Following Antler Growth with Trail Cameras

The great part about having a wildlife management plan is watching certain deer grow up to maturity. We run a lot of trail cameras during the year. Sometimes as many as 20 cameras will be out capturing deer and their behavior. We name our bucks and we start watching them normally when they are 2 ½ year olds. This year we have two bucks that we know from previous years that we are watching and are getting trail camera photos. Luckily for us, they are traveling together so that will make monitoring them that much easier. I thought I would show you some of their pictures and hopefully we can continue to get pictures of them through their antler growing season.

The first buck is a 4 ½ year old that I call Mr. Potential. Shown below is a picture of him from August 2008 as a 2 ½ year old. For some reason we never got a photo of him as a 3 ½ year old.

Now this is him as a 4 ½ year old. These 3 pictures show how fast his antlers are growing. They were taken on May 24th, May 28th, and June 11th.

  

The other buck traveling with him is also a 4 ½ year old that I call No Brow Jr. These names have a long story and I am not going to go in it at this time. Shown below are pictures of him as a 2 ½ year old from 2008 and a picture of him as a 3 ½ year old at the end of gun season last year (2009-2010).

 

These pictures below are photos of him as a 4 ½ year old this year and the type of head gear he is growing. They were taken on May 24th, May 28th, and June 14th.

  

Another interesting thing about these two bucks is that they have been traveling together during the spring/summer for the past 3 years. Shown below is a photo taken of them back in 2008 and the other two below are from this year 2010.

  

I hope you enjoyed these photos and the history behind these two deer.

One Response to “Following Antler Growth with Trail Cameras”