Fall is here and I have buck fever bad. The clouds are thick and heavy and the wind is cutting and cold. Ah yes, it must be autumn in the upper Midwest. For the past two to three weeks I have been out in search of White-tailed Deer. Not just any old deer, no I am in search of the bucks. Ya, you know the big boys with huge antlers and swollen and puffy necks.

It has been very interesting spending so much time with the big boys of the woods. Each morning I head out before daybreak. Dressed in my camouflage, heavy boots, gloves, hat, oh and let’s not forget my camera gear. Sometimes I feel like I can’t go anywhere without a big lens and camera anymore.

Over the weeks the weather has been steadily changing from warm pleasant autumn mornings with bright fall colors to cold mornings with the landscape covered frost. At first I couldn’t find any buck scrapes. Scrapes are small patches of ground that the males scrape clean with their front feet then leaving a scent by urinating or defecating. They also place scent on the bare earth from their foot glands called the interdigital glands.

About 80 to 90 percent of these scrapes have an overhanging tree branch just above the height of the bucks head. The bucks hook and twist their antlers on the hanging branch with their antlers. They also sniff and lick the branch. Presumably this places a scent mark the hanging branch. I have stopped and sniffed countless licking sticks, which they are often called, and I don’t smell anything. Obviously I am not equipped to detect the odor.

It is estimated that one breeding buck will make twenty to thirty scrapes in any given area. Some are small and not well maintained while others are meticulously kept free of any fallen leave and are visited about three to four times a day to freshen up the scent. The idea behind these scrapes is to attract females, called does, into the general area where the male can find them for breeding.

Larger more dominate bucks will often scrape across the top of smaller less dominate bucks scrapes, thus taking over the established scrape with their own scent. It is thought that some bucks will produce a string of scrapes across the landscape in which he visits each one as a trapper might do on a trapline.

Most would agree that scrapes are not related to a bucks territory nor do they mark the limits of a territory. However most would agree that a scrape servers two purposes at the same time. First they attract breeding females while at the same time intimidates rival males.

Over the past couple weeks I have seen only a few scattered scrapes during my morning travels through the woods. Then all of a sudden, yesterday morning there were suddenly dozens of scrapes across the woodland landscape. This marks a huge change in the bucks behavior. Up until now the bucks that I would run into would spend much of their time feeding and milling about. Suddenly, like someone flipped a switch, the bucks are not spending too much time eating but rather chasing about with their heads lowered looking for females and making scrapes.

So the abundance of scrapes is clear and obvious sign that the rut of 2011 is up and running. Looking around each and every buck that I am fortunate enough to run into has changed their behavior from casual feeding and passing interest in females to full on, forget the feeding and bring on the chicks! Of course this is the moment I am looking for. As a wildlife photographer the time when the males are concentrating on females is the time that I can take advantage to get close and produces some great images. Now the only challenge I have is keeping up with the rutting males. They often put on many miles trot around the woods in search of females in estrus. My challenge is keeping up with them. Of course I am at a distinct disadvantage because they have four legs and they are not carrying 40 pounds of camera gear. Wish me luck. Until next time…

Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels the US to study and photograph wildlife. He can be followed on facebook and twitter or visit him at www.naturesmart.com.