Grow the Hunt

My Second Year with "BRUTAL BOBBY"

-By Randy Cooper

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. That’s the case here. Bobby is a buck that I’ve had the privilege to watch going on my two years. I first got pictures of him coming to my feeder last August while in full velvet. I’ve included some infrared footage of him below from this year, but the one color picture from last year shows him after nearly a year of being fed a good diet of corn and high mineral goat feed. His coat is shiny and he is the very meaning of a healthy deer.

I gave him the name “BOBBY” because he only has half a tail. It appears to be bobbed off. Even without being able to see this buck’s behind, I could always tell it was him because of his uneven brow tines.

I hunted all year for two very special bucks. It was cat and mouse with them all season. I saw Bobby several times but let him go, waiting for the others. That’s the price you pay when you’ve made up your mind to only settle for a certain deer. I think this year it’s going to be different. I’m watching four bucks now that I’m sure will make Pope and Young by the time they shed velvet. Bobby is one of them. I am not sure that the huge 10 pointer that I hunted all last season is still with us. One of the other three bucks may be him, but right now I just can’t tell until their racks develop further.

Things have changed in a big way with Bobby since last year. Bobby was just one of the guys last season and came to feed with the rest of the gang. He worked a scrape that I filmed all season, but he didn’t display any aggressive behavior. We as hunters have all heard of bucks establishing a pecking order or dominance throughout the year in the herd. They usually start when they are little squirts when they mock battle each other as spikes and 4 pointers. These sparing matches are just play but do allow the bucks to test each others strength. Usually, bucks will run in bachelor groups until closer to rut when they begin to swell up with testosterone. Bigger bucks become loners and are aggressive toward each other and sometimes serious fights break out between them.

There must be a vacancy that needs to be filled in the pecking order between the bigger bucks that have been coming to my feeder. So far, Bobby’s neck, believe it or not, is bigger than all the other bucks and he is showing so much aggression toward the other bucks his size that I’ve never seen or heard of anything like it. Through my Moultrie I-60 camera, I’ve taken some extremely good footage of him going after other bucks that get too close to him or the feeder. He’s chased off two at a time that are as big as he is.

From all the indications, Bobby is going to be “THE BOSS” this year. He is simply brutal toward the other bucks. He’ll probably do most of the breeding and get into some serious fights. I hope to catch them on film and I also hope to take him home with me. He’s a bull of a buck and is very muscular. It’s funny really, when he’s about to go after one of the other bucks he’ll stop what he’s doing and stare at them for a second and then he’ll charge. It’s just like the F-22 Raptor getting a missile lock on an enemy aircraft and then firing.

Bucks aren’t supposed to be this aggressive this early. That’s why this is so rare. Check out the footage and the color pic of Bobby from last year. I’m sure he’ll be bigger this time and when he’s fully developed I’ll send some more pictures of him. Hopefully I’ll be in the picture too!

Crab Claw's Daddy

Here’s a picture to keep you motivated for next hunting season. A Moultrie customer captured this monster he nicknamed “Crab Claw’s Daddy” on his Moultrie scouting camera last hunting season. Start mounting your game cameras early so you can start tracking a trophy buck like this one.

Suburban Bucks

In his June 20, 2008 Blog entry Mike Hanback writes about an article in Quality Whitetails magazine that listed the Top 10 Zones for Record-Book Bucks. Ranking number 10 on the list is East Coast Suburbia (places around Washington D.C, New York, and Philadelphia). Here at Moultrie we believe it. We have heard countless stories and seen hundreds of photos from people that have bought game cameras with the intent to use them on their hunting property only to set them up in their own backyard. How many of you have a game camera set up in your backyard? Has anyone captured a photo of a trophy class deer behind your house? Leave a comment telling us about the huge buck that stops to visit your camera, leaving you in fits because you cannot hunt him.

As Mike mentions in his Blog, now is a good time to gain permission to hunt these small pockets of woods that provide cover to many huge bucks. Check out Moultrie’s blog posting from last week for tips on how to gain permission and get a shot at that backyard buck.

Fawn Facts

Thanks Jeff for sending in this great shot of a Doe with her newborn fawn. It was captured in Minnesota by a Moultrie Game Spy I-40 digital trail camera.

Here are some facts that you might find interesting:

• A deer’s gestation period is between 200-205 days.
• Most fawns are born in late May or early June.
• Usually a doe will give birth to a single fawn the first time she gives birth, but after that, twins are often likely.
• Baby deer usually weigh between 4 ½ pounds -5 ½ pounds at the time of birth.
• Fawns can usually walk 20 minutes after birth.
• A doe will lead her fawns away from where they were born to a place that will provide some cover. The spotted fawns are nearly odorless and almost impossible to see when they are hidden in cover. The doe will then leave the fawns alone in the cover to draw predators away from them. She will return five to eight times a day to nurse then leave again.
• In a period of two to three weeks, the fawns are able to follow their mother while she feeds. The fawns self wean as they begin to feed on various vegetation.
• Young does may stay grouped together throughout the year but young bucks will leave the group in the fall.

Alligator Hunting, Anyone?

This huge gator was captured visiting Grady’s digital trail camera in South Texas. Needless to say, he was quite surprised when he downloaded the pictures from his Game Spy camera. Have you been shocked by any pictures from your Moultrie trail camera? Submit them today at http://www.moultriefeeders.com/trophyroom.

Baby Boom

Dan Schmidt posted on his Blog last week an entry titled Another Amazing Fawn Encounter describing a recent encounter with a doe and her newborn fawn. It is that time of year where we are hearing similar stories about encounters with newborn fawns across the country. Moultrie wants to know if anyone has captured any game camera photos of newborn fawns. If so, please e-mail your pictures and story to Moultrie at moultriephotogallery@gmail.com

Finding Bedding Areas

In Hunting Circle’s Blog on May 4th, he gives some tips on scouting now for bedding areas to hunt during the season. When you locate a possible bedding location, try setting up an infrared game camera close by to see what type of deer are using the area. When setting up a camera you want to use the same scent control techniques that you would use during the season. By using a larger memory card and external power source, you can extend the time between visits to the camera. Be careful not to disturb the area too much or you may pressure the deer to move to another location.

Do game cameras spook deer?

Mike Hanback’s blog posting on April 30, 2008, poses an interesting question about whether or not trail cameras spook deer. The subject seems to be a hot topic these days and opinions differ. Some hunters have had negative experiences using flash game cameras. On the other hand, Moultrie receives hundreds of pictures and stories from hunters each year capturing the same big buck on a flash camera time after time. Case in point, there have been many instances when a flash camera is set up to take a “burst” series of shots (Moultrie Game Spy cameras can be programmed to take three in a row) and the deer will turn to look toward the flash. However, the deer remain in the same spot unbothered by the flash, and are photographed returning to the camera’s location days and weeks later.

It is true when a series of pictures is taken by the infrared game cameras, not as much attention is drawn since the infrared flash is virtually undetectable. While there is always the possibility that a “worry buck” may be spooked by a game camera, it is evident that the benefits of using a game camera far outweigh the negative. We receive countless stories from hunters that were able to fill their tags with a trophy buck due to the information that has been provided by these great tools. We would love to hear your opinions on using game cameras. Let us know what you think by posting a comment.

Securing your Game Camera

-By Randy Cooper

The people I know who have trail cameras set out usually don’t say much, but if they are like me, the thought of someone stealing these expensive cameras has crossed their minds. I have two high-end cameras from Moultrie looking at my deer feeder from different angles. One is an infrared camera and one is the flash type. The other day, I pulled the cameras, like I do every week, to see what I had captured.

As I ran through the pictures and video footage, I came across a 30-second video with two boys on it. They had cut through my property to get to a street that ends near my house. As they passed through, one boy saw the feeder, walked up to it and tapped on it a couple of times. He then saw the program box on the side of it and waved his hand in front of it a couple of times as if trying to get the feeder to go off and dispense corn. When it didn’t do anything, he walked off and joined his friend.

Harmless enough right? Wrong!!! First, these kids were trespassing. Second, they were messing with my feeder. And third, if they had seen the two cameras that took their picture, they may have helped themselves. Right now, with everything getting more expensive, I can’t afford to replace a camera that someone decides to steal. The fact that their pictures were taken alone is a testament to the value and usefulness of these cameras as a surveillance tool.

After seeing the footage, I posted signs along the backside of my property close enough together for even the most nearsighted person to see. I hope they get the message.

I have permission to hunt a property that has some huge bucks on it and is very inaccessible. I even have a rough time getting there because the terrain is tough. Through post-season scouting I found three trails that run parallel to each other and about 20 yards apart along a hillside. They are all worn to the ground from so much use. Using a screw-in Moultrie Camera Tree Mount for my trail camera, I mounted the most expensive camera I have on a poplar and left. I went back a week later, swapped out the SD card and came home. I almost had a stroke when I looked at the daytime footage.

First, I saw a black Lab that hit the very trail that I was covering right in front of the camera. He started backtracking deer right on it until he went out of sight. The very next footage on the camera shocked me. Right there, in those deep, hard to reach woods where no one goes but me, deer and turkeys, was a girl about twenty years old. She walked across the trail in front of my camera from left to right WITHIN 5 FEET OF THE CAMERA!!!! I don’t know if she was following someone or looking for the dog I had seen on the other footage. The point is, where I least suspected someone to be, there they were.

I immediately ordered three of the game camera security boxes made by Moultrie. I went back and thankfully my camera was still there. Obviously, the girl didn’t find it. I pulled the camera, put it in the box and secured it with the padlock that comes with it. This box is meant to keep honest people honest. Like most things including bank vaults, if someone wants to get into the box bad enough, they will return with tools and get in it. My hope is that if someone were to find one of my cameras in the security box they won’t have anything with them to remove it and they will leave it alone. I love my Moultrie trail cameras and use them daily. I want to protect them and keep them from being stolen. There are a lot of dirt bags out there that are just plain sorry and mean. They don’t care about anything; much less what belongs to someone else and they will take anything that’s not nailed down. I’ve had enough tree stands and screw-in steps stolen to stock a sporting goods store. I take great care in selecting my stand sights and the places I set up my cameras because of that. I’ll be even more careful now that I know that no place is void of people anymore. If I even think there might be a chance of someone finding one of my cameras, I’ll put it in one of the security boxes.

You will also do well by using pruning shears to cut limbs with foliage on them and CAMOUFLAGE YOUR CAMERA. I use cable ties to attach the branches around the camera where it can’t be readily seen.

If you have trail cameras, do yourself a big favor and get some of the Moultrie security boxes to house them in. It could make the difference between keeping your camera or someone stealing it. I’ll be protecting my assets from now on. You should too.

Our Thoughts on Using Game Cameras for Surveillance

Whitetail 365’s March 28th blog written by Scott Bestul tells a story of a shed poacher being caught in the act by a game camera. Game cameras are increasingly being used by sportsmen not only to observe game on their property, but also for security. Many Moultrie customers use their game cameras to monitor hunting cabins during the off season when no one visits for long periods of time. Construction crews have also found game cameras beneficial in keeping an eye on their equipment.

If you do decide to use a game camera as a security tool, it is a good idea to use a model with an infrared flash so attention is not drawn to the camera. Mounting the camera with a security box will help prevent theft of the camera if it is noticed. Keeping your cameras out year round gives you a dated record of who is coming and going, and what they are doing.