Unique Bucks
It’s time to start tracking the 2009 rut. This season we will use a total of eleven cameras on two different parcels of land in South Western New York. We’ll be looking at a number of rut ramp-up indicators but if you are going to be on top of the rut it’s time to start documenting unique buck sightings. To do that, you will need to strategically place cameras and document the different (unique) bucks that pass by the camera sites from now until the rut is over in late December. Feeding areas like food plots and brushy fields are good locations as are natural travel areas like funnels and well used ridges. It’s best to leave your cameras in one location through the entire season.
Your initial survey will take place from now until Sunday October 4th. The number of bucks counted within this time represents the number of bucks using your sites. That will serve as your baseline.
After the initial survey the unique bucks will be counted on a weekly basis. For example, our unique bucks could be ten bucks from now until October 4th. The week of October 4-11 two new bucks might show that we haven’t photographed before. Week one would be reported as +2 bucks. This process will be repeated weekly for the next couple of months and ultimately be part of a pilot study we are conducting.
So what? What’s the big deal with tracking new bucks showing up on the two farms? What does that have to do with tracking the rut? New bucks showing up in front of the cameras will track how much ground bucks are covering in the neighborhood as well as track the big old boys as they pull out of the sanctuaries on each farm. Experienced deer watchers generally agree that buck activity ramps up a the rut progresses and older age bucks come out of seclusion for rare appearances as they begin looking for does. This activity increase is sometimes seen on the deer stand and almost always recorded on game cameras. Weekly counting bucks will give real time scouting information that will help determine when, where, and how to hunt. It’s all in the cameras.
If you have cameras, follow along with the project and report back to us weekly with your observations. No cameras, no problem. Help me out by looking out for new bucks showing up on our WOW cameras. I sometimes miss sightings (especially after dark) that another pair of eyes might pick up. Send us your report. The more eyes the better.
A little hint: Print a “mug shot” of each buck and keep it in a file. Use the printed photo to compare to new bucks showing up on camera. Some bucks we photograph early might take a walk about and not return for a month or more. Don’t count them twice as uniques.
Please keep your unique buck data, do week by week counts. We will be asking you to share it with us after the season as part of a massive WO Nation deer study. This year we are doing the “pilot” study. Next year we will refine the study and gather camera data from thousands of locations across the WO Nation. Start now and help the WO Nation make whitetail history by being part of one of the largest whitetail deer studies ever. Plus, keeping track of the rut will help you put that big boy in the freezer.
