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.

Around the House - Fall

To all of us who go by the meteorological seasons, fall begins on the first of September and ends November 30. Certainly there were days with summer-like temperatures, some summer-blooming wildflowers had blossoms in early fall but black bears were fattening up and some trees, especially red maples, began to change color – the distant hills often have a reddish cast by September 1.

As we entered fall, the daily photographs in this continuing series were taken within 200 feet of our back door – insects, flowers, birds, mammals, fungi, trees and other plants. The area within that 200 feet consists of woodland, lawn, flower garden, ornamental trees and shrubs and a tiny, tiny pond.

H and I have been extremely fortunate to have lived here on the side of the hill for over 50 years in a house that was built for us by a skilled and conscientious crew. The house was built in woodland that was once a pasture and had then reverted to forest, forest that consists primarily of black birch, red maple and tulip-poplar with a scattering of oaks, hickories, black locust and other species.

The woodland has been heavily impacted by white-tailed deer, many species of shrubs and herbaceous plants have been browsed into oblivion. In order to protect some of those shrubs and wildflowers from the deer, a deer-resistant fence encloses a small area where white trillium, mayapple and other plants still grow.

The videos and photo from the camera traps within 200 feet of our back door are noted at the end of this post.

 

Now it's winter, no more flowers to be photographed; our dying white birch was removed, its wood added to next year's woodpile; many of the birds of spring and summer are gone, perhaps to be replaced by winter finches; the hardwood leaves have fallen, their nutrients will be recycled with help from all the unseen living things on the forest floor; the deer, squirrels and chipmunks may have a lean winter since there weren't many acorns or hickory nuts here; we may, or may not, have much snow and cold as the climate changes – time moves on as do the seasons.

This post completes not only the fourth of the year’s seasons, but the fifth photo-a-day-for-a-year series that’s been posted on In Forest and Field. Just as a similar project by a renowned nature photographer inspired the first of my series, perhaps these photographs will inspire you to take a closer look at the world around your home and maybe do something similar with whatever subject interests you.

Hopefully you’ve enjoyed viewing the photos as much as I’ve enjoyed taking them. Will I do another such series? We’ll see. 

 

From the camera traps: 9/20, 10/12, 11/12, 11/16 & 11/28