Call this guy thumbs, brow tines look like they go up and turn our like two thumbs:

He looks more post mature..7+.

How do you have all these old deer on your place? Is your place big and these are multiple feeder locations?

Or are you just seeing the summer rotation and these guys will all vanish during the fall/winter range?

nice

This is all one feeder location. We have five protein feeders on about 1100 acres LF. All the pics were taken the first night we put out this camera. We haven't picked up any of the other cards yet. Of the bucks we think are over 4.5 each year we usually have about half that we don't see during deer season, so I'm sure they move to a different area come fall or they are completely nocturnal.

This one location probably had close to 20 different bucks show up the first night we put the camera out. We conducted a spotlight survey this weekend as well for MLDP, Saw 78 deer while driving our transect line which is about 4.3 miles.

You are seeing your dominant bucks doing what they do best...move the other deer away from their(dominant) summer/fall territory for the rut. I think some call it dominant suppression. Those older bucks can also create a lot of stress on those other bucks also. IMO that stress can hold them back on their antler growth at times, especially around feeders in drier times. I have seen it on my little place where the dominant bucks take over the feed location in the fall before the rut and the other bucks move out to other locations. They will move back in late Dec to early Jan if they survive hunting season. I like to see a lot of mature bucks but sometimes it is bad on a smaller place. I think I had 9- 5 yr old or older bucks disappear from last year that were daily feeder bucks during antler growing season last year. It is good that it is only mature bucks but it makes it difficult some years to have the mature buck numbers. This year is an example in that I am only seeing 4 or 5 right now compared to last years numbers.

To get a good visual of what STX has outlined, setup your camera to record 10-15 sec video clips and you will be enlightened as to what those dominant bucks are doing to the younger ones.

Question STX, regarding protein consumption. I know bucks and does dietary needs change through out the year but we see a huge swing in protein consumption, If we put out 9000lbs on Oct. 1 it will usually last until around February 1, July and August they may go through 9000 lbs in less than 30 days. I know we have deer that come to our property during the summer that aren't there during winter and I know summer really stress them was just wondering if there were any other factors besides those I've listed that contribute to the massive swing in consumption. Thanks!

Part of the consumption issue is native forage availability/palatability. Late summer forage can be minimal
For palatability so protein consumption can go way up due to the increased demands on the deer bodies in antler growth and feeding fawns. If you do fall food plots those can make fall/winter consumption of protein very low depending on the quality of the food plots.

Also, range size is very different for some deer in summer where deer can go on ventures outside their normal range so you can see some deer wandering and eating, but that can go both ways where deer you would normally see eating are gone some too.

I think you will see variances in protein consumption from year to year based on conditions of native forage. The year prior I had significant protein consumption Jan thru March until green up, but this past winter wasn’t as harsh and I had decent plots so my protein consumption was quite low during those same times.

Yep, all these guys got some age. Looking good. Curious to see pics later on. Hopefully daytime pics. Ill definitely yield to Stx on your protein question.

During the rut the bucks are more interested in chasing does and protecting their territory, so they are mainly interested in corn unless you get a really bad cold nasty period. Then they will hit the protein. Some bucks never stop on the protein just cut back, but many of the middle age to mature eat very little during the rut. That is why you see a buck a week before the rut and in 3 weeks he shows the weight loss. On a ranch I managed in the Hill Country our two biggest consumption periods were the month post rut...late Jan-to late Feb and then late July till late Aug for protein consumption. The late summer period was due to bucks pounding the feeders and fawns now big enough to eat out of the feeders. You could tell how many deer had been shot off the ranch by comparing those two periods of consumption. When you feed year round you will see swings in consumption based off of rainfall, mass crops, rut, etc. but those two periods were consistent due to late winter being generally poor winter forage growth due to cold/lack of rain and late summer being dry with stressed or mature forage. The other thing I saw was year in and year out was a huge upswing in protein consumption in around May 10-14th every year after the year 3 of feeding on that ranch. On average all the deer were now larger bodied across the herd and spring growth had matured or was stressed. Larger bodied deer consumed more feed. May and Sept were the two largest rainfall totals on average every year. Feed consumption in May would go up 50% and hold till it peaked in August. Mast crops started to peak or come on from persimmons, shinnery oak, then live oak/post oak acorns to cause that drop in consumption. If you keep records on feed consumption, rainfall, harvest and even mast crops you will start to see and can predict trends. I will also be willing to bet if you added one or two more protein feeders to that feed pen you will see feed consumption go up dramatically. I do not like to see more than 7-10 per feeder so if you have 20 different bucks you need more feeder space so the bucks and the does can eat. I would think you will see some younger to middle-aged bucks make huge jumps in one year due to less stress around the feeders. Stress is something most do not pay attention to with deer. Of course adding feeders will add more to the feed bill.

Thanks STX appreciate the response.

thought 5, then saw belly sag, 6+

He’s mature too

MATURE

6.5+ this season

great deer