too short) and there are tall cedars in front of the ladder so your climb is blind to anything in the small narrow valley below and back drop is excellent.

Dug a seat cushion out of the pack, ranged various points, got everything else in order and found the right 3 point pose to steady the cross hairs at max open range of 170 yards. To do that requires resting rifle on the top rail, wrapping left forearm in sling, and putting right foot on seat-rail so right knee is elbow level.....sound contorted?....I stretch every morning for just such predicaments! Nice and steady rest just have to avoid breaking the sear on a heavy gust. I figured weather had skittish does bedded in security cover in a cedar/brier thicket on a bottomland side of field and the buck would come off the ridge from the right checking the wind from the opening and food below (small plot plus T-post feeder and some corn on ground). Wind was gusting and somewhat switchy but would be generally quartering for his predicted travel path. All I had to do was stay focused on the ridge...see the buck first....before and if he decided travel the point to another location....then make a shot through timber before he got downwind. Does would let me know if a buck entered from any other direction. With the plan deciphered, the missing piece was deer....and I'm wired like a full breaker box!

About 4:30 a young doe and a button buck (she breeds early every year) eased out the thicket and went to the feeder. A quad of other does and fawns eased out from the same trail shortly thereafter. Remember the old hussy my boy missed the day before?....well she is one of the quad and doing the normal routine of staring a hole through the trees looking for the man on the point while trying to run off any deer which tries to feed beside her (that is the reason, dominance, for having several food sources in a small area and somewhat spread apart...ie deer spatial preference). Such doe non-sense just puts everyone on high alert...that b**** needs to go! Once all heads were down or looking away, I eased rifle up so butt would rest on seat rail and barrel on limb above and my left hand would keep it in place. That gave enough 'front cover' to shield does while I focused and occasionally glassed ridge to right and left flank. If the situation sounds tense, I can promise that it was intense....a few hours of that would precipitate a headache!

 

[dgallow]

At 4:50 a flash of dark deer pelt and black tarsal through post oak leaves caught my eye coming off the ridge. Seems this buck took and arcing path to the goodies below....maybe slowly checking wind along the top side then turning abruptly into the wind from downwind of the goddies (does and food) below. His path was about 50 yards out and the goodies 90 and further....he was on a misson and never broke stride once he came off the ridge..no pause...just a steady fast walk. When he came from behind the first cedar I could see his forked 2 on left side for positive ID....when he rounded the second cedar does scattered like flies (I grinned)...he essentially bum-rushed that field! Was he there to chase does out of sight?....or to fill his belly? I didn't want to wait for the answer! In one fluid motion, rifle came up and 3 point pose established......found him somehow at 10x magnification and settled cross hair on last rib.....broke the sear just before hard quartering away became straight away. When the mouse cannon spoke the spooked does vaporized (I grinned again)! Buck turned hard left quartering to me and disappeared behind cedars before I could tell anything about shot placement (300 has stout recoil so you lose a few precious seconds after shot)...just knew he was hit hard!

Sat there maybe 5-10 min tops....collecting and listening and looking. Couldn't hear over wind moved leaves and brush. Cloud cover would bring early nightfall and perhaps more rain, I needed to move on this deal...finding blood or hair in that field is hard enough in good light. Rifle was lowered, pack gathered, and quietly climbed down. Rather than go directly downwind to point of impact, I decided to still hunt quietly on a slight ark upwind of where buck ran so if he were bedded close by I could finish the deed. No such luck and found myself looking for any hint of hair or fluid at the point of impact....notta! Only sign was a hoof print as he dug in on his turn...stacked a few rocks there to mark the spot. Spent the better part of remaining light looking for any sign of where he went. Moments like this make one think of weird things.....that weird thing being NativeHunter's account of losing a deer in thick cover to no blood trail....there is that pessimism again trying my optimism! Where did this deer exit the field?....scanned the cover again and decided it had to be the obvious 3' gap in cedars which I've walked through twice prior!....pessimism is saying no way to the obvious. My game plan at this point was to go through the gap again, walk a wider arc than before on my way back to the barn and get the pooch to find this deer in the thicket for me! Slightly downslope of my first path appeared a white belly...the Lord was thanked for like the 12th time! On closer inspection I can make out the outline of a gaunt deer....head is obscured under a small cedar...pessimist is back saying it's the boy's doe from yesterday and she ran opposite direction of his accounting! Under that cedar were indeed antlers of my quest....and a good thing about that cedar is it kept him from sliding off into a ravine making for a tough drag. Drug him up to a point I could get the ATV through...sat back, relaxed and took the field pic posted above. My week ended on a high not a low!

Every story has a moral.....and the moral of this story is during dark times when pessimism abounds the white of light may not be seen until different paths are taken! The unspoken truth of antlers is that when you look at them on the wall your mind will remember an optimistic story keeping the pessimism of life at bay! Thank the Lord for giving us deer antlers for good memories!

A pic from 2015.....wet year and lots of forage....yet he is in thin condition?....low forage energy due to all the water or was that impacted tooth having an impact?


Before rut in Oct 2016.....excellent body condition....would probably field dress 130-140 lb.


A few days before harvest.....looking down his top-line all 4 points of shoulders and hips visible and chine bones of spine protruding....it was a hard rut for him....loss of fat and some muscle mass.

 

[deer patch]

Congrats on the buck and that's some story you got there. Are you planning on changing your cattle rotation any next year so to not move the deer herd around during season?

 

[dogghr]

Great buck and story Mr. Gallow. Thought you might have taken that buck from your new redneck. I'm kinda glad you didn't. Looking forward to that coming grand pup pic. You are a hard working and knowledge sharing man. Congrats.

 

[dogdoc]

enjoyed the story buddy! Felt like I was sitting right next to ya!

congrats again
todd

 

[dgallow]

Congrats on the buck and that's some story you got there. Are you planning on changing your cattle rotation any next year so to not move the deer herd around during season?

I always plan the rotation not to clash with buck core areas during gun and blackpowder season....just can't predict where they will move to rut. Next year we should have 18 paddocks on the tame side so it will add even more flexibility by going from 8-15 ac paddocks down to 6-8 ac.

During blackpowder, cattle were in 7,8 and 9a which is well out of harms way of his core area when he left to rut on 24 Nov.....and they were moved to 1 on 28 Oct, then moved to 11 from 6 - 12 Nov, then the herd went to 3. He returned to the scrape in 11 at 4:30AM on 11 Nov so was actually in there with the cattle. Maybe the move to 3 kept him from going back to 3....and would be a good thing as 3 is not very dependable hunting for bucks. I honestly don't know where he went (suspect 2 and 3) and was surprised when he didn't go back into the native unit for rut like last year. Hope the number naming system there isn't too confusing with the dates?

Cattle have been in 5, 6 and soon 9b for rifle season which are deer neutral in daylight for the most part. I say that tongue and cheek as Buddy (the selfie buck) was working a scrape line in 3 then bedded in the wide open of 5 at 11 am one day when I was walking the road back to camp from a bowhunt during peak rut.....go figure!

Last year, I ran cattle in 1 during rifle and 4a for blackpowder.

I want to avoid having cattle in the same pastures during rut each year to keep the pasture system robust while at the same time not putting them under a stand (of ours).

What bears repeating is that the largest buck taken from the ranch was killed literally in the middle of a cow herd! These deer don't know life without the cow! This rotation system is way less annoying than when dad ran continuous and cattle showed up in the native unit in the middle of hunt under my tree on any given day....still killed some great deer back in those days but was aggravated by the cow at times! You should know well enough about the rut in cattle country....mature deer can show up in some very odd places in daylight! I believe cattle help deer acclimate to human encroachment.

 

[dgallow]

Great buck and story Mr. Gallow. Thought you might have taken that buck from your new redneck. I'm kinda glad you didn't. Looking forward to that coming grand pup pic. You are a hard working and knowledge sharing man. Congrats.

SIL took his buck from it. Redneck was plan B for me if the rain became heavy.....he traveled there at night last week. Some nice 2-3 yo bucks pass by the Redneck daily and suspect the big guys will soon in daylight as food in destination is used more as winter sets in. Habitat in that area will be tweaked some after March fire for visibility and more security. That area has a lot of potential!

Still learning to hunt this place after 38 years of chasing!

 

[dgallow]

enjoyed the story buddy! Felt like I was sitting right next to ya!

congrats again
todd

Thank you! MollyAnn settled down yet?

 

[dogdoc]

Thank you! MollyAnn settled down yet?

Not quite. Still grinning ear to ear (but so am I)

 

[lakngolf]

Great story Doug. Congrats again

 

[dgallow]

Little neck music from the 243 pro hunter at 150 yards this eve. Best kind of track job....none! Tasco 3x9 is a little foggy....prolly lost its gas. Pall bearer at aunt's funeral in the AM so wanted to get this deal done. Supposed to rain next to days.....the boys can deal with that.....fat lady sung a tune for me! Nice and fat should taste good...70 lb dressed!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dogdoc]

Yep, they don't go far when shot there. 243 is a sweet shooting cartridge.

 

[dgallow]

Bullet exited the far front leg just under the spool joint....so didn't mess up any meat. Saying 8 yo based on quick look at molars....front teeth were close to gum line.

 

[dgallow]

Fat cover on does is unreal.....they should winter very well. Fall/early winter fat cover is 'the winter supplementation of the natural model'! However, no matter how good the herd body is condition as a whole, at least one doe must be harvested per buck killed to have a sustainable and balanced herd. Old does should be the first choice for genetic turnover, but any doe will do when time is limiting to fill a tag. IMO....this is the most important management step to ingrain in the mind of young hunters and the first step to be passed down to younger generations. Simply put....you can't grow great habitat and a healthy herd with too many deer standing on it!

After hearing 2 reports for the 06 yesterday and no impact report, my patience wore thin....grabbed the 243 with a pair of rounds and went to look for sign of a hit where my son was hunting. The earth was fresh after rain ended in the morning, so it didn't take long for me to walk a perpendicular patch to cut every trail and track leaving that area. To digress a moment, looked like all 77 counties in the state received rain over the weekend....good news for those with struggling plots! No sign of a hit so we swapped rifles. My last words were to him were, "Climb back in the Redneck and shoot one in the d*** neck....let's get this deal done!" His wife had a baby shower at 7:30 and I don't want to deal with late term 'hormones' by being late...neither did he....the conversation in the car would be 'his deal'! It was about 15 min before sunset when I eased out of the area to finishing packing. Took a moment to pull the bolt and bore sight the 06 at 400 and 1200 yards...left/right were perfect.....might be a tad high...that's okay...deal with it in the off-season. Heard hooves on gravel and looked over to see Buddy, the selfie buck, passing by the barn at 50 yards....we acknowledged one another and he trotted off on his final mission the last day of rifle season. Next year our meetings may be structured differently! Just after 5:30 the 243 barked.....a few minutes later a text picture of a white belly....so the ATV was dispatched for pick-up and delivery (USPS is a bit different on the ranch). At 7:20 we were parked in the dive-way at home, meat processed and all other tasks competed! 80 lbs dressed....2-3 yo.

 

[deer patch]

I always plan the rotation not to clash with buck core areas during gun and blackpowder season....just can't predict where they will move to rut. Next year we should have 18 paddocks on the tame side so it will add even more flexibility by going from 8-15 ac paddocks down to 6-8 ac.

During blackpowder, cattle were in 7,8 and 9a which is well out of harms way of his core area when he left to rut on 24 Nov.....and they were moved to 1 on 28 Oct, then moved to 11 from 6 - 12 Nov, then the herd went to 3. He returned to the scrape in 11 at 4:30AM on 11 Nov so was actually in there with the cattle. Maybe the move to 3 kept him from going back to 3....and would be a good thing as 3 is not very dependable hunting for bucks. I honestly don't know where he went (suspect 2 and 3) and was surprised when he didn't go back into the native unit for rut like last year. Hope the number naming system there isn't too confusing with the dates?

Cattle have been in 5, 6 and soon 9b for rifle season which are deer neutral in daylight for the most part. I say that tongue and cheek as Buddy (the selfie buck) was working a scrape line in 3 then bedded in the wide open of 5 at 11 am one day when I was walking the road back to camp from a bowhunt during peak rut.....go figure!

Last year, I ran cattle in 1 during rifle and 4a for blackpowder.

I want to avoid having cattle in the same pastures during rut each year to keep the pasture system robust while at the same time not putting them under a stand (of ours).

What bears repeating is that the largest buck taken from the ranch was killed literally in the middle of a cow herd! These deer don't know life without the cow! This rotation system is way less annoying than when dad ran continuous and cattle showed up in the native unit in the middle of hunt under my tree on any given day....still killed some great deer back in those days but was aggravated by the cow at times! You should know well enough about the rut in cattle country....mature deer can show up in some very odd places in daylight! I believe cattle help deer acclimate to human encroachment.

Not confusing at all but I don't remember which paddock is which number but no need to know because I'm not the one moving cattle for you. Yes I to have had cattle show up during a hunt here at the house. They are just like an old doe always looking up in the tree to see if you will move and can scent trail you also.

You've had a good season even though the temps and rut have been odd this year. I'm just waiting to see how many years it takes until you start teaching the young one (when he comes along) to move the cattle and be a steward of the land.

BTW tell your son congrats on finally getting the job done even though he still needs a little help from old dad once in awhile.

 

[dgallow]

As soon as the grand pup can wear out boot leather and clean his own backside, then he will be taught! Word on the street is that I will be crowned 'G-pop-daddy-O' before Tuesday of next week....keep our family in your prayers....smooth birth and healthy child is key for this turning point in our lifestyle!

I will have to get the SIL on the problematic doe....boy is done and goes for academy training in a couple weeks! Dad is still trying to teach the boy to think on his own feet....maybe should have shot that rifle before season....ahe? The current generation of kids are a very trying lot!