The doe below is one of the few deer to be visiting this mineral lick this summer. Usually I can fill a camera card in two weeks, with rabbits, bear, fox, deer, bobcat, you name it. This year since spring, perhaps three to four different deer on this lick. No others. Strange...
We do have a few bucks that have shown some promise. This is probably the best rack seen so far this summer. Which means...exactly nothing. Every year, huge bucks appear in the fall that have never been seen on camera before.
Earlier in June, I was disappointed with the fawn recruitment numbers, and worried that I had seen only does with one fawn, or none. Come mid-July, out come a lot of does with two! Where have they been? ( Not on out food plots or fields, which we monitor).
The rocks you see in this food plot surrounded by deer will be removed before rototilling in the next several weeks. I found them in June, and dug with a shovel, but will squeeze a tractor in there next week to remove them. They have been hazing our big rototiller for years.
Another guy, if not promising this year, will be quite the boy in 2016, if he makes it! Here he is on the East Plot.
Another spike, ribs and all on the East Plot. It always amazes me that there can be such a difference in the condition of deer in the same area.
This handsome boy should live for another three years before being hunted. Wish all our neighbors felt that way...
I simply love seeing the little guys and gals chase each other and play. It is what develops their muscles and reflexes, and allows them to respond to the nasty guy below.
Another yearling...
This may be a mom, or a cub. The following picture is definitely a cub...
Just born below, this early last winter...
This dude below is in hunting mode, hungry, and ready to kill. Not sure what this coyote is honing in on, but here exists the very reason for those fawns to be running, jumping and practicing every chance they get!
As you can see, no real exceptional pictures here, but an overview of probably half the United States
this time of year. Actually, this year HAS produced fewer exceptional pictures so far, than most other years. The bow is out and tuned, bear season opens in a month, bow season for whitetails in six weeks, and camp fire wood not even complete yet! But I do have two great new food plots going gangbusters, and am about to start rototilling, fertilizing and planting eight or nine others in the next two weeks! Two work days at camp with hunters got us caught up on shooting lanes, adjusting stands, orientation, ATV antics, and more! I'll keep you posted!
