The rut is hard on bucks

[Kevin]

October:




Now:

[Arrow-Tek]

What are you doing to feed him?

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Arrow-Tek

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.

[ttaxidermy]

Originally Posted by soggy bottom

two different deer it looks like

yep

[Allpublic]

This poor guy looks rough

[Capt.Brown]

Originally Posted by Soggy Bottom

Two different deer it looks like

For sure the same deer.

[kurt68]

Looks the same to me

[Etxbuckman]

Originally Posted by Capt.Brown

For sure the same deer.

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

[Wits_End]

Originally Posted by Kevin

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]

Originally Posted by Wits_End

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

[E.TX.BOWHUNTER]

I see 40-50 pound loss even in east Texas after the rut.

[Snowflake Killa]

Our deer look bigger with night time picks compared to one's on a angle.


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[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Snowflake Killa

Our deer look bigger with night time picks compared to one's on a angle.


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I don’t have any daytime pics saved on my phone but he would have been 200 on the hoof in October.

Recently I haven’t seen him much. He was chasing does still in the pic above.

[Kong]

I’ve found 3 dead mature bucks since the week of Christmas just riding the roads, it’s pretty common to find one or two every year but we haven’t even looked yet so I’m afraid we’re going to find more than I want to next month when we start shed hunting. Oklahoma was rough on the deer this year.

[Snowflake Killa]

Originally Posted by Kevin

I don’t have any daytime pics saved on my phone but he would have been 200 on the hoof in October.



Recently I haven’t seen him much. He was chasing does still in the pic above.

I hope he's not sick. Crazy amount of weight

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[SmTx]

Originally Posted by Snowflake Killa

I hope he's not sick. Crazy amount of weight

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Maybe he's one of the deer with covid folks keep talking about

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Snowflake Killa

I hope he's not sick. Crazy amount of weight

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I think he’s just really old and getting one of his last good ruts in. I might try to get some protein out to help.

[Lone_Wolf]

I always have a couple on camera that do the same thing. Just think that's how it works, and this year was really dry.

[justletmein]

Originally Posted by Allpublic

This poor guy looks rough

That first pic looks like the deer on the TPW CWD page.

[Big pig]

Our bucks in goliad this year were very thin going into the rut
Not sure if it was last winter, ,drought, no acorns or combination of all those.
Deer hammered the corn all season. Landowner said the bucks were lightest (least fat) he had ever see.

BP

[Etxbuckman]

So many of us saw fewer does, a LOT fewer, so I wonder too if they had to chase harder and longer to find them.

[Leemo]

I feel sorry for the bucks, they get a chance to get some bootie once a year, got to fight for it, starve and run to death for it, get shot at in the process, man, my luck I’d be a spike

[Native Texan]

Lack of acorns this year was not good for the deer. The ones we shot had very little fat on them going into the coldest months.

[Pernell]

Originally Posted by Native Texan

Lack of acorns this year was not good for the deer. The ones we shot had very little fat on them going into the coldest months.

We did not have any acorns this year and the rut kicked their butts. We decided to started protein in December this year, and the deer are already looking better.