The holidays have come and gone for another year and they brought us some successful hunts at Oak Ridge along with some new friends. We had two great hunts last week and also our first measurable snow. With the second rut still going we took a 156″ buck right after Christmas and then a 203″ the following Monday. Both of these bucks will be posted on the photo gallery very soon.
The secondary rut has never been as heated as early November but it has been proven to produce when you can find a hot doe near your stand. We had a young doe coming running in on us last week after a quiet morning and what she had in tow was amazing. We went from no deer in nearly three hours to one doe and five mature bucks in about twenty seconds. As is the case with the primary rut they all stayed well into the brush but it gave us about 30 minutes to watch the bucks before she took them off on another chase.
After lunch in a lake effect snow storm the doe helped us out again and this time the biggest of the bucks made a mistake and we took our largest mature buck to date at Oak Ridge, 203″ with a 22″ inside spread! We all had a great hunt and hopefully the video will be coming to the website this month.
New Years Day started out 2010 in great way with my nephew Nathan getting his first deer, a mature doe. It is always exciting to share in the “first deer” experience. The preserve bucks were not the only ones to make it a great day as the OSU Buckeyes brought home a Rose Bowl victory to finish out our day.