No 1and 1/2 year old bucks

[Bayou Buck]

I remember someone mentioning this earlier this year and was wondering as to the reason why I am not seeing any young bucks. I had my camera out for a few months and the only bucks I am getting pictures of are 2 and 1/2 and older. I got one pic of a little 6 pt that was 1 and 1/2 and thats it. Was it because of a lack of fawning a few years back or do you think its just coinsidence. I have alot of nice 2 1/2 year deer showing up.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Where has your camera been set up?

 

[Bayou Buck]

This summer is was set up in a creek bottom surrounded by think clearcut on both sides. alot of deer were coming to the trophy rock this summer. I havent had a chance to put it over any scrapes yet.

 

[megalomaniac]

Normal if you're close to the Rutherford/ Bedford counties... there was no breeding 2 years ago on one of my farms. I mean, seriously, we only saw a total of 3 fawns last year...

So far this year, I've already seen 10 or 12 and haven't spent much time in the woods.

On our trail cams, we've picked up 3 yearling bucks, probably 5 or 6 2.5 yr olds, 3 or 4 3.5 yr olds, and one 4.5 yr old.

There's going to be a definte shortage of bucks in that age class in the upcoming years, and combined with the increased buck harvest destined to happen this year, will mean for some lean years in 2011 and 2012 if you're hunting for mature bucks.

 

[Bayou Buck]

My lands in Perry County Southwest of Linden by the river.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

This summer is was set up in a creek bottom surrounded by think clearcut on both sides. alot of deer were coming to the trophy rock this summer. I havent had a chance to put it over any scrapes yet.

Yea, I would definately get it over a scrape asap!

I normally go by this:

Summer - salt licks
Late summer / Early fall - salt licks that are still producing and field edges over established plots.
October - on the scrapes when I can find them or a mock scrape. Also I have some luck on fields as the bucks are "beefin' up" for the rut
November / December - Scrapes and pinch points

Obviously these are not exact....you have to change with what you see the deer doing. If one source stops, move, and so on. Some years, things might start a little earlier and some start later. Some years you dont get what your looking for, and some years you get more than you ever thought possible. I keep my cameras over the above mentioned locations during those times of years, but I also place cameras in other random locations.

I would love to see alot of nice 2 1/2's move in to my area! Remember, you should continue to get another "surge" of bucks coming in right at the start of November. As far as you not seeing any 1 1/2's, there should be more of them than any other "antlered" buck. They should be there somewhere. Good luck!

 

[Anonymous]

I had a similar situation 2 years in a row a few years back on a farm. Then after I killed the old boys off, youngsters took over. For two years now, I've had mostly young bucks. Don't worry, they'll show up when the big boys get what they've got coming.

 

[Anonymous]

Think about it though, if you were a young buck, would you go somewhere you knew you were going to get your [censored] whooped?

 

[BSK]

Very possible that your lack of yearling bucks is due to poor fawn production/survival in '08. The EHD year of '07 was pretty hard on deer. I strongly suspect poor doe health was why we saw such late rutting activity that year, and that poor health would have carried over to fawning time in '08, especially since the fall of '07 and winter of '08 was acorn failure season.

I worked on a project near Charleston SC. The property was devistated by Hurricane Hugo. So many of the fawns were killed during the flooding that we had a "missing" age-class for many years afterwards. Each year you could see the missing age-class in the harvest data. The year after the hurricane, no yearlings. The next year, no 2 1/2s. The year after that, no 3 1/2s, and so on.

 

[Football Hunter]

To many older bucks?Dang what a problem to have.