Nature smart

White-tailed Deer taken in southern Minnesota

By Stan Tekiela

I was walking through the woods, moving very slowly, making sure not to step on a stick or twig that might snap and make a loud noise. Each footstep was carefully placed after visually checking the ground. Thankfully, it had rained a little bit the day before, making the leaves nice and wet, which dampened the sounds of my footsteps. I was traveling in near silence. Almost all the leaves have already fallen from the trees making it easy to see long distances within the woodland. In my hands I carried a large 500 mm lens and camera body. I was on the hunt for White-tailed Deer.

This year the rut seemed to start right on time, and I was eager to get out and see what I could find and perhaps capture some images of an elusive big buck. Moving through the woodland, I came across several female deer, but this wasn’t why I was there. I was searching for the big antlered male deer, often referred to as bucks.

Moving along, I must have covered 2 miles before I found my first small buck. But based on my years of experience, I know that the small bucks often follow the large ones. The big boys follow their nose through the woods searching for does that are ready to breed. The big bucks are constantly on the move until they find a “hot” female that is nearing her peak of reproduction. The buck will follow her around waiting for her to accept him. He will often spend time feeding when she is feeding or laying down and resting when she is laying down and resting.

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