hoosierhunter Posted June 28, 2014 Report Share Posted June 28, 2014 A lame duck year on my properties. The deer just aren't growing. I'd estimate they are at least 25% behind a normal year of growth. It's depressing because I'm seeing mature bodied bucks that don't have G2's yet. I'm just stunned by the lack of development. We are already talking about everybody getting the pass unless he's 6.5 or older because those 4.5 and 5.5's can't be judged based on this year. The cams may tell a different story once I get them out, but I've never had a year where I didn't already have multiple shooters glassed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin R10 man Posted June 28, 2014 Report Share Posted June 28, 2014 Have you had excessive amount of rainfall Pat? Had that here last summer, older bucks just did not grow their potential at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted June 28, 2014 Report Share Posted June 28, 2014 That's strange not to even have mature deer with G2's yet. It's early but like you said they should have at least have gotten a good start with growth on them Makes me wonder if the hard winter played a serious role in the overall health of the herd causing their food intake to go more toward recovery than antler growth. Haven't started running cams in MO yet. When we do, I'll compare mature buck antler growth this year to last year & see how they look. BTW...I know we've been getting far more rain in MO this year than the past few years. Assumed you were getting the same in Indiana. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkeygirl Posted June 28, 2014 Report Share Posted June 28, 2014 Glad I don't rely on antlers to make me happy. I like what Rhino said...maybe your deer were just run down from the winter. We've had quite a bit of rain here but I'm getting some small bucks on trail cam on my property...the older deer don't seem to show up until later here. And they are al in their groups anyhow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted June 28, 2014 Report Share Posted June 28, 2014 Dunno Pat. Al may be right or maybe they just aren't showing up yet. Would make sense if you are seeing mature bodies and lacking on antlers that they may have had a stunted or late start due to the winter. Noticed we had some bucks still holding onto their antlers late in April here. Probably kind of early there for deer to be hiding in ag crops. Hope they show up for you. Got one here i know made it through that i still have not seen since they started growing this year, but have gotten one on my cams that i think is going to be decent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted June 28, 2014 Report Share Posted June 28, 2014 Here's a pretty good example of what I believe Pat should be seeing and why he's concerned about not seeing G2's on mature bucks yet. I've only seen this buck on the hoof once but I've been getting pics of this buck the past 2 years & I'm ~99% certain this buck from late June 2013 was 5.5. Here's an 8/10/13 pic of him ~6 weeks later If Pat's not even seeing G2 growth on mature bucks yet he's glassing, I'd be real concerned too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoosierhunter Posted June 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2014 The winter was horrible. It seems that only 1 in 3 mature does have fawns. I'm seeing groups of 5 and 6 does together and that very unusual for right now. We had nearly two feet on snow on the ground for a very long time this winter. I've found 8 from winter kill this spring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoosierhunter Posted June 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2014 Have you had excessive amount of rainfall Pat? Had that here last summer, older bucks just did not grow their potential at all. We have had consistent quality rain this spring and summer. The crops are booming even though they got in late. We did our best to feed them with just over 3000 lbs of corn and about 60 alfalfa bales. Scary to think what might have died if we didn't do that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoosierhunter Posted June 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2014 Here's a example from last season around this time. The biggest two went 169 and 138 respectively. The others didn't make 125. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted June 28, 2014 Report Share Posted June 28, 2014 The winter was horrible. It seems that only 1 in 3 mature does have fawns. I'm seeing groups of 5 and 6 does together and that very unusual for right now. Seeing does here that did not fawn this year too. Very strange for here. We did have a colder than normal winter and one week of snow/ice back in February. Did not think that would have been enough to hurt pregnancies, but maybe it was a factor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin R10 man Posted July 6, 2014 Report Share Posted July 6, 2014 with all the rain and cool weather up north, the relative feed values are low again, same thing we had last summer, lots of feed, but little value in it. Have seen a couple does with twins, and singles, some does with no fawns Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted July 6, 2014 Report Share Posted July 6, 2014 Can't say for sure from 1st hand knowledge how we look in MO yet. Our neighbor who we also hired as our ranch manager has been seeing lots of fawns. I talk to him several times a week. Talked to him a few days ago & while we were talking a buck in velvet stepped out that he said already had 10" tines on him. That's promising! One thing we did this past season was sharecrop ~55 ac. in 2 fields in winter wheat last fall that came out of CRP last summer. The winter wheat was getting hammered late in the season and after the season closed. That at least gave them one large food source option in addition to what was left out there this past winter. We'll start running cams next time we head up there to work on the farm...probably later this month. Should get a feel for how the herd is shaping up for this year after the first run on the 10 or so cams we have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MUDRUNNER Posted July 7, 2014 Report Share Posted July 7, 2014 I need to get up to the farm and put out my camera and do some scouting. I'm not expecting much this year, but hope I'm wrong. Numbers have seen a significant drop the last few years, and I think it will be several more before they recover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoosierhunter Posted July 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2014 I did start glassing a secondary farm to locate a deer we put off limits last season as a stud 3.5 year old. He's alive and has a few buddies with him that won't play second fiddle to anyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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