Past history with bucks

It should be the one on the left in that last pic.
DT

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I’m not great at being able to tell apart the bucks on my place from year to year once they shed and then regrow in the spring. I have all typical 6, 8 and sometimes 10 pointers and there just aren’t a lot of distinguishing characteristics where I can say, oh that’s Mr. Big from last year. It’s just really hard for me to tell because other than a typical rack there are no distinguishing features.

Also, several times it took actually getting in the stand at bow season to suddenly realize that I have multiple deer when I thought I only had one. Last year for example, I thought I had one nice 8 pointer on cam a lot. Turns out the reason he was on cam so much is that it was him and his twin 8 pointer, practically indistinguishable on camera.

This year I thought I was getting a lot of pictures of one doe that has twins. Turns out I had 3 does that all had twins. Shows how hard it is to interpret what you’re seeing on trail cams to a high degree of accuracy.

Grouse

I have kind of the opposite of Grouse. Not really non typical, but we get a lot of characteristics to make them distinguished. It’s tough sometimes with a particular trait that is pasted to multiple bucks of a same age class. As an example, a little more than 25 years ago, we had a buck that had very distinct “crab claws” on the ends of both beams. 3 years later we had 6 or 7 different bucks with the exact same form, but either left, right, or both. As the years pass, I still see a few bucks with that same trait. Neat that I can see that back to a buck i shot so long ago.
But I run so many cameras on my farm that I get pretty much ch everything that crosses it. It helps that I get so many repetitive pics that it becomes much easier to tell them apart. Makes it more fun when I see them during gun season so I know quickly that they are small or more mature deer. Even more fun when I recover the sheds

This years top buck

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I possibly watched one buck for three years. It had brow tines consistent with a hitch hikers thumb. It did however go from a 9 to a 10 and back to a 9 so I can’t say for sure it was the same deer. Antler length improved each year and it tended to be a home body all three years so it could have been the same deer.

I may have one buck this year I had on camera last year. More often than not I’ll see a couple older bucks for one season and then never see them again. Life in MN zone 1 I guess.

I’ve had a lot of luck developing history with bucks from one year to the next. Actually shooting them is a whole different story! The area where I hunt we do seem to get very recognizable racks which certainly helps. Take the deer below going from 2 to 3 years. It’s tough to see in this years pic, but on his left side he has the extra point coming off the base of the G2. I also have many sheds that are what I would say are obviously the same deer.

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I honestly don’t do much in the way of scouting. My brother does most of that. He had this guy on camera and ended up getting him. It was so fun to know he existed on your property and then actually harvest him.

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Sure Joe, lay the Trump card down!!!

Every year I hope to shoot a buck I’ve been following. There’s been a few for sure that had 2+ years of watching. I thought this would be the year. I’ve watched Sticker for a few years. He’s been shot 2 years in a row by others. I was at full draw 3 times on him last year but couldn’t get a clear shot. Also once during gun. He might be gone. Next year I’ll have to pick a new target.

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