From Cory: Hey Mike: I know your love and addiction for the drop-tines. I pulled this pic off our www.tndeer.com forum, enjoy my friend!! FYI, the date on the camera is off, should be 8-14-08.
Love the photo and esp. the cam owner's sense of humor (bottom right :)
They just keep coming--love it! The back buck ain't so bad either :)
One of my goals is to inspire you, to fire you up for the 08 season. This pic that popped up in my inbox overnight--titled "Your Dream Buck"--should do it. Drop club right side baby! I won't even tell you which state I think it came from; a giant like this, it's best not to specify location. I do point out 2 things. This is not a pen buck, he looks to be jumping a small, temporary fence. See anything in the background? This guy's setup looks pretty good!
Mike: I hate to do this to ya, but somebody I said I had to. Look what I just found...excited doesn't even begin to describe how I feel! Season starts next Monday. Wish me luck! Disclaimer: I am sorry if this photo causes any restless sleep tonight. Share with the bloggers if you feel so inclined. Adam
Adam, hope you get him man. Send me the next pic with him on the ground. BTW, this drop-tine thing is getting pretty crazy, I hear about it everywhere I go, even up into Canada. Will you ever get one? everybody asks. Hope I am not jinxing myself :)
Mike: Bought 20 acres 3 years ago. We started planting food plots and re-establishing prairie grass areas, corn and sorghum for food and cover. We have been passing up young bucks and encouraging the neighbors to do so also. In 3 short years we are seeing some real progress. These deer have every thing they need in a home range of 20 acres! Looks like QDM really works in a short period of time. Imagine what it will be like in 10 years :) Flatlander
Yes. And with the economy shaky and housing/land prices down in many areas now is a good time to pull the trigger and buy those 20 acres if any of you bloggers can swing it (or talk your wife into it). Buy a tract, put in sweat equity, hunt smart, let some of 'em walk and like Flatlander says you’ll be surprised if not shocked at the size of some of the bucks in 3 short years.
Jake in WI: Cool looking rack even though it doesn’t have a drop :-) We pulled our cameras as soon as we got these pics, luckily we had already hung our set about 20 yards away on the weekend before. Hopefully the soybean field we put in will keep him around. Just knowing he is out there will keep us hunting smart and sticking it out those extra hours.
Vinnie in FL: Looks like some of our deer have already lost their velvet. Saw some on video thrashing a branch, pretty sure there is a scrape on the ground also. They are getting bigger and fatter! If you want to attract deer on your property I will tell you that lab lab draws them like wildfire!!
Chris in Iowa: I had hoped to get a huge non-typical I have been watching for the last few years. Yesterday was finally the day. I was pleasantly surprised when this monster showed up :)
Pat in SD (sent from his Blackberry): Another prospect!
Dean sent "Sniffer," cool shot! This time of year when they are laid back and their guard is down, more bucks than you think come right up and smell and/or lick a camera on a tree; maybe they see a blink of light and check it out?
My buddy Pat West--big man, policeman and hunting outfitter from SD—sent this one along with some mule deer shots: “I know how you guys like big whitetails.” What do you notice about the picture, besides the killer rack? That dude is nocturnal already, some (most) big deer are wired like that.
Mike: Do you think this is my drop-tine buck from last year, and that his drop has not returned? The first picture is from this year; the second from December last year. I passed up that buck many times, hoping I would get a chance at him this year when he was bigger. I HAVE NEVER KILLED A DROP TINE BUCK EITHER! The curvy brow tines and the stickers at the base of the right side make me think it might be him.
Yes, it's him I think. The frame of his rack looks the same, and the left brow slants in. It is not unusual for a buck to grow or lose a tine or drop from year to year. What do you bloggers think?
CJ from SC sent me this: Thought you’d get a kick out of this photo. While he isn't a Booner, he does have antlers :) And note the scrape he's working--in August! Anytime I've found an early scrape like this I always get at least a few buck photos there.
I’m no biologist, but I’m a pretty good observer of wild deer in their habitat. I figure the August scent-posting somehow plays into the sorting out of the local buck hierarchies; it’s mostly about smells in the whitetail world.
A blogger pulled his cam card and sent this killer photo. I love the look and feel of it, the sleek, summer-red bucks out in the fields, doing their thing. Cool lead buck, check out the heavy bases and the split brow. Think he saw the camera? BTW, that's your typical boy's club, 6 bucks or so of various age/size. It's fun to watch them grow, send me a cam image anytime. First person to post a velvet rack with drop tine gets a free BIG DEER blog T-shirt :)
