Bucks in the Yard

Mid-November is the peak of the rut for white-tailed deer in Pennsylvania, with the average date of fertilization being November 13. But, and that’s a big but, some does are bred earlier and others later – a few much later.

Bucks wander far and wide to find receptive does, often far beyond the area they frequented earlier in the year, and to which they will return during the winter. In their wanderings into unfamiliar territory some bucks wander into the path of vehicles, others make a hunter happy.

Here on the side of the hill one of my camera traps kept watch on an open portion of our yard about 50 feet from the house. All summer a doe, her fawn from 2022 (also a doe) and her two fawns from this year have frequented the yard. We’ve often seen them during the day and they spend many nights here too – the camera trap has taken many videos of them.

As for bucks, we seldom see them. But those two does, and perhaps this year’s doe fawn as well, certainly attracted the bucks. How far had bucks come to visit the ladies, we’ll never know, but during mid-November the camera trap had 13 videos of eight different bucks in the yard –

The buck’s chase of the doe is common behavior during the rut as bucks chase does until the doe is ready to breed, this may go on for many hours. There’s also some thought that chasing is also a doe’s way of testing a buck’s fitness.

There were cameo appearances in the video by a gray fox and a red fox which ended the video.

Earlier one of those bucks had badly treated a camera trap placed to take photos of small mammals and birds. He was rubbing his forehead (where two scent producing glands are located) on the camera, leaving his scent as a signal to other deer of his condition and fitness –

If the bucks remained nearby during rifle deer season they may stay alive for another year; nobody hunts near here and the ridge above the house is steep, rocky and parts are covered in shoulder-high mountain laurel – perfect country for a buck to live to a ripe old age. But bucks are like a lot of teenage boys, they do stupid stuff while chasing the girls and some may not be around for the new year.