LEGEND

[X-Force]

You have a good memory, or good organizing skills for your photos. Keeping track of all these bucks. 

Thats a dandy 2pt.

[Special T]

I have a question bone...How long did it take you to realize that many of the "big deer" you shoot are within close proximity to the same place at the same date each year? Is that how youtarget somany cool deer now? you know that i saw X deer on Y date so i'm gona try and take a photo of him again?

What book on finding deer/specifically mule deer have you read that best fits your ability to find them?

[JackOfAllTrades]

Have you ever noticed that a young buck that breaks an antler when he's young often regrows a very similar deformity in subsequent years? Not always, but we've all seen it. That is not genetics. Could we call it 'antler growth memory'?  That in mind, what if... When he was a two or three years old he was malnurished, infected with a virus or went through a severe dehydration period because of a hot summer.  Genetics, and the strength there-in got him through, but now he's stunted?  So, he's at least five years old, Quite possibly 7?  I'm guessing that if you have a photo of him from 2007, even if you saw him in 2006, you may not have focused on him then because- After all, he was only a 2pt then. 
 
-Steve

[boneaddict]

Have you ever seen the movie series Extreme Bucks by the Eastmans?  I think I saw it there first and then started to notice here and there.   THere are also pockets that seem to always have big deer.   Thats just from experience.

I have a question bone...How long did it take you to realize that many of the "big deer" you shoot are within close proximity to the same place at the same date each year? Is that how youtarget somany cool deer now? you know that i saw X deer on Y date so i'm gona try and take a photo of him again?

[boneaddict]

If I were to guess Steve I'd say he was 5.5 in 2008, so thats about 9.5 now???

The 2009 buck I have always suspected not being the same deer.   He was right there, about 300 yards over the hill from where he was filmed in 11 and 12.  I thought that was an old buck that was about ready to die.  He could hardly move from the rut.  That was about 150 yards from 2008

[300rum]

One thing I have always wondered is if the reason an area holds big bucks consistently over time, has more to do because of the habitat or, if it is just their "living room", a place they are familiar with and were raised at?  I am sure it is a combination of both but I speculate that their "living room" has more to do with it than habitat or feed.

For instance, take burns for an example.  I have watched a good buck area that burned off and the first year or so the deer are patterned differently, then 5,6,7 years latter they are right back in those same areas they were in before.  The feed seems to be excellent throughout the burn, it just seems that the deer (or in this case bucks) like this spot more than the others.

Likewise, I have seen poor habitat or at least what I thought of as poor habitat hold good mature bucks, consistently over time.  O.K. so here is a little thing I say to myself in the woods (found in proverbs btw) "Better is a dry morsel in a quite place than a house full of feasting, in strife".   

[boneaddict]

I used to think of it as like a prime fishing hole.  The biggest and the best fish occupies it until it gets caught, then the 2nd in line takes over there.   I am noticing it in does as well though.   I happen to be monitorig the migration and critters are showing up in pockets where I see them, such as with Legend.   Day before yesterday, there seemed to be NO DEER, then yesterday he showed up and just yards away in a little pocket a dozen does were hanging out.   Where did they come from?  Does it apply?   They covered that a bit in that Eastmans movie as well.    The rut will happen, then these deer will mostly disappear from this spot again

[coachcw]

kinda like a bar at closing time , then there gone !

[blacktailer]

Quite a sequence of photographs and very interesting to see how little these things change their habits...  Great Pics.

[Maverick]

Have you ever seen the movie series Extreme Bucks by the Eastmans?  I think I saw it there first and then started to notice here and there.   THere are also pockets that seem to always have big deer.   Thats just from experience.

Love that movie! Your pics start in 2011. Where's yesterdays pic?

[boneaddict]

reply #4

[MtnMuley]

That photography progression is flat out awesome!

[JackOfAllTrades]

I used to think of it as like a prime fishing hole.  The biggest and the best fish occupies it until it gets caught, then the 2nd in line takes over there.   I am noticing it in does as well though.   I happen to be monitorig the migration and critters are showing up in pockets where I see them, such as with Legend.   Day before yesterday, there seemed to be NO DEER, then yesterday he showed up and just yards away in a little pocket a dozen does were hanging out.   Where did they come from?  Does it apply?   They covered that a bit in that Eastmans movie as well.    The rut will happen, then these deer will mostly disappear from this spot again

To back up in date to rifle season. ..
Our spot is a migration route. My buddy and my two sons hunt this particular ridge. Each of us has a set of trails we frequent. Two of us saw '13+ deer each' opening day. But we suspect that only four were the same deer. (NO, we did not mark them with a paintball gun!) Two of us didn't see hide nor hair of a deer. The next day, one of us saw 28 deer in about four hours from one spot, the others topped out at about 11+- each all day. The next day... The boys wandered but the hot-spot dwindled to just 6 or so. Later in the week, another wave rolled through. The weather did not seem to have effect on hoof travels. Saturday, my buddy shot a younger 3x4.  That's the smaller of the four deer he's taken from that spot in five years. Sunday was my lucky day. I suspect that the scrawny 3pt, countless 2pts, unlimited doe's we saw that week will follow their noses back through the same routes next year. One day nothing... The next ... You lose count. Same routes to breeding ground. Same draws to be bread. Same areas to rest and winter.
 
-Steve
 
edit:  Sorry, the discussion is waning away from truly talented photography, not to mention Doug's talent for not only remembering where, but 'who' he's re-focusing on.  I am terrible at names and remembering faces! 

[LoganOregon]

Bone, I was also thinking 2009 might be a different deer, he has a chunk missing on the top of his right ear, and I don't see that on the other photos! Your thoughts?

[bearhunter99]

I noticed that too, thought it might just be a twig or something else out of place?