The rut is hard on bucks

[Kevin]

October:




Now:

[Arrow-Tek]

What are you doing to feed him?

[Kevin]

What are you doing to feed him?

I dont always feed protein if that is what you are asking. They are just big deer. Fannin Co is directly east of Grayson Co.

All of our bucks this year... and I mean ALL of them, had poor antlers. Usually we see deer with 10+ pts even as young deer. We guess it was due to the freeze, but who knows.

[Abcdj]

Man.. that's what some of our deer looked like too. It was a rough year. So much so in late December I got fooled by a deer that I thought was close to 160 and he was 148. I usually miss them -10 when guys show me pictures and shoot them later. I felt bad because his shrunken body made him look way bigger. Lesson learned.
This year was definitely harder on them with zero rain where we are at. This pic came in a day or two ago. He looks really bad too. You can see his ribs.

[Soggy Bottom]

Two different deer it looks like

[Greenheadless]

I don’t think most folks know the actual mortality rate on bucks from the rut. It is a lot higher than most think.

[PondPopper]

two different deer it looks like

yep

[Allpublic]

This poor guy looks rough

[Capt.Brown]

Two different deer it looks like

For sure the same deer.

[kurt68]

Looks the same to me

[Etxbuckman]

For sure the same deer.

Absolutely. And the difference in body size is…frightening I think would be a good word.

[Wits_End]

I dont always feed protein if that is what you are asking. They are just big deer. Fannin Co is directly east of Grayson Co.

All of our bucks this year... and I mean ALL of them, had poor antlers. Usually we see deer with 10+ pts even as young deer. We guess it was due to the freeze, but who knows.

Our bucks had similar issues this year. Huge degradation in quality. I've never seen so many bucks with only one antler running around prior to rut.

[jshouse]

Our bucks had similar issues this year. Huge degradation in quality. I've never seen so many bucks with only one antler running around prior to rut.

Same here. Didn't even think about it till I just read your post but we have more 1 antlered bucks this year than ever. Interesting.

It will be fun to see if they bounce back next season.

[bbqfan5909]

Pretty good drought going. Times protein has been going 24/7, picked it up a bit and added some rice bran.

[Mexico]

Unreal how much body weight they lose. Great pictures to share, you should have shown only the last picture and asked age