Muddyemms

First of all, it's been a while since I posted. Hi to all . . . Here's my question. I shot a 5-pointer about a month ago, at the deer camp I belong to in thenortheastern Adirondacks. When I shot him (1 shot, dropped him in his tracks from 30 yards), he was travelling with four does, who led him along. His neck wasn't swollen, whichseems to indicate that maybe he was young enough so that he didn't start rutting . . . or would the presence of enough bigger bucks intimidate the younger ones to the point that they wouldn't come into rut? I figure that this buck, which dressed at 109 pounds, was a year-and-a-half old, and the meat was (and still is) tender. One of the best-eating deer I've ever come across.

Two weeks after I shot that one, my camp got another buck off of that hill, this one being anine-point, 175-pound dressed monster.To repeat the question, could his presence in the area been enough to keep those smaller, youngerbucksfrom coming into rut?

If this question has been discussed and answered already, it's been a while since I've been in here, as I stated in the opening paragraph.

chickenjohn42

I have seen small spike buck's chasing does ,so I would say no he was not too young .Just may have been too early .

ABarOfSoap

boys are always ready

brushbustin

Back in mid nov i was sitting in my stand and saw 3 does come running by and stop and looking back towards they way they came,then they trotted off fairly quickly.So i got ready because i just knew a big buck was running them,and sure enough it was a buck running them (a little spike).

Angus74

In reality, bucks dont go into the "rut"as much asthe does come into estrous. The bucks are always willing to breed, they just have to wait for the does to let them.They do know when it is getting close, and will prepare themselves and watch the does more.The swollen neck doesnt have anything to do with the bucks ability or readiness to breed. The buck you took simply may not have had as big of a neck as some other deer youve taken. From what Ive seen, the smaller yearling bucks dont have the large swollen necks that the mature bucks have.

farmchick

We had a spike 2 weeks ago, came out into a feild about 20 minutes behind 3 does. The does had moved off into the tree line. This little guy was positively stupid. He kept raising his head, trotting in circles. From the stand, we could see all of them. After 10 minutes my husband just stood up in his stand and said, "Dang man !! They went that way!!" I'm sure some of these young bucks just DON'T know what to do! We are trying our best to give these little guys a chance to grow up here. I think they are more random at going into rut from what we see here.