..This years California's A-Zone deer season has come and gone. On our ranch in Mendocino County it was a typical hunting season. As is the case every year we were very encouraged with the number of bucks that we were seeing in the spring. During April and May when the deer are most visible as they feed on green grass, we saw more mature Blacktail bucks than we ever have in the five previous years that we've hunted this area. The bucks vanished during deer season as usual then reappeared in unbelievable numbers as the rut began in early October.

Just about the time that we bought our ranch, some of the neighboring ranches also changed ownership. During the last five or six years, the hunting pressure has greatly diminished in our area due to these changes. What we are now seeing is that the average age of the bucks on our ranch is much higher than it was a few years ago. One would think that with more bucks around and with more of them being mature bucks you would see more and bigger bucks during hunting season. This was certainly not the case this year. Although we saw plenty of bucks we saw fewer bucks than we ever have before. I believed that it had to be that mountain lions and other predators were killing more deer than usual and that the deer population in general had greatly decreased.

My brother, Dan, who disagreed with my theory proved me wrong. Rutting activity began shortly before deer season closed. Over a two day period of deer filming, Dan counted over 30 bucks. This shows that the number of bucks in our area is not only stable but seems to be increasing.

So if the population of bucks in an area is increasing, why might you see fewer bucks? I believe that as the population of mature bucks increases the younger bucks have more opportunities to join bachelor groups led by older, wiser bucks. The immature bucks then pick up the nocturnal, brush loving habits of mature Blacktail bucks much more quickly than they would if they were associating only with younger bucks. If the young bucks take on the behaviors of older bucks it seems that it could be possible to see fewer total bucks during daylight hours even though the buck population in general is higher than in previous years.|

Another factor that may contribute to this phenomenon is the scientifically proven fact that doe' s will produce more male offspring if they are not bred quickly during the rut. Nature wants the balance of bucks to doe's to be nearly 50/50. If a doe comes into estrus and does not become pregnant during her 24 hour fertile period this means that the number of bucks in her area is too low. She will become fertile a second time one 28 days later. The pH of the does uteruses will change for this second estrus cycle and if a fawn is produced there is a much higher likelihood of it being male.

This could be another explanation as to why the buck population seems to be up but the number that we see during hunting season is down. It could be that eight or ten years ago the hunting pressure in this area was great enough to significantly reduce the buck population. More male fawns were constantly being born to restore the balance. Now that hunting pressure has lessened and the number of bucks has increased, the amount of male fawns born may be far less than it was four or five years ago. With fewer bucks being born in recent years this could explain why we don't see the numbers of small forked horns and three points that we have in years past.

What ever the reason the amount of trophy class Blacktail bucks that we are seeing in our area now that the rut is in full swing is unbelievable. We've been accumulating a lot of video tape of some dandy bucks. We have three sequences that almost resulted in fights between mature bucks. It's awesome to watch these majestic bucks as they try to intimidate lesser adversaries and hope to impress the does. We are currently putting two tapes together for marketing. A blacktail rut tape, which will contain lots of video of trophy class blacktails during the rut and another called "High Country Blacktail's" which will be an informational deer hunting video on hunting blacktails.