Over the weekend some buddies of mine gave me a call and wanted to get together. We met at the old deer shack and had a visit after they had went and pulled their stands from last season.
We got to talking and one of the guys told me his son was traveling to a job in the area the other day and saw a buck breeding a doe. They all talked about seeing scrapes while they were out pulling the stands and how peculiar this was. I've never heard, and neither have they, of deer still breeding this time of year. I called a friend of mine last night that grows penned deer, and he said he had never heard of it either. Have any of you guys?
We also got to talking about basket rack bucks. They said they talked to a game biologist and he said that the D.O.C. had either tagged or put transmitter collars on some deer over around Newton, IL a few years ago. I guess some of the deer ended up over around Beardstown, IL (about 300 miles away I would guess) and one had even made it to Iowa. The biologist says that the old does will chase young basket rack bucks out of the area. In other words, if you see a basket rack buck come fall, he was from another area. That this is the way nature keeps inbreeding under control. Yet, I've had guys tell me they saw what they thought was an old bucks off spring.
What do you guys think? I'm sort of undecided about all this. As far as the buck breeding last week, if the boy says he saw it, he did. But I'm just not sure he saw what he thinks he saw. I asked my friend, and he said occassionally he will see a buck try and mount a doe, but normally she has to be really at the peak of heat to stand. But there again, I thought the bucks had to be in rut to even be interested.
Oh, one thing I might mention. The friends of mine are all livestock farmers.
We got to talking and one of the guys told me his son was traveling to a job in the area the other day and saw a buck breeding a doe. They all talked about seeing scrapes while they were out pulling the stands and how peculiar this was. I've never heard, and neither have they, of deer still breeding this time of year. I called a friend of mine last night that grows penned deer, and he said he had never heard of it either. Have any of you guys?
We also got to talking about basket rack bucks. They said they talked to a game biologist and he said that the D.O.C. had either tagged or put transmitter collars on some deer over around Newton, IL a few years ago. I guess some of the deer ended up over around Beardstown, IL (about 300 miles away I would guess) and one had even made it to Iowa. The biologist says that the old does will chase young basket rack bucks out of the area. In other words, if you see a basket rack buck come fall, he was from another area. That this is the way nature keeps inbreeding under control. Yet, I've had guys tell me they saw what they thought was an old bucks off spring.
What do you guys think? I'm sort of undecided about all this. As far as the buck breeding last week, if the boy says he saw it, he did. But I'm just not sure he saw what he thinks he saw. I asked my friend, and he said occassionally he will see a buck try and mount a doe, but normally she has to be really at the peak of heat to stand. But there again, I thought the bucks had to be in rut to even be interested.
Oh, one thing I might mention. The friends of mine are all livestock farmers.
