This morning, on the drive to work between Seymour and Columbus, four deer crossed Highway 11 right in front of my truck. The first was a average size doe, being dogged by a beautiful mature buck sporting what appeared to be a 10pt frame in the 150" range. Behind the big buck was two smaller bucks hoping to get in on the action.

The mature buck was definitely carrying both sides. The smaller bucks both had antlers, but I could not tell if either still had both sides.

This moves the latest date that I've personally witnessed a mature buck rutting by a full two weeks. A few years ago, I watched a mature buck and a trio of smaller bucks dogging a doe in the field behind my house on Valentines Day.

The does I'm capturing on trail cam that "appear" pregnant in late July...ARE pregnant in late July.
This type of activity explains all the 40lb fawns I saw while hunting last November. This type of activity explains the overabundance of spike bucks running around (late born buck fawns).

Yes, I absolutely blame Indiana's general firearms dates for everything listed above. There is entirely too much human disruption in the deer woods during the primary rut. Thousands upon thousands of breeder bucks meet their demise on opening weekend...before they get the chance to do their job.

Breeding dates are stretched damned near into the spring. Deer exhaust their reserves while rutting at the absolute worst time of year. The winter recovery period extends well into the summer months and coyotes get to feast on newborn fawns all summer long. The late born fawns that do survive are way behind on the growth curve and compound late rut activity.

The time for Indiana to stop treating whitetail deer like vermin and start treating whitetail deer like the valuable natural resource they are...is long overdue!