NorthCountry Whitetail Report - Week 3

Here is the latest from our friends at NorthCountry Whitetails:

A quiet week and an “interesting weekend” would pretty much sum up last weeks activity. Once again we hunted oak woods and food plots all week. Of the two the oak woods were the most productive sits. The plots remained relatively quiet through most of the week with just a few sightings late in the evening on plots.

This week we logged 19 bucks and 60 does with 38.5 hrs. of sitting. This nets out to a little over 2 deer per hr. This is down some from past weeks but we generally experience a ‘lull” just before things begin to pick up. Our camera pics are also off from past weeks as were the three live cams at our other farm. Check them out at www.wonation.org. Last week was definitely the calm before the storm but the storm clouds began to gather over the weekend.

We observed a few noteworthy events this weekend. First, we passed our first “almost mature” buck of the year. We have photographed some nice “shooters” but as most of you can attest, a scouting cam pic. taken at 3 a.m. is a far cry from a point blank bow shot. Our hunting partner Steve had a nice 3.5 yr. old at 15 yds. Saturday morning and decided to take a pass. A true “catch and release” as we have this fellow full framed on camera for him to put on the wall. Next year the 9 pointer will be a “man” but…

We also observed much more aggression and posturing by younger bucks, especially in the 2.5 yr. old range. We watched a few bushes getting torn up, saw some tough guy attitudes, heard some grunting and even some snort wheezing. We also saw some interesting doe behavior including a shortage of does on their old familiar haunts in favor of doe groups hanging out in out of the way places like thick brush and steep ledges. Clearly they are feeling some buck pressure and trying to make themselves hard to find.

Craig watched 12 does and fawns moving steadily through the woods single file on their way to a food plot for a late (almost dark) brief feeding frenzy. They were crossing an oak flat after leaving a brushy clear cut area. Occasionally we see doe-fawn groups moving like this during gun season when the are “coveyed up” trying to stay alive, but this early? Usually the does move around in family units of 3, 4 and occasionally 5.

Our neighbor Barry shed some light on this when he reported a spike “guarding” a food plot for an entire evening. The spike took up a position at the top edge of a 1 acre plot located on a side hill. Each time does came into the plot he rushed them and ran them off only to return a few minutes later to take up the same position and rush the next group of does who showed up. Kinda like that dog that chases every car that comes by the farm house. No wonder the does are staying off the plots (at least ours) with the yearlings out there patrolling all the familiar places.

As expected, we saw a number of bucks “on the march” just moving through, not really sure where they are going or for that matter why. But we definitely photographed fewer bucks this week than the last two. Any ideas out there? We had been pulling film every week so they may have gotten camera shy. Most likely, many of our does have pulled off the plots and the bucks have followed. Any ideas?

We expect the switch to be thrown sometime this week. This can get pretty “site specific” as the does start to come into heat so many of you may already be seeing great activity. We have seen plenty of “rush and flushes” to date but have yet to see our first “tongue out, hot and heavy, run or be gored” chases. Those are the ones we wait for, when older age bucks truly are stupid. We have also not yet seen the “age turn over” when older age bucks begin replacing younger bucks in the overall mix of numbers and show up in observable locations during daylight hours. These are the markers we always look for.

This week we will concentrate on hunting travel areas to intercept cruising bucks. We will begin moving into our core areas (have been staying out of them) to try to get in the middle of a real chase or even a “breeding party”. We’ll hunt mornings and evenings and when we see the critical markers kick in we will hunt pretty much all day. It should be an interesting 10 days.

Note; A number of classrooms and young hunters and outdoorpersons have started monitoring our remote scouting cameras at www.wonation.org and reading Neil’s blog. Are you checking them out with your kids and grandkids? If not, don’t complain when they want to go to the mall or listen to CD’s with their friends next time you ask them to go to the woods with you. This is a great way to get kids and the whole family into watching deer and other cool outdoor stuff; all in real time with the click of a mouse from the comfort of your home.

Be safe,
NorthCountry Whitetails