Long story short, I had a heck of a bachelor group living next to my shop. They were coming by the camera twice a day in daylight VERY consistently.
That was the target buck. That is a September picture shortly after the antlers were cleaned up. He is built like a bull. Impressive specimen of a whitetail.
A week or 2 before the season was to start, the neighbor started cutting firewood. Within 100yds of the bedding area. Daily. Were talking chainsaws, wood splitters, tractor, fire, lawn chairs, multiple people. Should note....it's the neighbors patch of woods...so...he can cut all he wants. Lol.
I thought there was absolutely NO way 8-10+ bucks were going to tolerate that.
I checked the camera 10/07. Right after the opener. Just to see. It had been there untouched a couple weeks.
To my surprise, the first half of the card was normal. Pretty regular pics.
One morning, they come by on que. Then I have pics of them RUNNING back. Since then, I haven't gotten pics of the big guy at all.
Once in a while a small buck will wander by. Sometimes in daylight. Usually night time. Didn't get nearly the traffic I was. It's been out for 3 weeks untouched till today.
Looking at the landscape now, I think it was a combination of things. The neighbor cutting firewood....and the cover thinned out significantly due to fall.
I would imagine if the firewood cutting didn't take place, I may have stood a chance and the shift wouldn't have happened as early as it did.
Regardless, I punched my PA buck tag after seeing the camera on 10/07. Figured I'd cut my losses and move on.
So, I'm going to try to secure as much permission around as possible and scout the heck out of it this winter and come up with a few solid setups for the future.
Figured I'd update y'all....kinda bummed. But, hopefully he keeps living there and gets another year bigger. He had a few buddies that were just a year or so younger that'll be studs as well.
