The Nelson's at White City, over by Jacobsville, usually have visitors like this in early January. Here's one familiar face that showed up for a free meal this week. Perhaps you read the story of Bucko, which appeared on the Pasty Cam (see Cam Notes for January 17). He's the deer who dropped his antlers last year as a gift for Don and Barb, and amazingly, he's back with another rack.

The Nelson's are dial-in members of our Internet service PastyNET, and they report about life on the Keweenaw Peninsula over at Barb's Page.

How do they know it's the same one? Deer-dumb, and wondering...

Im also deer-dumb. i thought the number of points had to do with age. does the rack grow bigger every year. howw long does it take to grow back?

What a nice buck. Nice to see he made it through
deer season. Surprised he hasn't dropped them yet.
Gary, the number of points is really not determined by age. Good feed and good genetics have more to do with it. He'll drop them soon and start growing new ones in early spring. By August or September they will look like those he sports in the picture. I like to hunt them but I think I like looking at them even more nowadays. Hope he stays around for awhile to spread the genes.

nice deer. Michelle just got done with the beacon. Hope to see you this summer.;

Being most decidedly of conventional romantic persuasion I never thought I'd hear myself uttering this, but: "Hey Don, nice rack!"

Will be looking for him next season.

Is that bread your feeding the deer? From what I have read that causes problems with the digestive systems of deer. Sure is a beautiful looking animal!!!

Beautimous shots of Bucky and friends on Barb's Page. Did anyone see the pasty makers tonight on the Ch 6 news? Pretty cool, Charlie! Mimi and I had pasty for supper today. :o) We made
'em yesterday. Yum yum!

Hey, Charlie...Nice story on TV6 tonight! Keep up the good work.

The Wadsworth Hall Cafeteria was also serving pasties tonight! Of course that's cafeteria food...

Deer keep thier antlers into the winter as long as there is sufficient forage available to support them - in other words, if they are not being fed they usually drop them quickly so they don't have to support them through the tough winter. They don't necessarily get more points with age - again has to do with nutrition - but this doesn't appear to be the same deer.

j.a., after being surprised by your note that bread is not good for deer, I went of to do a bit of quick research. It seems you're right--I found a number of state websites saying something similar to this from Vermont: "Deer have a complex digestive system that is not adapted to digest bread and many types of hay. “Habituation to artificial feeds that do not meet their nutritional needs often results in deer that are in poor condition,” explains Bob Davies, a wildlife biologist in Colorado Springs."

Also, "Deer....have a four-part stomach designed to digest leaves, acorns, grass and fruits. When people feed them bread, candy or popcorn, the deer can't digest the food properly. Sometimes this junk food makes the wild animal's stomach stop working. When this happens, the animal gets sick and may die."

Interesting!

I found out they like Grapes, had one come up and stick her nose in my bag of grapes, Hope she was able to digest them .

HAVE THE NELSON'S SEEN BUCKO THIS WEEK? HAS HE
DROPPED HIS ANTLER'S ? KEEP US INFORMED, WHAT
A GREAT STORY. I HAVE A SUMMER PLACE NEAR HOUGHTON
CAN'T WAIT FOR SPRING TO HEAD BACK TO THE NORTH
COUNTRY.


DMF