Trail cams older bucks present 2014

[laker1]

What is your observation on your trail cams,about the number of 2.5+ age old deer compared to last year.

My cameras around Mille lacs area-west side,I am seeing very few deer bucks over 1.5 years old. Wondering if winter of 2012-2013 took a big toll on them?

Our you seeing good numbers of older bucks?

[ERdeerhunter]

What is your observation on your trail cams,about the number of 2.5+ age old deer compared to last year.

My cameras around Mille lacs area-west side,I am seeing very few deer bucks over 1.5 years old. Wondering if winter of 2012-2013 took a big toll on them?

Our you seeing good numbers of older bucks?

We hunt central MN, not so far north to have taken a big hit from the winter. A lot of deer survived the season thanks to the endless fields of standing corn last year and it definitely helped the mature buck population in our area. We are currently monitoring 7 different bucks with 10+ points on our cameras, any one of five of them would make a great shoulder mount on my wall.

[smsmith]

I had 3 bucks over 2.5 on cam last year. None of them were harvested locally. None of them have shown up on cam this year. No idea if winter, a car, or coyotes took them...but they don't appear to be around anymore.

[laker1]

You should have all the yearling bucks from last year also being nice 2.5 year olds. Like I said earlier maybe winter was harder on them in 2012-2013 than I thought. We did have snow almost to may in parts of Minnesota those years and I know people found a lot of dead fawns. Those would be your 2.5 year olds.

[ANYFISH2]

I only have one deer that is 2.5 or better out of 8-9 different bucks.

[smsmith]

You should have all the yearling bucks from last year also being nice 2.5 year olds. Like I said earlier maybe winter was harder on them in 2012-2013 than I thought. We did have snow almost to may in parts of Minnesota those years and I know people found a lot of dead fawns. Those would be your 2.5 year olds.

My observations, both personal and trailcam, indicate that my 2.5's are anything but "nice". Both body and antler growth are sub-par...which isn't at all unusual given the fact they've lived through 2 pretty bad winters/springs.

I agree with what I think your point is laker...the winter/spring of '12/'13 was very tough on the herd. So was last winter. Couple the winter/spring of '12/'13 with an INCREASED number of Managed and Intensive units in '13 and we have a pretty good idea of where all the deer went.

Of course, Leslie is on record as saying we still have "about a million deer" and that the herd in central MN has not experienced the type of regression that some say it has.

[laker1]

agree.

[SmellEsox]

What are your thoughts on the number of yearling bucks compared to past years. If winter was hard on last year's fawns, there should be fewer yearling bucks this year.

[chasin_walter20]

Last year we noticed most of our mature bucks didn't have the antlers they usually have. Not sure if it was the drought or what happened so we decided last year was a management year on our property. Harvested does and mature bucks that were not beneficial to the herd. This year we have been seeing plenty of mature 2.5+ bucks and they are looking very nice. Including a monster typical 10pt and a huge 3.5 year old 14pt. Have several B&C bucks we are hoping to tag this season!

[laker1]

Number of yearling bucks this year in north central Minnesota compared to last year,that is hard to say,it seems equal to last year at least,but definitely down from fall of 2012. Last winter was hard on them also,but at least up north to about Pine River the snow left a little earlier than spring of 2013. Farther north it hanged in there forever in 2014.

My own observation this year and it is a small sample,I am seeing more yearling does without fawns than normal. Seeing just maybe a few more yearling bucks.

But mentioned earlier lacking older bucks?

Nice photo of a big buck above. What I hear the farther south you go winter mortality was much more minimal.

[smsmith]

My own observation this year and it is a small sample,I am seeing more yearling does without fawns than normal. Seeing just maybe a few more yearling bucks.

But mentioned earlier lacking older bucks?

My anecdotal observations follow yours pretty closely. I have zero yearling does with fawns and a few more yearling bucks than last year.

I do have one buck on cam that I think may be 3.5. His body appears 3.5...but his rack looks like a nice yearling's rack

[PurpleFloyd]

Last year we noticed most of our mature bucks didn't have the antlers they usually have. Not sure if it was the drought or what happened so we decided last year was a management year on our property. Harvested does and mature bucks that were not beneficial to the herd. This year we have been seeing plenty of mature 2.5+ bucks and they are looking very nice. Including a monster typical 10pt and a huge 3.5 year old 14pt. Have several B&C bucks we are hoping to tag this season!

Very nice.

[MNHunter65]

I bowhunt near Brainerd and rifle hunt by Tower. So far I have only had cameras at the Brainerd location, but will be setting cameras this weekend near the Tower location. My camera observations and 8 sits near Brainerd have revealed there are at least three does with twins (saw them all together), one doe with a single fawn and one solo yearling doe. Also have seen a spike and have an 8 pointer and a decent 12 pointer on camera. This is about average from year to year in this area based on past observations.

Last year at the Tower location, we had 13 different bucks on camera and only 2 does. In our group of 8 hunters, we only actually saw 1 doe. All but 2 of the bucks appeared to be 2.5 or older. We ended up shooting two of the bucks we had on camera. Based on last years winter, it will be interesting to see what we have on camera this year. We're setting cameras this weekend and won't be checking them until opening day of rifle, so I won't know anything on this location until then.

[laker1]

You get way up north,studies going back to the 60's show the percentage composition of older bucks in the population is higher than areas like north central and southern Minnesota.

Lot of escape cover and only a fraction of the hunters. The population of all deer(bucks or does) is still much lower up north.

Many decades ago I hunted in the Burntside lake area.

[laker1]

Got to be a lot of trail cams out there,don't be shy,what are your observations?

[BuckSutherland]

Got to be a lot of trail cams out there,don't be shy,what are your observations?

Last two winters and wolves have been brutal. 5 Cass county trail cams, ZERO 2.5 or better bucks since April. Food plots, mineral sites, and previously well traveled trails. They should have closed the season.

[CaptainMusky]

Last year we noticed most of our mature bucks didn't have the antlers they usually have. Not sure if it was the drought or what happened so we decided last year was a management year on our property. Harvested does and mature bucks that were not beneficial to the herd. This year we have been seeing plenty of mature 2.5+ bucks and they are looking very nice. Including a monster typical 10pt and a huge 3.5 year old 14pt. Have several B&C bucks we are hoping to tag this season!

Thats a stud!!!

[NWKR]

We are in Carlton County so the winters get us pretty good. It seems like the # of 2.5+ is down from about 9 bucks to 7 bucks, but I was thinking that it was mainly due to the winter of 2013-2014. Our fawn #s seemed low last year and we were thinking does may have lost fawns in the late spring (2012-2013). There are less 1.5 year olds around this year so that would go along with that theory. 2013 was our first year with trail cameras and we did not have much hunting for a few years before that. So not enough data for more long term trends.

[laker1]

Look at Camp Ripley,only 14 bucks taken 2.5 years or older for the first 2 day hunt,which is very low for the number of hunters.