What's in the mind of a big buck?

[ncboman]

so as not to hijack the other thread. ...

How many of us sit on point and ponder this? :cool:

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

"What's in the mind of a big buck?"

Probably the same thing that's in the mind of a little buck only slower and wiser.

Alan

[Herne]

Food, sex, security and energy conservation?

You can sort the order to explain why you didn't see one today. :)

[Altjaeger]

Food, sex, security and energy conservation?

You can sort the order to explain why you didn't see one today. :)

Nawww, sex, food, security and energy conservation. :D

[GF.]

I'm gonna cop out and agree with all of you ;)

Once you've gone past the 4 Fs (feeding, fighting, fleeing...) it pretty much comes down to the order of the day and what's right before him.


Probably the same thing that's in the mind of a little buck only slower and wiser.


It's like the old joke about the Old Bull and the Young Bull enjoying some shade and a cool breeze up on top of a hill and looking down at a few hundred cows feeding out in the hot sun.

"Hey!" says the young stud; "Whaddya say we run right down there and have us a few o' them cows?"

"You go ahead if you want... " say the Boss. "I was thinkin' to walk down there this evenin' and just do 'em all."

[Twanger]

I think the answer depends on the time of year.

For 11 months of the year it's food & cover. Sex is not in the picture.

For the other month of the year it's sex. Cover is a distant 2nd, and they could care less about food. Bucks lose as much as 30% of their body weight during the rut.

[dave-t.]

June-Sept, feed, water, comfortable private location with a breeze.

Oct-taking and marking territory, changing food sources.

Late Oct-Nov-, breeding, beating the next guy to the does, or beating up the guy for the does.

Dec-Security, food, 2nd cycle does.

Jan-March-Food, sancuatry, bachelor groups, and anything that can provide a heat advantage.

April-June-Gorging on lush new growth, moving bedding locations, living the good life.

[Herne]

Twanger - you are quite right, for very long periods of the year, defined really by the presence of velvet (and the run down to antler casting), bucks are not even fertile. They are genuinely asexual.

Muntjac are one of the very few species of deer which are fertile in velvet, a product of no fixed breeding season because of their tropical habitat.

Isn't just their antlers which get bigger!

[LampLighter]

I AGREE 100% with Twanger. For us down here, it is the 2nd half of Dec. and most of January that sex is on the brain.

[LampLighter]

and one thing I have come to notice over the years is- whenever you have a bunch of does crossing regulary in a particular spot, such as to/from a hot food source, the big buck will lay up nearby the crossing in such a way where he can see far into an open area, but have heavy escape cover next to him too. I have seen this more than once.

One time, the Feds had just select cut a large area, and oak treetops were everywhere. It was October. You would have swore there was a deer woodstock concert going on. Deer mammy. I was trying to slip in from the open area and did get all the way back to where they stopped cutting, and I stopped to take a break. I had a dozen strap-on steps slung around my neck, a stand on my back, and my bow in one hand. 10 dozen mosquitos were aggravating me. I heard a stick break, and I watched a very nice 8 point ( I counted) 25 yards away slip to the edge, jump into a treetop, and bed down watching the open area ( where I come in from). Now I wonder how many times before he actually did that and watched me coming, and slipped out the back door ?

There's more stories like that. Enough to teach me that it is a favorite technique in my area. I never came in from the front again. I followed a creek in from an entirly different direction, and different road.

[ncboman]

and one thing I have come to notice over the years is- whenever you have a bunch of does crossing regulary in a particular spot, such as to/from a hot food source, the big buck will lay up nearby the crossing in such a way where he can see far into an open area, but have heavy escape cover next to him too. I have seen this more than once.

One time, the Feds had just select cut a large area, and oak treetops were everywhere. It was October. You would have swore there was a deer woodstock concert going on. Deer mammy. I was trying to slip in from the open area and did get all the way back to where they stopped cutting, and I stopped to take a break. I had a dozen strap-on steps slung around my neck, a stand on my back, and my bow in one hand. 10 dozen mosquitos were aggravating me. I heard a stick break, and I watched a very nice 8 point ( I counted) 25 yards away slip to the edge, jump into a treetop, and bed down watching the open area ( where I come in from). Now I wonder how many times before he actually did that and watched me coming, and slipped out the back door ?

There's more stories like that. Enough to teach me that it is a favorite technique in my area. I never came in from the front again. I followed a creek in from an entirly different direction, and different road.

I think observation is very much on a mature buck's mind almost year round, the exception being when the velvet is touchy. They seem to like to position themselves where they can observe what's going on in their neighborhood, much moreso than lesser deer.

[DaveHawk]

SEX , what else is on the mind of any old of young buck for that matter. LOL