Been all winter wondering what he'd look like this year. He was a big frame 8pt the last two years and this year seems he'll have it again. I love watching them grow.
Big frame
- Thread starter Ski
- Start date
Nice! I like the water hole.
JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
Nice! Every year I go through the struggle of not putting cameras out until end of July - start of August. It's pics like these that keep the struggle real 
I love water holes. In the right spot they are busy like a mineral site except unlike mineral they stay busy year round, especially busy during rut.
Nice! Every year I go through the struggle of not putting cameras out until end of July - start of August. It's pics like these that keep the struggle real
I'm too weak lol. I have to know!
JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
I totally get it. But trust me, when you have NO IDEA what's out there and then you get a pic of a monarch come August….that feeling is unmatchable
I used to do that - watch the transgression, but it's slow to watch. Sometimes you get disappointed and sometimes the end results surprise you. I personally like the "HOLY MACKEREL" moments…especially from not having looked at deer pics since the previous fall 8 months ago
I generally run my cameras year-round but there is only eight of them. I pulled cards yesterday after about 5 weeks and I noticed batteries are getting low in five or six of them. I may pull them and check everything out, redo the settings and put new batteries. But I love seeing pictures of deer and all the other Woodland Critters that seem to be strolling around
BSK
Well-Known Member
I fully get you about the "Holy Mackerel!" moments. But my reason not to run them before end of July is because I'll try to start categorizing bucks. Then I'll get a picture two weeks later and spend the rest of the season arguing with myself over whether that is a new buck or the same buck with two weeks more of antler growth.
JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
HA same. I used to get so excited about 1 or 2 that had a huge jumpstart in growth early, to only stunt and turn out to be nothing burgers - every year. Though some looked like nothing special the first 2 months of growing, and then turn into monsters the last month of growing. You just never know. I personally don't like that guessing game and battery consumption. Though I did do that for over a decade
Like the water hole, read a pretty interesting article last week on water usage in deer. Looks like that buck is gonna be pretty wide.
Sometimes in stretches of drought. Last time I filled it was mid October and right now it's tip top full. It can get about half empty before deer start getting on their knees to drink. I don't like letting it get that empty.
In late summer there's a few week window where deer are still heavy on mineral, early acorns are starting to drop, green is giving way to brown, and usually not much rain. That's when the water tank is getting hit hardest and by early fall needs topped off.
Another big one. He's already looking like mid July.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Starting to look like this could be a "big antler" year.
So they make some tarps that are used for above ceiling leaks that you can run a hose pipe to a drain. They are kinda pricey, however you can just take a ladder out in the woods and tie up a big tarp and then cut a small hole in it to funnel the water right above your watering hole. Then every time it rains your watering hole get filled up some.
Nice bucks by the way!
I have thought about trying something like that but instead of a tarp just digging a trench to divert drainage water to it.
My very first water tank was a mistake. I buried it in a drainage so it would always stay full. It does stay full but also is always full of debris and leaves. Much more so than I would have expected, and the deer use it only about half as often as my others I think because of no real good flat ground to stand on. It's been a learning curve!
Don't know anything about the author, but this is the article I recently read https://www.huntstand.com/fieldnote...outing-and-installing-water-sources-for-deer/.
Interesting article. He hit on some good points. I'm very much still learning the when/where/how/how of it all but I've learned a bit and there wasn't much in that article I'd disagree with.
I thought it was a big body spike until I clicked to blow up the pic and seen the edge of his rack! His tall tined buddy ain't nothing to sneeze at either. I love this stuff
I've had more than one west TN taxidermist tell me they expect it will be. What made them predict this? Both said they took in a lot of solid bucks last season, but not many jaw droppers, thus expected a lot more this season. My taxidermist has stood by this theory for the last 25 years. We shall see.
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I've been hearing the same but im optimistically skeptical. The reason ive heard is that good acorn years allow bucks to rebound well after rut, which makes sense. But as I understand antler growth, the nutrients for growth are stockpiled in the skeletal system, so the antlers grow well regardless of good or bad nutrition years. So I don't really know what to expect. I can't say I've ever noticed any years when antlers were noticeably bigger or smaller on average.
Same here, but can kind of see where a taxi would have a different perspective. I do recall one of them mentioning deer hunters in SW TN complaining about not seeing many deer overall last year due to the bumper acorn crop, and not many bruisers coming into his shop. He went on to say a lot of good bucks and great bucks made it another year last year because they did not have to move much in daylight exposing themselves, thus he expects some true top end antler bucks per cohort this fall. We shall see.
Found one of the posts I read in December 2025. This taxi is in SW TN near Bolivar, TN.
Now that certainly could do it. If more bucks survived than normal then logic dictates the average age class the following year should be older, which would equate to more bigger bucks. If it will actually materialize that way or not is yet to be seen. But I've heard farther fetched theories for sure so maybe???
Interesting food for thought. Thanks for posting!
deerhunter10
Well-Known Member
BSK
Well-Known Member
It is really a combination of both. In essence, how that deer makes it through winter, as well as summer food resources. How a buck makes it through winter is a combination of how much rut stress he suffered in November and December, versus his food sources during winter. I buck that wasn't too rut stressed, in a good acorn year (especially one with a good Red Oak acorn crop), has the best chance for high antler growth. His chances increase even further if he has access to big bottomland soybean fields in summer.
