Charlie Reade

The week of November 15th to the 22st has been hands down the most active week I have seen this year so far, which isn’t really a surprise. It didn’t result in a deer hitting the dirt, but it did result in a lot of opportunities, photos and videos captured and memories made. The weekend of the 21st and 22nd was a very active weekend for my wife and I. From both the tree stand and from good old fashioned ground hunting. Here is what I was observing, and what I expect the following weeks to be like as we wrap up the end of our 2020 hunting season here in Alberta.

BUCKS WERE CRUISING!

Whether they were nose to the ground pacing a scrape line or straight up harassing does I witnessed it both first hand and then was confirmed through trail cameras. Friday afternoon at about 2pm I spotted the largest buck I have seen this season, a buck I have a suspicion is my target from last year, a double drop tine main frame heavy 4x4 I passed last year in the second week of October. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a great view at roughly 120 yards and carrying a fast pace, But I’m positive of one thing, he was a shooter. If it wasn’t the drop tine buck, it was likely this 4.5 year old 10 point in the 130-135” range seen below as this photo has him heading my way.

The morning of the 21st my wife and I sat in a tree stand I had not spent much time in this year thinking the lack of pressure may have paid off for us, but that wasn’t the case. We saw a 3.5 year old 8 point chasing after a doe that wanted nothing to do with him, then for the first time in November, we saw a lone doe that didn’t have a buck within 10 minutes of her. Deciding to get mobile, we started walking and immediately found another mature buck full on chasing after a doe but moving far too fast for her to get a shot off on. After a short walk, we got back to the truck and there was a 140” class 5x5 walking down the trail towards us right behind the truck, unfortunately again a shot wasn’t possible, but both made for good filming opportunities.

Trail cameras revealed that most of the real mature bucks were still moving at night, but not that long after dark. I’m suspecting that they will be moving earlier and more often in the coming days. 200 days from right now, puts us at June 11th that’s optimal time for fawns to be hitting the ground. Lots of green food for their mothers health while nursing, and perfect for camouflage from predators. And while I would even go out on a limb and say that most of the healthy and early estrus does have been bred once. It doesn’t mean these does won’t be bred again by other bucks creating a doe carrying fawns from different bucks. Plus, there will be many does that will be late into estrus still, for whatever reason, usually due to a health issue or malnutrition.

One thing is for sure. This is the time of year where mature bucks know that the rut is almost over and that means they may have to travel some distances or put themselves into possibly dangerous situations to find does that are still in heat. Tired from a week or two of lock down and breeding possibly multiple does, this is the time for monster bucks to slip up. Hopefully I can be in the right place at the right time for this final week of the season, and make it happen with my archery gear, I’m not giving up on it yet with conditions like we are about to have.

This next week I’ll be hunting very tight to bedding areas in the mornings keying in on down wind edges. Hoping to find bucks still patrolling them and on the transition areas or funnels near food in the evenings as does and young deer switch back into feeding patterns to put on weight and gain energy for the winter. There are sure to be some does still in heat in the mix and that means one thing this time of year. A cranker buck looking for one more shot at love before the long, cold winter

Check back in next week, I’ll share whether my predictions were right, and hopefully share some photos of a beauty mature buck as well.

Charlie