More August Trail Camera Pictures

Five days ago Dad went down to the farm and sprayed our fall food plots for weeds and grasses a few days after we brush hogged. So, today we went down there to start discing the fields to prepare them for planting before our next rain (not sure when that is going to happen). The grass was dead but still pretty thick. I hope our seed will be able to penetrate the grass and make good soil contact when we do get to plant. Maybe we can plant next week if we can just get some rain to move in. The fields are extremely dry right now.

While we were there I checked some of our cameras. I did get 6 more pictures of Lucky #7 and his bachelor group on a food plot called Field #3. I had placed some Whitetail Institute Kraze mineral attractant. The bucks just love the stuff! I also put up some snow fencing on one side of this field to funnel them through the food plot. Lucky #7 was still in velvet as of yesterday but bucks are starting to show up out of velvet already. In fact, the more I look at the pictures of Can Opener from last week, the more I think he was already out of velvet.

There was no sign of Can Opener on the cameras this time (bummer). So, I decided to move all of the cameras around to new locations to scout other parts of the farm. I probably won't check them for 4 weeks unless I have time to check them after we finish planting next week. My Dad and Cousin think that Can Opener is going to be hard to kill because he moves at night and is skittish. Lucky #7 could push him off the farm if they start establishing their dominance. Do mature bucks battle for territory and push one another out of an area completely? I am not sure. We need to shoot Can Opener before the rut though because those long brow tines are bound to get broken once he starts fighting with other bucks.

On our way home, Dad and I decided to stop and check some of the other cameras that have been up for the last 3 weeks at our other farms. It looks like our newest farm has a couple of shooters on it. That is exciting considering the cameras were not located near any food sources. Here is what they look like:






I call this buck Lefty because he has 7 points on his left side and only 4 main points on his right side. He seems to be a mature buck and is pictured in the 3 photos above.




There are actually three bucks in these 2 pictures. The 2 shooters in front (on the left) with a smaller buck to the right. Both of the larger bucks are difficult to make out but I know they are not Lefty. They appear to be over the 140"+ class. Hopefully I can get more pictures of them to determine what they really are.


This is a group of younger bucks that were hanging out together on another farm. The larger of the 3 will be nice in a couple of years with a lot of character.

August Velvet Pictures

Well, I went down to one of our hunting farms this weekend to do some brush hogging with my Dad. Unfortunately we are going to be replanting half of our food plots on that farm due to a wet spring (weeds) and a miserably hot summer. I do enjoy working the fields with my Dad though. We have a good time together and it is fun to experience the anticipation on how well the food plots will do later in the fall.


I had previously put up 4 trail cameras on that farm, 10 days ago, to start our deer inventory. When I returned home to check the 4 SD cards I had 2400 pictures. It took me half the night to go through all of them. I baited the picture sights with Trophy Rock and corn. Most of the pictures were does and their spotted fawns. However, there were some young bucks and 3 shooter bucks. I always struggle trying to score deer on trail cameras when they are in velvet. Many times the deer end up being larger than they appear on trail cameras, however, sometimes the opposite is true and they end up smaller. This is especially true of velvet pictures.

Here just a few of the pictures that I found on the cameras. I would be curious to here what you think they will score. Let me know what your best guess would be.





1. Slingshot- I believe this deer is a 3 year old. He was a huge 4 point last year. I am not sure he is good to have around with his lack of points (poor genetics) but he is interesting, none the less. He looks like a mule deer.






2. Crab Claw- This buck is pictured last year under the 2010 tab of the blog (November). His G-2's have split and he has added some length to his beams. This buck should also be taken out because he won't amount to much more. I believe he is 4 years old.







3. Can Opener- I do have a picture of a large 8 pointer last winter that had a lot of trash on his bases but I am not sure it is the same deer as this one. I call this deer can opener because his super tall G-1's are split and look like can openers. I'm guessing they are 8" long. This buck seams to be spooky and only moved at dark around 2 o'clock in the morning. He may be hard to kill. He was by himself (not in a bachelor group) and appears to be out of velvet already.





4. Lucky #7- My wife named this deer because he has 7 points on each side and is a typical 14 point. WOW! I have a picture of him as a mainframe 10 last year walking in the sun (see August 24, 2010 posting). I didn't recognize him at first from previous pictures but he seems to be related to the crab claw buck, and another 10 point the property owner killed last season, with his crab claw-like points. He added 4 points this year. This buck was fairly photogenic and walked by 3 of the 4 cameras that I had out.


I can't wait to finish planting the food plots in the next couple of weeks. Then I can focus on practicing with my bow and getting ready for early season. It is only a month away! Once I check them, I will post any pictures that I get from the other cameras that we have out. Take care.