Buck question...

Through A LOT of blood, sweat, and money, we've made our place pretty good for wildlife. 5 years ago I could hunt for 2 weeks and maybe see 3 deer over that time period. Now, we see 4-5 every sit and I get pics of 8-9 in our plots at one time.

I'm going through some pics from about 3 weeks ago, just before and after Thanksgiving.

I'm seeing WAY more sparring than I've ever seen, and I don't remember seeing it this early. Does this have to do with the increase in does on my property or am I seeing more of it on camera because there are more bucks in general hanging around?

Thoughts?

More deer on your property. Your improvements are paying off.

Probably got more middle aged bucks in the population now……I think you see more fighting when your buck population mostly consists of young to middles aged bucks…..When you start getting an older aged component they shut that chit down…….The middle aged bucks don’t compete over that first hot doe anymore…..the old buck just takes it. I think having older bucks in the population takes stress off of the younger ones for this reason.

Have you implemented any type of management

No doe killing and trigger management for bucks always pays big dividends.

We are seeing lots of the sparring on the cameras also. The 2 bucks I killed Friday and Monday both had swollen necks, black hocks,and was smelling. This is in southern Monroe Co. Our peak rut is always around Jan 21. Not sure what’s happening but we’ve never seen this before.

Smelling and swollen necks in that part Bama is odd this early - peak like u say Jan 21 ish

Im seeing alot of posturing in pics i wasnt seeing three weeks ago. Bucks are all still running together though. Got three good ones running together just last night. All of the sparring pics im getting is young bucks. I think maybe theyre just feeling their oats a little, they dont know whats going on. I have a bachelor group of about five forkhorns running together, theyre the ones doing most of it

It's a 2020 thing...

I checked my cameras yesterday and I had some bucks sparring around the first of December

I had a couple sparring on camera back in October. I've heard bucks sparring several times over the years during muzzleloader season but it doesn't appear to get serious until early January in my part of Monroe county. I almost never see much of it during our rut though. Just chasing.

Give us some details on what you been doing

You probably have more deer and certainly more bucks. I believe you have more bucks and therefore, you have more bucks to photograph that are interacting with each other.