Some south central MO buck within the last two weeks




They got a ways to go but they are gettin there!





Anybody else got some poics?

No pics but I saw one a week or two ago. Wasn't as developed as those are. He was still knobby, they were up in the air but hadn't branched yet. He knelt down behind a bush. and belly crawled through the grass into the wood line. it was pretty neat.

saw 1, 8 point  and a couple 4's and fives At jefferson barracks range today john.

A little surprise on a trail cam yesterday here in South Florida.

And here's his buddy.

She's got a pretty good head herself for way down here in the swamps of sunny Florida.

Dang Marty! Those are really far along. Are they usually early like that in Florida? Saw this guy once last season. Hope he is still around.

 

Wouldn't mind seeing this guy from last year either. No one saw him during the season. Big woods down in that area.

Believe it or not, our rut is the end of August and into Sept.!!!!!!! So much for the shorter day, change of weather theories.

wow really? marty how far south are you?

I suppose you know but in case you don't the tip of florida has a tropical photo period. I'm not sure the specifics of it but for instance some annual plants can be grown and harvested 3x in a year instead of just once like further up.

Plants that are triggered by the amount of daylight given will bloom in most of the country around fall. But in Florida they can harvest in late aug, early december, and sometime in april too I think. The deer may well be affected by the tropical photo period. It never occurred to me but there is no reason they wouldn't be. And I think the sept harvest is the longest grow cycle.

I'm at a latitude closer to gainesville and our deer (or at least the one I saw a few weeks ago) aren't near that state of development.

We are in the south zone according to fish and game. South of route 70 in the west side of Lake Okeechobee. Archery opens the saturday after Labor Day and I've seen plenty of rutting activity and have rattled in several bucks that week. Ya gotta have a bug machine though!

I saw a decent forkhorn blacktail today. He only had growth on the left side though.  His antler was about six to eight inches.  He had a decent sized body too.  Be a good deer in a year or two.  

Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera handy.

Will a deer grow an antler on one side one year and not another?

Bill yes they can. Someone can tell you alot more about it than me but yes. I know if they sustained an injury on one side of the body the antler on the other side of the head will be mutated and smaller. To the point of no growth though I couldn't say.

Marty I had no idea season opened up so early. Is that for private land or open to public land too?

no pic's of any yet, but they are growing nicely.

SP, Some of the State magt areas open even earlier than that by a week. That's state rules on seasons. South zone is the first to open and first to close. NW Florida is open into Feb, on some pieces of land.

Marty...keep Uncle Gene away from that end of the swamp until I get there.
I think that one will be bigger than Daniels and he deserves ME!

I watched 12 together sat. eve.Two 20" 10's with 9-10" tines already, one had 8" brows, and a 20+ 8 pt. with very short tines so far. They really grow in July till the mid of aug.Saw 50-60 last night with 1/2 bucks but only one fawn with 30 diff. does?Going to Ill.hunting ground this weekend, can't wait to see whats there.All deer so far are Ind. deer.

Seen a buck yesterday standing 5 yds. off the road by my house that was already 14-15 in. high, out past his ears and had the longest brow tines Ive seen in my life, they came almost flush with the top of his rack, they were every bit of 12-13 in. long..tried to get a pic w/cell ph. but he got nervous and ran into the woods..whats neat is he wasnt a old dear 3-3.5 yr. old, going to be really big by the time season gets here in Oct.

marty. wow. thanks for the info. I'll have to look into the non resident laws and stuff there. I only live a few (okay, maybe more than a few) miles away. I'm always looking for places to hunt earlier.

I used to watch that "quest for adventure" with Glen Lau and Skip Whoositsname. A hunting/fishing show set in Florida. They went hunting hogs with a longbow. I loved that show. I always wanted to hunt florida. Its free on myoutdoorstv if you wanna watch it. It ran in the late 90's. Hardly any product advertisement or anything, just enjoy nature and adventures on public land. So of course it was canceled in a season or two. lol.

But it makes you want to go hunt and camp on public land in south florida for sure.

Just put a couple cameras out yesterday, See what we get in a couple weeks.

Should have had them out already but havn't had the time. Great picks guys !!

Tracy