Hunting Review - 2018

This year I was rather excited about hunting as I finished my larger work projects early and there was not much to stop me from hunting quite often.  I setup my game camera and feeder on Labor Day (September 1st).  I then returned to check it on October 13th and found pictures of two very nice bucks.

The first of the two is a 16 point buck that I first saw last year.  Last year, he was a 12 point which looked strangely like a mule deer with the way his antlers forked.  However, in the last year, he grew numerous little points which took him from 12 to 16 points.  I saw him on my game camera at the following times:

09/02 07:14 AM – Remained at the feeder well into daylight.  Left at 07:28

09/08 06:48 AM – Remained with cattle and other bucks present until daylight.  Left at 07:04

09/13 18:21 PM – Arrived during daylight hours with other bucks but only in a few pictures.

My camera is horrible with battery use so the camera only took pictures from September 1st until the 16th.  

The next was a 10 point which I saw in only one picture standing away from the feeder.  This year, he came up to the feeder on several occasions including:

09/02 20:24 PM - Arrived after dark but remained until 21:00

09/02 22:32 PM - Only seen in one frame.  Arrived after dark.  

09/06 19:01 PM - There until 19:05 during daylight hours all alone. 

09/08 06:40 AM - Cattle present but no other bucks.  Remained until 07:08.

09/09 06:35 AM - Remained until 06:49 during daylight hours with other deer.  

09/10 18:05 PM - Remained in daylight hours until 18:14 

09/10 18:36 PM - Arrived during daylight and remained until 19:17

I replaced the batteries on October 13th which is when I found these pictures.  I was very excited at the opportunity to shoot these two large bucks.  I arrived at the beginning of hunting season and checked the camera immediately hoping for more pictures.  I was disappointed to fin there were no pictures of either buck.

I hunted November 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th without any sight of these two bucks.  There was no moon at the time and a cold front had just arrived.  However, it was quite windy one day and another day rained most of the day.  I was rather spent after hunting for 28 hours over this period of time.  I replaced the camera card and batteries and went home.

I returned on November 23rd to hunt and found no images of either buck on the camera.  I did not really have any bucks on the camera at all.  I was rather surprised they disappeared but had the same thing happen the year prior with an 8 point buck I was watching.

I ultimately shot an eight point buck on November 25th. At that point, I had hunted for a total of 44 hours and was beginning to lose hope.  While he is not very large, he is actually the largest of what I have seen on my camera once the 10 and 16 points disappeared.  In hindsight I would have been better off shooting a doe and retaining the chance to hunt the big ones again but I was getting discouraged and decided to take the shot.  

I'll be going out again before long to check the game camera.  We did not have nearly any rain for months until late September and then it seemed to rain non-stop.  I'm wondering if the lack of rain limited food options causing the bucks to come to the feeder.  Once it started raining, it seems they disappeared.  I don't know that anyone shot them as they disappeared before the season started but who knows.