A lack of late archery bucks showing up on here

[gjbruny]

IMO last year was one of those 1 in 10 year storms when we start getting heavy heavy snow right at the beginning of the season. it curbed the rut very quickly and made/forced the bucks to start thinking of their rut weary guts. between that and how widely accepted baiting has become in the last 7-10 years, last year was a virtual grocery shopping spree for mature and semi mature bucks..... just look at how many guys filled their tags last season on mature animals on this site alone. that kind of success did not happen 10 years ago..... then the snow stayed for a LONG time and a healthy winter kill occured. between the winters, the available technology and accepted practices, and the fact that relative newbees can have instant access online to strategies that took us years to learn before we had the web and it stands to reason that it is becoming more and more rare to find mature animals.... they are flat out getting killed. that and the fact that many guys these days are willing to hold out for those animals. not saying any of it is bad, just saying.

i have also noticed the same trend this year with a long drawn out rut and less mature animals to choose from....... as of today, i have seen 8 does bred by yearlings this year and that is on my ground alone...... not including the other areas i hunt. that is NOT good for passing on the strongest genes.

one other thing...... during the late bow season, many of us can shoot does to fill tags. i really really wish more guys would do that instead of shooting a 2 year old buck..... or even a 3 year old as a "tag filler". a fully mature doe will yield as much or more meat than a 2 year old buck and maybe 10-15lbs less boned meat than a 3 year old. other than "cull bucks" i hate to see these young deer get shot over does simply because they have a small set of head-gear vs. nothing...... especially when our buck to doe ratios are out of whack. it does nothing for the herd. man i really wish the WFWD would pull their heads out..........

jmo

[DBHAWTHORNE]

We have discussed this before. The does need to be micro-managed and a GMU size area isn't good enough. In deep woods /mountain areas I hunt there are equal or sometimes even less does than bucks. However, on the Farms in the same GMU the does are way out of whack. In the mountain areas I hunt I think taking any buck would be better for the herd than killing one of the does. However, I don't want to do that either unless he is a mature buck so I plan to shoot a doe on one of the farms if things don't work out up here.

[gjbruny]

DB- I agree 100% on the micro managing comment especially since we are one of the most environmentally diverse states for habitat. You would think somebody would have figured that out by now. That also holds true between the mountain areas you and I hunt. While i definitely see less does when hunting the "interior" of two of my areas, I also see less deer as a whole. Yet the B to D ratios are still off even I my more remote areas.

Going back to my first post. I forgot to mention in regards to the title of the thread,  now that the rut is finally winding down, more hero pics will start showing up as the deer start frequenting the bait piles again.

[huntnnw]

We have discussed this before. The does need to be micro-managed and a GMU size area isn't good enough. In deep woods /mountain areas I hunt there are equal or sometimes even less does than bucks. However, on the Farms in the same GMU the does are way out of whack. In the mountain areas I hunt I think taking any buck would be better for the herd than killing one of the does. However, I don't want to do that either unless he is a mature buck so I plan to shoot a doe on one of the farms if things don't work out up here.

 

[AKBowman]

Things are really different this year on the west side of the cascade slopes as well. If this stagnant weather will break before the second rut kicks in then there might be a chance to hit some decent rut activity towards the end of next week and into the third week of December.

I had a big flurry of buck activity, even some during day when that big rain storm hit around Thanksgiving. Since then it has been pretty gross. Its tough when you hang stands expecting something to happen. Seems like the does are all moving towards the SW facing slopes in the mornings/late mornings to try to get warmed up and get some feed that isnt frozen all day. I plan on using the climber and hunting over the top of my shadow this weekend and next week...looks like the weather is slated for more of the same.

[MtnMuley]

now that the rut is finally winding down, more hero pics will start showing up as the deer start frequenting the bait piles again.

 

[BULLBLASTER]

I tried a couple new spots thus late season and saw pics of a couple mature deer but they were there once or twice at midnight. There was definitely a lack of mature bucks at my usual spots. One spot was about same.as normal, but there usually aren't too many mature bucks around there. Has potential but very high pressure.

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

My freind who has had at least 12 different bucks showing up before the season (Archery) opened, all but a large 5X5 with broken antlers, passed on the smaller ones as the season started, hoping, but yesterday settled for a spike because they all quit coming around. figured on some meat, rather than eating his pictures...

[BAR C3]

Every bow hunter I know right now is dealing with this weird rut. I'm not so confident that it's weird, but that it started early with the moon phases. Look at last year full moon. It was the during the so called peak of the rut here. November 20-23. Of course the game department shut these days down to us because it's the peak. Bucks were going crazy first few days of archery.
This year the full moon was around 12th of November. I had big bucks coming in during day the three days it was closed. The biggest whitetail I have ever had on camera came in middle of day on 19th. Came back one time in middle of night. Hasn't been back. My son had a shot on a nice 5x5 opening day and shot underneath him. Since then, nothing but doe's and little ones. I was never a believer in the moon until this year.

[KillBilly]

It is more than likely because they aren't showing up on the end of an arrow either.... I know....boooo...hissss. 

[DBHAWTHORNE]

Every bow hunter I know right now is dealing with this weird rut. I'm not so confident that it's weird, but that it started early with the moon phases. Look at last year full moon. It was the during the so called peak of the rut here. November 20-23. Of course the game department shut these days down to us because it's the peak. Bucks were going crazy first few days of archery.
This year the full moon was around 12th of November. I had big bucks coming in during day the three days it was closed. The biggest whitetail I have ever had on camera came in middle of day on 19th. Came back one time in middle of night. Hasn't been back. My son had a shot on a nice 5x5 opening day and shot underneath him. Since then, nothing but doe's and little ones. I was never a believer in the moon until this year.

You posted any pics of that big whitetail?

[elkaholic]

Landowners in 124 I talked to stated that they werent chasingyet during those dates???

The game cam my friend has up on his property in stevens county still had the few bigger guys in at night....... He sat in his stand for a week and it was does and a few small guys???

[BAR C3]

Every bow hunter I know right now is dealing with this weird rut. I'm not so confident that it's weird, but that it started early with the moon phases. Look at last year full moon. It was the during the so called peak of the rut here. November 20-23. Of course the game department shut these days down to us because it's the peak. Bucks were going crazy first few days of archery.
This year the full moon was around 12th of November. I had big bucks coming in during day the three days it was closed. The biggest whitetail I have ever had on camera came in middle of day on 19th. Came back one time in middle of night. Hasn't been back. My son had a shot on a nice 5x5 opening day and shot underneath him. Since then, nothing but doe's and little ones. I was never a believer in the moon until this year.

You posted any pics of that big whitetail?

Maybe after hunting season.   

[DBHAWTHORNE]

Every bow hunter I know right now is dealing with this weird rut. I'm not so confident that it's weird, but that it started early with the moon phases. Look at last year full moon. It was the during the so called peak of the rut here. November 20-23. Of course the game department shut these days down to us because it's the peak. Bucks were going crazy first few days of archery.
This year the full moon was around 12th of November. I had big bucks coming in during day the three days it was closed. The biggest whitetail I have ever had on camera came in middle of day on 19th. Came back one time in middle of night. Hasn't been back. My son had a shot on a nice 5x5 opening day and shot underneath him. Since then, nothing but doe's and little ones. I was never a believer in the moon until this year.

You posted any pics of that big whitetail?

Maybe after hunting season.   

I need to make sure I don't miss them if you do!!! Good luck man!

[jnevs23]

Not sure what dates your referring to about 124. I hunted the 24-28th and they were definatly chasing those days, but like I said earlier only one mature buck.
  It is puzzling that the lack of mature bucks around seems to be affecting the entire NE corner.  This area is very diverse and there is no one thing I can put a finger on that would affect the entire region.  For instance take winter kill.  Where I hunt it is lowland farming in the area.  The deer have it pretty easy down there and it takes a very severe winter to affect this area.  Last winter was bad and I was expecting to find more winter kill than normal this spring.  I spent a decent amount of time out there this spring and did not see much at all.  Same for predators, have not come across any sign of fresh kill.  Then I thought maybe it was the mild weather and moon phases pushing them more nocturnal.  This likely affected hunting but they should still be showing up on cam.  I saw 10-12 bucks that were 3 point or better last year and just one this year.  I know some of the bucks i saw were pushed down by snow, but should still be seeing more.
  I also have a genetics question that might be another topic for another day.  Does a younger deer breeding pass on weaker genes?  I have taken a couple biology classes and from what i unserstand your DNA is not going to change based on age.  Wether a deer is 2 or 10 he is still going to pass the trait of large antler growth if he posseses it.  It seems if a deers father was a massive 5x5, he will at least carry the large antler trait as recessive, i would guess that would be a dominant trait though. So if he breeds at 1 1/2 he is still passing a trait of large antler growth.  Anyone have any idea on this? I