Laurel Ridge Farm: Bio Clock Is Ticking

Sunday, October 30, 2022

Bio Clock Is Ticking - Nature's Cycle

It's almost Halloween and the leaves have turned. The season change is underway. For deer, that means the breeding cycle (the rut) is starting to kick in. The science shows that the deer sense the change in the day length and hormone changes start to occur. That changes behavior in a number of ways.

I've hung a number of "licking branches" and tried to make "false scrapes". These are places where deer, and bucks in particular, like to show their presence and mark territory, They rub on the branches to deposit scent from their glands and often urinate under the branches. It's supposed to be a dominance ritual and means of social communication. Everybody comes by, takes a sniff and leaves their own calling card.

I've had several branches on this setup just get murdered. Completely broken off and thrown to the ground. Here I've just installed a new cedar branch - we'll see if it survives. This structure also became popular with the birds - more on that later.

And rubbing trees in general also intensifies as the rut approaches. Here's a sampling of some rubs that I saw on a walk this weekend

So, in addition to the rubbing and marking, the bucks start to spar. This becomes more and more intense as the rut approaches. It is another way of establishing dominance and pecking order for breeding rights. They lock horns and push and shove until one gives up.

Sometimes there's casualties. Broken antlers happen along with other injuries including stab wounds and lost eyes. This young buck appears to have lost one antler already. Hopefully it will come back next year.

Even mature, dominant bucks get injured, Below is a nice 10 point in September. He's not real wide but has nice tine length and mass. A month later his neck is huge from fighting and his left antler is broken off halfway down. Hopefully he will survive this season and be even bigger next year,

They eat and put on weight leading up to the rut. Once the rut is in full swing, the bucks are so crazed about mating, the don't eat much and run around like crazy. They can lose 25% of their body weight in about a month. Below is a brassica field that they've been hitting pretty hard.

Not only have they been eating the greens, they've started to eat the turnip bulbs too,

Persimmons, apples, pears and other soft mast are huge favorites at this time of year.

And they start showing up anywhere at any time of day. Especially the young ones who haven't really been thru this before. They're looking to get lucky while the big boys aren't watching.

On my walk, I checked out the neighbors ag field. He had it in soybeans this year and it has been harvested. That's a food source that has gone away.

That just makes the clover and brassica in the food plots more attractive.

Some of the maples have already finished and dropped their leaves.

The oaks are at peak at the moment. The acorns are another preferred food at this time of year - especially the white oak acorns.

I got lighted knock bolts last year for Christmas and never broke them out. I did so this weekend and made sure that they shot the same as the regular ones.

They did, And I eventually figured out how to turn the LED back off.

I spent Saturday night in stand with a bunch of wasps. It was a beautiful night.

I had a visit from six does but never saw a buck.

Sunrise Sunday morning was gorgeous.

I got the pumpkin patch cleaned up for the year. Tape down and weeds mowed.

I also dusted off the 45-70 and checked it's zero. Not long till gun week.

After the first two shots on the left, I moved two MOA to the right and the next two shots were good enough. Those 325 grain bullets are lethal anywhere close to the boiler room.