Turkeygirl Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 Anyone have an idea of what happened or seen anything like this? Coming back from my hike today, was heading home out of the woods into the field behind the house on an old logging trail I always walk on, I come onto this which is fresh: torn up ground....deer hoof prints dug in, few chunks of white deer hair, even a large log had bark broken off from being run into or something...It was basically a large oval area of torn up, pawed up ground....I thought it was too late for bucks to be fighting but maybe? I know that big buck around here and I think is still here is territorial because I'm sure he is the one during archery that came in, when I had just climbed out of the stand in the evening, and was grunting and snortwheezing and chasing off other bucks behind me. I'm not sure what else it could be...I know it wasn't from deer pawing for food....no blood, nothing else anywhere I could see. Any ideas? Photo of some of the torn up ground: The hair was scattered around in bunches like this, not alot but you could find hair if you looked: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andrea Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 Looks like one's still marking his territory and has a "bad attitude", LOL. Too bad hunting season is out!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevebeilgard Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 pretty deep ruts for just marking a territory. yet, some does do come into late heat. maybe he was on to something. but i doubt it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 Did it look like maybe some coyotes were trying to eat supper? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkeygirl Posted January 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 Did it look like maybe some coyotes were trying to eat supper? I wondered if maybe coyotes but the ground was so dug up in the area and there was a mound of dirt that was broken up and/or pawed up. I would have guessed more fur if something attacked a deer...though white hair is usually belly hair so I dunno...There is more torn up ground than just in the photo but mainly it seems to be in a oval type of shape. Don't usually have an issue with coyotes taking deer here.... It's weird... Although last week when out, where the big buck I think was bedded andh adh is scrapes, I found one of the scraped pawedo ut in the snow and did find a fresh rub in another area so maybe this warm up has the bucks a little active... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowJoe Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 It's a possibility that several does were fighting. I've seen them fight year round and they really get after it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohiobucks Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 Old gut piles tend to look like that after all the guts are gone. The dirt takes on a darker color, white hair all around. I think it is an old gut pile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckbuster11 Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 I would say either that's a buck fight or something attacked a deer there. I dont think does fighting would cause that much of a mess, and there would be lots of predators tracks around if that was an old gut pile. I've seen bucks fighting as recently as last week, so that is not out of the question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohiobucks Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 and there would be lots of predators tracks around if that was an old gut pile. Yeah, but after the guts are gone and a good rain, tracks don't stick around. I saw something very similar to this during Ohio's shotgun season back in December, in my case it was a 3 day old gut pile. I had put the guts there.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckbuster11 Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 Yeah, but after the guts are gone and a good rain, tracks don't stick around. I saw something very similar to this during Ohio's shotgun season back in December, in my case it was a 3 day old gut pile. I had put the guts there.... Were there deer tracks all around the guts you put on the ground though? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dubie Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 It could be a fight, but I'm not to sure how all the belly hair would come off with bucks sparing. However, belly hair usualy gets shed all over the place when you gut deer. I've seen gut piles I've left look just like that less then a week later, complete with deer tracks. Seems deer around here keep moving through the hotspots even with fresh guts on the ground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 Dont know Ruth. Have seen similar areas where it looked like deer ran in somewhat of a circular run, in small areas 10-20 yards or so. Kind of assumed it was where bucks were chasing does around. Have seen hair like that too, but it was near a fence and I assumed that a doe was being chased and one or the other hit the fence or went through it and the hair just did not fall off right there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texan_Til_I_Die Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 Buck fight. It's amazing how much they can tear up the ground when two big ones tangle. Here's a pic I took a couple of years ago. You can clearly see the deep hoof prints and the marks where one buck forced the other's antler tips down into the ground. What you can't see is all the torn up prickly pears and yuccas. They literally destroyed about 800 - 1000 square feet of turf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob LeBlanc Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 I tend to agree with you, Texan. If you go back to the site, turkeygirl, see if you can find where it appears the hooves off one are deep, toe down into the earth. If you find that...you've found a knock-down, kick 'em out 'scrap' yard. :-) (I've seen a spot that was tore up very similar to that up here...and it was definately 2 heavyweights goin' at it. Most fights are little more than a heavy sparring match...but when you get 2 bucks of equal prowess going to it...wheww...they can cut 'er up!) Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkeygirl Posted January 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 It definitely looked like there were some deep hoof prints there. Definitely NOT an old gut pile...this was fresh like from that day and the hair was just as fresh. Wish I could have been there to see exactly what happened.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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