The Story
Only part of this white-tailed buck fits in the frame. His head hangs low over the fallen leaves, nose pointing down, one foreleg stepping forward, while the rest of him climbs out the top of the picture.
Hidden trail cameras in the East Tennessee foothills of the Smoky Mountains caught him in the week of November 14, 2022. The temperature has dropped from the 70s to the 30s since the filmer last came through, and his report on the deer is short: bucks of all sizes and all ages are turning up everywhere, and even the ones with good racks are trailing the does, unconcerned.
Daylight fits the season. Whitetails are typically most active around dawn and dusk, but activity may increase throughout the day during the breeding season. A doe in estrus is receptive for about 24 hours, a narrow target, and if she is not bred she comes into heat again every 28 days until early winter. Connecticut's mating peak falls in the last two weeks of November and Missouri's in mid-November. On this ridge the filmer calls the rut close.
Not every rack up here is whole. One buck has lost half his antlers. The filmer rates him a good six or eight and guesses he tried the ruling buck for dominance. That fight is his inference from the damage, and it fits the species: rival bucks clash antlers for access to a doe, and they do not guard harems.
Later comes a far bigger animal, a 10 or maybe a 12 point by the same count, the one he expects the others to avoid. Adult males carry spreading, branching antlers, and the head over these leaves has both sides in place. Which buck this is, the frame does not say.
There is also the yearling. With all that hustle going past, he wants to lie down and rest. Deer bed in dense cover or tall grasses and may return to the same spot over many days. He is, for now, a deer with no plans.
