Do any of you believe that bucks begin to enter open areas earlier in the evening once they shed their antlers? (become less shy)
The reason I ask, is because a dairy farm that I have permission to hunt allowed several hunters a chance to help thin the deer numbers, and because firearms are legal for late season here now, they were all using scoped rifles. (and thin the herd they did!)
The problem is, as the end of December neared, the bucks began shedding, and suddenly the long range shots were putting down bucks that would not previously show themselves with shooting light left.
Not wanting to have bullets wizzing under our stands, we abandoned our hunting there, but I would stop out to see how many deer were killed each evening.
Unfortunately, it is apparently difficult to tell a buck from a doe in low light and at a distance.
The last evening I stopped out (Dec 30th) I saw four bucks that had recently shed that had been shot.
When we hunted that same cut cornfield, I saw many deer each time out, and was able to see them well with binoculars, and never saw a single buck...shed or not.
Topic: Buck question. (Read 156 times)
