First, the 3.5 year old- I have a number of bucks that I have left alone that are this age in the hopes that they would get to the age of 4.5 for next year. My reasoning was that a 3.5 year old in a heavily pressured area has little chance of being taken by a hunter, there are so few that possess that skillset. I was thrilled to approach his preferred bedding area and find fresh tracks and rubs from the buck. He is finally ranging out a bit after the circus of the Michigan gun seasons.
In most of my hunting areas in the Lower Peninsula public, we have a bumper acorn crop this year. They are still available in huge quantities. The red oak acorns have had plenty of time to leach out some of there bitterness (tannins) and the deer are sucking them up like Hoover vacuum cleaners.
Finally I wanted to check on the SwampBeast and see how he was doing. I wasn't looking foreward to this, as he prefers to hole up in a very remote, small and overlooked primary bedding area. With a heavy water table and small amounts of ice I figured he would be back in his favorite lair... It wasn't long after beginning the arduous journey that I went swimming... no big, I do this a lot. Fortunately, after cursing my bad luck, I didn't travel far before finding a fresh rub from the SwampBeast. I was fired up that he was alive and well. I cut his tracks and fresh droppings in the bedding area before calling it a day.
With winter preparing to hit hard again, the SwampBeast will likely abandon his lair until the ice becomes safe. The three year old above will likely get bumped out, as it is a good bedding area for a buck to avoid detection. The SwampBeast preferred bedding area is just plain godawful to get to.
All my gear is drying out after my swim... a great day as far as I'm concerned.
