We have had a few storms, and cold fronts move through, and the Mule Deer rut seems to be starting early this year. Usually, I don’t see any rutting behavior until Thanksgiving which is 3 weeks away. I like to wait a few weeks to check the cameras but with daylight savings happening on Sunday I decided to go out and change the timers on all the cameras for more accurate data. What a difference a few days made. All of the sudden the big boys have come out to play!
All summer long, on the trail cams and in person I’ve only seen a few smaller bucks. I wondered if all the big ones got taken by lions, hit by cars or fell to any number hazards that they are subject to. This week several new guys showed up all at once on the trail cameras checking out the does a little early this year.
So far this is the biggest buck I’ve seen you never know who might show up to compete for the does. I think it is going to be an interesting year with everything kicking off early. I was so pleased to get the in-person photo of the stately buck I used as the feature image for this post.
Northern Desert Photography 