I saw whitetail bucks engaged in a fierce battle at Camas National Wildlife Refuge
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Early Thanksgiving morning, I pulled around a corner on the auto-route through Camas National Wildlife Refuge and my lights caught two White-tailed bucks in a fierce battle.
It was half an hour before sunup and with the heavy cloud cover, it was difficult to see what was going on, but the rattling of antlers continued for about 10 more minutes. In the dim light, I watched as the loser staggered into a ravine and laid down, while the victor joined a small doe as they headed for a near-by hay field off the refuge.
It was not the first battle for these two bucks. On the way to hunt rocks with a friend Monday morning, we stopped by Camas. We met a photographer who had witnessed a fight between the two mature bucks. One was exhausted and laying down while the other pursued a doe.
I spent the next three mornings and a couple of evenings studying the movements and habits of the 34 Whitetails that I had counted. Tuesday afternoon, refuge personnel had moved a track hoe back to the headquarters that had been cleaning out the Camas Creek bed, pushing the deer resting out of the willows onto private ground. Tuesday evening, most of the deer grazed in a hayfield, where I watched a couple of bucks chase and mount two of the does.
I noticed on Wednesday morning, most of the young bucks and some of the mature ones had left the hayfield, but they were not in the area where most of the activity had been happening for the last three weeks. There were several small herds of does and fawns that had scattered around the refuge and the hayfield. Three mature bucks were hanging close to small groups of does, but it appeared that most of the breeding had been done.
Most of the mature does had gone through their first estrous cycle in October when they were fertile for about 24 to 36 hours. The cycle is caused each fall during a “photoperiod,” which is a time created by the amount of daylight in the day. It is estimated that about 80% of the older does will be bred during this first cycle; but if they are not, they will begin the next one in about 28 days. These cycles will continue as some of the doe fawns at six to eight months old will gain enough weight to begin their estrous cycle. To me, it looked like most of the breeding done in the last three weeks were with these young does.
During these latest cycles with less does available, bucks do a lot more chasing of both does and other bucks during the early mornings, late evenings and overcast days. With all this chasing, the bucks lose weight, burning up most of their pre-rut fat when they detect a whiff of a ripe female. This also coincides with more battles between the bucks.
I made it home for Thanksgiving dinner and a couple of football games. After two years of very few Whitetails at Camas, it was great to be able to study them once again. On my way home, I had to stop for a large muley who did not look both ways before crossing the road.
By the way, as I was listening to the two bucks fight, I also heard a large flock of Sandhill cranes and another flock of Snow geese flying south.
I hope all of you had an enjoyable and safe Thanksgiving weekend.
