OH Deer - Deer Antler Growth

Over the years I have taken my kids to watch deer in some fields near where we live. I drove to one field with my son and we saw 3 deer. We watched for a few minutes and decided to go to another field down the road to see if we could see more deer. When we returned, there were 18 (yes eighteen) deer in the field. This was in March so no deer had antlers. A couple deer had larger bodies so I assumed they were bucks. The back side of this field is 360 yards away. I took pictures sitting in my truck resting my camera on my window for stability. It was somewhat difficult to keep still with a large zoom. As the light started to disappear I would adjust the aperture, shutter speed and the ISO in various combinations to try to get the best shot at that distance.

One year I went back in June and started taking pictures. One buck caught my eye. It was a very large 8-point buck. He was heavier than the other deer and had the start of a huge rack. There is also a 9-point buck that is very nice. I focused on the large buck. Notice the progression of his antlers, weight, and even fur color as it gets later in the season. The 2 pictures on the left were taken (June 20). The picture on the right was taken (June 30). Notice the antler growth since June 20.  With this I thought I would frequent the fields and take pictures of this deer's antler growth.

(July 25) It was very bright out. The deer were in the shade browsing and resting.

(August 7) The way the big buck was strutting around it was clear he was the dominant buck in the area.

These pictures are from (August 11).

Because of other commitments I wasn't able to get out to look for the deer. The field was also fertilized and the deer don't like that. I did go a couple of times but didn't see any deer. I thought they may have moved to a different area. October was the next time I get out to see deer in that field.

I arrived at one of the fields to look for the deer as I hadn't had time the past few weeks. It was (October 23). Just after 4:00PM several deer came out into the field. I saw a small buck and another buck with 4 points on the left and no antler on the right. Must have been fighting. I kept watching with my camera ready and the blinking light saying my batteries were low. I noticed several deer start to look in the trees at the back of the field. I had my binoculars up scanning the woods. Suddenly I saw movement of a very large rack. I knew it had to be the big 8-point. I quickly replaced my batteries so I didn't potentially miss some good shots. Then I saw him. He came out of the woods 30 yards from where I saw the rack move in the trees. OH MY ... he had put on some weight, his neck was much larger due to the rut, and those antlers ... OH MY again ... There ended up being 15 deer in the field.

I was able to get 11 of the 15 deer in one shot. The big 8 point is in the back row on the right next to the woods. He didn't seem to venture out into the field like the others.

My plan is to go shed hunting in February/March and see if I can find this 8-pointer’s headgear. I have a couple random shots of other deer taken at different times below.

Above are a few random pictures.

Youth Hunting Weekend - Vermont

Friday, November 2, as soon as Kevin got home from school we headed for Vermont. 

We arrived around 4:30PM and Kevin wanted to go 4 wheeling so we headed down some of the logging roads before going to Mike’s.  Some mud, some rocks, and Hurricane Sandy dropped a tree across one of the trails so we had to turn around. 

The hunting plan was to get up early head to our spot from last year.  I had my pack and would lump the extra gear around (40 lbs … water, Gatorade, snacks, camera, extra gloves, hats, socks, flashlights, etc.) to free Kevin up with the rifle.    

I was up at 4AM.  Woke Kevin up at 5AM and had breakfast.  We were walking through the woods to our spot with our flashlights by 6AM.  We sat until 8AM.  NOTHING…

At 8AM Mike left us and did a loop through one of the fields to hopefully push something toward us like last year.  NOTHING...

Next spot...  Kevin and I headed to a ridge where Rick saw several deer during Bow season and Steven took a doe in the same area.  Mike had some things to take care of so he planned on pushing the ridge to us a bit later.  It was very windy at the top of the ridge so not the ideal conditions.   Mike got on the radio to let us know he was coming up the ridge.  Kevin was ready.  NOTHING...

We headed back to the house for lunch.  Next Spot...  We walked down Cream Street and headed past Stephen’s stump into the hard woods down the hill near the stream.  Mike was going to push behind his house heading toward us. 

Typically the deer go down the hill, cross the stream, and head up the other side.  We found a nice deer run coming from the stream and settled in.  Mike jumped several deer.  They crossed the stream in a different spot and headed up the hill on our side but we were a couple hundred yards further down.  NOTHING... 

We connected with Mike there and decided to go over the ridge the direction the deer went and set up near the ponds.  Often times the deer will bed down near those ponds so we thought they may have headed in that direction.  We saw several scrapes on our way which was a good sign. 

Next spot…  Kevin and I took a stand on a rock wall so we could see on both sides above the ponds.  If the deer came up from the ponds Kevin had shooting lanes on both sides of the wall.  Mike walked over the old stone bridge and started a big loop around the ponds.  He said it was very thick.  NOTHING...  Mike looked tired!!

Next spot ... From the walking we had done we decided to go back over the ridge to Stephen’s stump and sit along a run we saw with several scrapes.  Kevin sat on Stephen’s stump watching and waiting, I sat nearby on a downed tree watching and waiting.  Mike leaned up against a tree and fell asleep from all of his extra walking.  I do believe I have a picture of Mike from last year doing the same thing.  With the wind in our face Kevin started to get cold. He said he had enough for the day so we slowly hunted back to the truck.  NOTHING...

We headed to the check in station and Kevin got some snacks.

 Next spot … On the way back to Mike’s we still had some daylight so decided to head in to one of the areas where Kevin and I go 4 wheeling. 

In the woods we spotted a doe above us on a hill.  The first deer we had seen all day.  Kevin had a shot … took it … and that was it.  The deer went down and rolled probably 30 feet down the hill.  “Great shot by Kevin.”   We dragged the deer to the road.  We talked about walking Kevin slowly through steps of field dressing the deer but the checking station would be closed before we finished.  Kevin wanted to get back to the checking station before they closed so Mike dressed the deer with Kevin’s help (Mike said time me!!  Record time, 5 minutes).  Mature doe … dressed at 115lbs.  SUCCESS …

Kevin and I walked 4 ½ miles.  Mike walked several miles more to push for us.  We were all pretty excited about sleeping in the next morning.  Kevin wanted get home to hang the deer in our tree for all to see.  Some of his friends stopped by to see it.  Doug, Rick, and Stephen also stopped by to congratulate Kevin.

Somehow people could tell Kevin was successful on the ride home.  

Hunting Adventures - 2008

November 1- 2, 2008 NH





Several of us went to David's in Moultonborough, NH for opening Muzzleloader season. I borrowed a gun from Mike since I still don't have one. It was great to be with the guys and get into the woods. I had a head start because I brought Kevin out for Youth Weekend.


On Sunday, November 2, 2008 I sat on a rock overlooking a clear cut field with stumps and brush. At 4:20PM a deer came down into the field between me and a house to my left up on a hill. Then two, then three, then four … I had my gun up (muzzleloader), safety off. I was looking at a medium weight doe and 3 fawns. I could shoot a doe or a buck at this time. They turned and stood 15 yards in front of me. They didn't see me or smell me as I was very still and the wind was blowing away from them. If any of them had antlers or all mature I would have taken one. If I took that doe, the fawns wouldn’t make it so I made the decision to pass. I consider myself a Sportsman as well as a hunter. It was the right thing to do. I was getting very cold as the sun was going down and the wind was blowing. I finally got a cramp and had to move my leg. When I did the doe gave a snort and ran to the middle of the field. Two fawns followed and one went the wrong direction back to where they came from so the doe stopped about 60 yards away. They slowly walked to the side of the field to the top of the ridge (110 yards). I moved a bit and looked through binoculars. The doe started to stomp and snort at me. She must have snorted a dozen times then slowly went into the woods. There was noise to my right when they were standing in front of me. I was hoping more deer (a buck) would have been following the doe but no such luck.The real upsetting thing was that my camera was in my pack so I didn't get pictures.  The whole time she was snorting at me I was thinking ... you're not out of range .. .I can still shoot you ... you be nice to me and stop mouthing off  ...

November 14 - 16, 2008 VTOpening day for rifle in Vermont is the 15th so I headed up early to get set up and scout a bit.

I had a real tough time trying to figure out where to hunt as I hadn’t been out to scout yet. The 3 point rule in Vermont has been successful so numbers and weights are up. My choices: The Town Line, Jurassic Hill, Sargent Hill, Cream Street, the Boulders, off the Copper Mine Road, The Valley. They made fun of me because I couldn’t choose. I finally decided I was going to hunt Sargent Hill. I walked in and saw some good runs and some sign so I was set.

I spent Saturday the 15th on Sargent Hill. Directly across the road is Jurassic Hill. Mike and Paul went there. Paul went to his rock and Mike looped around the bottom. I was up on my hill and heard the shot at 7:25AM. It was Mike shooting a 5 point Buck. Paul left his rock to help Mike track the deer. A doe jumped out in front of him when he was going toward Mike. It saw him and ran. A big buck immediately followed. Paul shot at that buck on a dead run and missed. The rest of that day they saw lots of does but no more bucks. Doug ended up on Sargent and pushed a deer across the trail I came in on. It ran head down with no flag.

We had our big dinner at Frank's on Saturday night. Frank has 2 female Japanese Mastiff's (Tosa's). They are huge.
Sunday the 16th I resisted the urge to go to Jurassic and stayed on Sargent Hill. Doug came over to Sargent and went up by Norford Lake. He pushed around several does. We met on the top of Sargent. We made a push down the hill. Doug took the Red line markers down and I took the trail down. The same trail the deer crossed the day before. While I was descending Doug radioed and said the red line was taking him toward a house. I told him to go more left toward me. I was on the trail 2/3’s of the way down when he radioed. He jumped a deer that ran down the hill. I moved down quickly to the curve in the trail so I could see the deer if it jumped the trail at the bottom of the hill or on the left side as it did the day prior. NOTHING. Doug came out to the trail but we didn’t see anything. I told him the guy I met yesterday on the trail, Gary, said he pushed a deer down the year before and it went right. That was going toward the truck so Doug and I continued on the trail. All of you know how fast Doug walks so he was probably 50 yards in front of me when he jumped the deer and yelled. He was off and running after it. I saw the deer and could put up my gun but the deer was running, Doug was ahead of me, and there was no way I could see if there were antlers. Doug continued to run down the trail until the deer crossed the road. This was very exciting.

Doug had to get back to camp so I crossed the road to the Jurassic side and followed the tracks into the swamp. I never caught up with it. I was embarrassed to talk with the guys when everyone gave account for how many deer they saw in the woods over the weekend. I saw 4 deer.

November 21 - 23, 2008 VT
I headed back up to Mike’s Friday night. I was beaten down from the weekend before so I decided to go to Jurassic where most of the activity was.

Saturday I took a stand on the east side at a good spot where the deer come off the ridge. I saw 1 doe come down that morning. I jumped 3 more deer that were bedded down on a knoll. Rick and Steven decided to go to Sargent Hill Saturday morning as we left the trucks. I told Rick I would be real ticked off if he shot a deer on Sargent after my last weekend adventure there.

After an hour or so I heard a shot from Sargent. I somehow switched radio channels so I never heard any chatter from Rick or Steven. When I came out of the woods to my truck I noticed drag marks down the trail to Sargent. I saw blood … My first thought .. that darn Rick shot MY deer. Rick shot a 4 point buck. I had 3 points on one side, and an antler broken off on the other side. It would be safe to say it would have been a 6 point buck. I thought more … NUTS … THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME … THAT WAS MY DEER … I WORKED FOR IT. No more deer sightings for me on Saturday.

Sunday we decided to hunt the Town Line area. This is where I shot an 8 pointer several years before on the left side of the hill. The group spread out. I went to the same spot I shot my deer. Came across some tracks and some scrapes but didn’t see any deer. The others were on the right side of the hill and saw many deer. Steven saw 9, Mike saw 7 or 8, etc. Mike started in a field and saw several, then proceeded up the line markers toward Steven. There were lots of deer being pushed around BUT NOT BY ME. That afternoon I decided to sit on the Field Mike started on but didn’t see anything.

I spent THANKSGIVING weekend in CT with the family.

Rick said he was going up to hunt Red Hill in Moultonborough, NH on Saturday the 29th and asked if I wanted to go. I had never hunted Red Hill. I was still in CT with family so I passed. Rick went up early that Saturday morning and started up the hill toward the fire tower. He saw a well used run he had know about from previous scouting and decided to sit for an hour. Maybe to rest also as Red Hill is a steep climb. After sitting for a few minutes Rick saw a deer come down the hill onto the run and toward him. It was a doe. He said he heard deer grunts also. His thought was another hunter was close and was using a grunt call. He wouldn’t stop grunting and Rick started to get upset. It turned out to be a 4 point buck following that doe (hot doe) about 100 yards behind. Rick shot his SECOND buck in a week. I WAS IN CT REMEMBER!!

Doug called me and told me. I called Rick and was happy for him. I told him it was nice that at least one buck he shot had his name on it …

December 6 - 7, 2008 I went to Moultonborough, NH and was in the woods by1:30PM. There were several scrapes behind Kevin’s rock in the pines so something is moving through there. The leaves and snow patches were crunchy so I was very loud. The wind was blowing also.

I was in the woods by 6:35AM Saturday morning. Cold but no wind in the morning. By late afternoon the wind started.


No deer either day but I did find a nice shed in the woods. I found the right side (4 pts) and thought I would start to circle to find the other … WHERE ARE MY PRIORITIES … I AM HUNTING … I continued to hunt instead.

I sat at the bottom of the field Friday and Saturday for the evening stand where I saw the doe and 3 fawns. No luck.

You missed a nice Lake Winnipesaukee sunrise Saturday morning from David's backyard. I sure like being in the woods ...


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