Imagine five whitetail deer does about 100 feet from your house munching on apples and pears that have fallen to the ground. Then imagine four big bucks hopping over the fence to join them. Big racks, really big racks. Within a couple of minutes the does decide to move on and let the bucks have the fruit. That satisfies the bucks. We see the does heading north along the west side of a shelterbelt so we call the neighbor whose house is about sixty feet from the north end of the shelterbelt. She and Mrs. Cow compare notes on the movements of the does and the bucks for several minutes until they cross the road onto a different farm to start munching on a field of soybeans.
Just another evening in paradise.
We had a coyote enjoying the downed fruit until he got drunk on the fermented juice and decided to play chicken with a vehicle on the road one night a few weeks ago.
Digger..
The closest I've been working this last year to your neck-o-the-woods is Payne County. I've seen a large population of white tails there this year. The bucks have even been 'brave' enough to wander out in the open, also.
I'm use to seeing does in herds of 2 or 3, but this year it seems like 4 or 5 is an average. I bet the dried up water holes has forced them to band a little thicker.
Probably be a good year for the hunters. I look forward to the jerky that a number of my buddies make every year.
I worked in Payne County 31 years......
1969-2000, didn't see many deer at the start, but saw a lot in the 90's. It may have been the excess noise created by a 4 man crew early on.
