splatek
UAEC
My mountain cam had the same thing
Two week burst then nothing
Two week burst then nothing
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Bullwinkle on CNF
- Thread starter jbogg
- Start date
strothershwacker
Senior Member
It's a hoss for sure. Every year we get giant deer that show up outta nowhere for a time or two then disappear. Camaras everywhere but no sign of those deer. As though they fell in a well somewhere. I've got a close friend who is an avid mtn hunter. We've had this conversation time and again. His boy kilt a giant old mountain buck on a brow last year chasing a doe. My buddy checked its stomach and to my surprise with acorns everywhere it had 2 acorns and the rest of his belly was full of laurel leaves! That got me to thinking. Most of these mountain bucks live in the laurel thickets on steep sides. I believe most of 'em bed bout halfway. Most of the year they get up and feed without ever leaving cover. They can eat bout anything really. A 4.5-7.5 year old buck is a completely different animal from all other deer. Theres a very small window of opportunity to kill 'em each year. Gotta make hay while the suns shining! Hope you get that rascal jbogg!
strothershwacker
Senior Member
Notice how gray his snout is. I missed one like that at 23 yards this year after my arrow hit a small limb. I almost cried. All I could do is shake my head, thank God for the chance, nock another arrow & keep sitting.
Sautee Ridgerunner
Senior Member
That surprises me about them eating laurel. A deer will starve to death with a belly full of that stuff. Very interesting.
jbogg
Senior Member
That is amazing that his belly was full of laurel leaves during a year with an acorn bonanza. A buddy of mine commented that the dark horns look like the deer is living in the shade of laurel on the north side of the mountain which is exactly where I got the pictures. They definitely become a different critter at that age. I’m going to try to get up there at least for another day or two before the season ends on Saturday.
ddd-shooter
Senior Member
I wouldn't tell a soul if he was even in this state! Lol at least not on here. I've got a few guys I'll share deer with because I know, there's no cheating a deer up on the mountain. If you get him, you earned him, whether it takes one trip or a hundred.
It's amazing how small of an area these big bucks live in and how rarely they ever leave a thicket. I'm convinced most of the time, they get up at two hours past dark, walk a thicket, feed till about two hours before daylight, and bed down. If it wasn't for the rut, I'd bet many would die of old age without ever seeing a human past 3.5 years old.
I hope you get him. Not much time left, but late season they do get hungry.
Man he's a stud. Wow. Thanks for sharing. I don't run cameras but gee whiz I love to see a mountain buck on camera. I just can't see enough of them.
It's amazing how small of an area these big bucks live in and how rarely they ever leave a thicket. I'm convinced most of the time, they get up at two hours past dark, walk a thicket, feed till about two hours before daylight, and bed down. If it wasn't for the rut, I'd bet many would die of old age without ever seeing a human past 3.5 years old.
I hope you get him. Not much time left, but late season they do get hungry.
Man he's a stud. Wow. Thanks for sharing. I don't run cameras but gee whiz I love to see a mountain buck on camera. I just can't see enough of them.
Sautee Ridgerunner
Senior Member
Bogg likes inviting competition.
Professor
Senior Member
Immature reindeer.
twoheartedale
Banned
He loves his ovaltine.
Sautee Ridgerunner
Senior Member
And, like me, he drives a dodge strattus.
Thunder Head
Gone but not forgotten
Last year while trying to hack my way out of a new area. I found a absolutely giant hog track, in a small creek next to a big laurel thicket. There were a couple of white oaks that were raining acorns up on the hill. I went back the next morning and spent the whole day on the opposite slope. I could hear a pig poping acorns in the dark. Right about the time i could see him moving he bedded down. I sat there all day and never saw him again. I bumped him while trying to sneak out at dark. He switched zip codes i think.
Thunder Head
Gone but not forgotten
I used to keep a camera in a river bottom at the base of the foothills. Every year i would get pictures of big bucks during the rut. Never had picks at any other time.
This one 2 years in a row. Never a daytime pic.
This one 2 years in a row. Never a daytime pic.
jbogg
Senior Member
What a hoss! He’s got cauliflower ear from fighting.
tree cutter 08
Senior Member
Well said. I always check to see what the bucks I kill have been eating. The old ones never have grass it's always laurel leaves with acorns if there's any. Lots of times it's straight laurel. Outside of the rut, these old bucks don't leave laurel thickets during the day. I'm convinced that some bucks won't even leave a thicket during the day during the rut. Almost got a shot on one a few weeks back as he ran a doe through a gap. The buck needed 2 more steps but instead he stopped his chase and turned back the way he came. Areas with huge vast country of laurel makes it near impossible to kill a old buck. Areas with more hardwoods and less laurel makes them a little easier to hunt . There's a switch that flips when they get 5+
bany
Senior Member
They say deer spend their life in a 2 mile radius. I think at around 4 these guys are more like a 200 yard radius
tree cutter 08
Senior Member
Jbogg I'll be looking for a pic of this buck laying on the ground by the end of the week! Good luck!
Thunder Head
Gone but not forgotten
I read a tracking study a few years ago. Although the mature bucks averaged a 2,000 acre home range. They spent the vast majority of their time in less than 40 acres. Seems like it was 80 or 90%
splatek
UAEC
This post is turning into another one of those gems in this forum: I had read in several places that Laurel and Rhodo was actually poisonous to whitetail. The only reason I even searched for articles on that was because I had seen a string of laurel in what seemed like perfect bedding area that looked like it had been browsed. The tip of the tiny branch where the leave extends from looking like the tip of a briar browse. I completely disregarded it, because it was the second day of the season and I was looking for the acorns that the bears were supposedly eating.
The more I learn, the more I realize that these mountain deer, bucks in particular, will eat just about anything that is green or on a plant.
@jbogg I really really hope you get this monarch (& cut open his stomach! You have to now!)
The more I learn, the more I realize that these mountain deer, bucks in particular, will eat just about anything that is green or on a plant.
@jbogg I really really hope you get this monarch (& cut open his stomach! You have to now!)
jbogg
Senior Member
That’s an interesting observation, but honestly I never thought twice about where to post this. The bear hunting forum probably needs to be renamed “Mountain Hunting”. I’ve always said it’s the best little neighborhood on GON.
Professor
Senior Member
I agree. We need a mountain hunting forum, but then we already have one. My daughter thought it was weird I posted my buck in the bear forum and not the deer forum, but I explained it to her, and after that, she spent some time reading the threads and I think she understands now. This is a tight bunch of good people that understand how mountain hunting really is different from flat land hunting.
