Trailcams 10-13-14 - The Rut Is Warming Up

Every year the bucks grow new antlers in the summer while they hang around together in bachelor groups.  In September, they rub off the antler velvet as hormones start to change behavior. In October, they start to become aggressive/competitive in anticipation of the mating season in early November.  The bachelors are no longer friends and they start to compete for dominance and breeding rights.  The first indications of that behavior showed up this week on camera.  We stopped by the farm on the way home from Virginia.  I just stayed long enough to swap out the camera cards.  For some reason, two of the cameras had no photos on the cards - I'll have to check them out this weekend.

This starts out as playful sparring and eventually becomes much more serious.

 They all seem to do it - even the youngest. smallest bucks push each other around.

 Often times antlers get broken off.  Necks just keep getting bigger and stronger as they do more and more of this fighting.

 They basically showed up fighting on all the cameras.

 There's still a couple of weeks before it gets real serious.

 2 1/2" of rain in the gauge over the last 2 weeks.

 Poop of the Week - buck bombs.

 This camera on the ridge trail got blocked out Sunday morning for a short period.

 Is that somebody's thumb or was it a deer standing very close?  It was muzzleloader weekend.

 Two of the best cameras were blanks and I didn't see any really good shooters on the other cameras this week.

Lots of young'uns.

 We always like to see them in daylight.

 Some nice doe activity too.

 This one looks healthy.

A crowd in the pond field in daylight.

 Below the driveway stand mid-day.

 By the ridge stand in the morning.

 The barn field.  All of these daylight does will be attracting daylight bucks in the next few weeks.

This doe just decided to bed right in front of the camera in the barn field.

 And so did these turkeys.

 Lots of turkey activity.

 Single file.

 Coyote - a little hard to see.  There were a lot of domestic dogs this week too - too many.

This camera clock is off - it was actually 6:30.