One of the most “fun things” for me regarding December deer hunting is the changes in deer movement due to the rut. This year was no exception. On a Mid-December day, I went out to our Home Place with my friend Scott Crabtree, AKA The Turkey Meister. He has been on a lease up by Brady for a good while and has all the deer he needs to harvest for his family use up there. They have less of a population in the way of a turkeys, so he is our official Turkey Harvester as I don’t much care to hunt them.
Scott has taken a few deer and hogs with us down in La Brasada , and mainly donates those deer (all properly tagged and recorded) to folks without access to the meat. In the 2022-2023 season he had already harvested his management and trophy bucks up there so was out with me, hoping for a Gobbler or two to walk by his blind.
We hunted until about Noon and saw very little. Taking the back roads on the way into Charlotte for some lunch, we spotted a couple of nice bucks “walking around on a mission” along with several groups of does out feeding. The same thing happened when returning, and we decided to “high tail it” back to our hunting locations.
Around Midafternoon Scott texted me that he had a big 6 point with no brow tines working his way toward the feeder. My response was an immediate Take Him! The research I have studied shows that the characteristic of weak to no brow times has a highly likely “pass along” effect from generation to generation in white tails. I have long practiced the management plan of removing all 2.5 year or older bucks with that trait.
The net result of that viewpoint, plus his good shooting skills was the harvest of a mature deer that ranks as one of the larger bucks we have every taken off on our place. We did not weigh him, but I am confident he weighed in the 150 + pound field dressed range. While that may be a nice story, the real point is that we have NEVER seen this deer “in person” or on our trail cameras that have been out for several months at multiple locations.
This “stranger” came visiting from who knows how far away, looking for some receptive does. His hocks, all stained and blackened, prove what was on his mind. Likewise, some of the very recognizable mature bucks that have been observed and documented for months are no longer “around” our acres. Hopefully some, if not all, will return unharmed from their travels.
Biologically speaking, this is another reminder of The Good Lord’s game plan to insure there is less inbreeding among the whitetail population. At least on low fenced places like ours.
And while I marvel and am humbled at that Wisdom, from this old Farm Boy’s viewpoint, it just adds another level to the fun of being out in La Brasada during the rut and having the potential to ask the question…. Where did HE come from?