It has been an exciting whitetail deer season in South Texas. The general hunting season for whitetail deer ended this weekend, and it was exceptional.
Timely rains throughout 2010 provided plenty of native browse, and the bucks responded with above average antler growth.
In September, I was able to film this massive brush country buck in peak velvet, but when hunting season began the first Saturday in November he disappeared. I guess he did not get that big by being foolish. The good news is we can look forward to seeing him again next year…at least in velvet.
One of the year's first rattling adventures produced a mature buck that came in almost too close for comfort. My friend Terry Neal wisely quit cracking the antlers together as the buck stared him down and made a scrape.
Just to show who was boss in these parts, the buck then ripped a mesquite branch from a nearby tree and stalked off with it.
Later in the season, my friend Lamar Smith rattled up a pair of bucks that promptly locked antlers and battled for several minutes within just a few feet of us.
While it is time to put away the rifle and stow the rattling antlers, camera season is open year round. There are some handsome bucks still roaming the ranch country, and the exciting thing is they are liable to be even more impressive next year.
With your Nature Report I'm Richard Moore.
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