Bucks, Travel Patterns, Home Range

[TheLBLman]

If you have big cornfields nearby, there may be a bachelor group of bucks spending most its time inside that corn field. This gives them shade & cover, corn silk and corn to eat. The corn plants are generally not "hard" enough to seriously damaging growing antlers. They may go weeks without every leaving the sanctuary cover & food supply of that corn field. Similar can happen with a soybean field.

 

[HoytDawg]

If you have big cornfields nearby, there may be a bachelor group of bucks spending most its time inside that corn field. This gives them shade & cover, corn silk and corn to eat. The corn plants are generally not "hard" enough to seriously damaging growing antlers. They may go weeks without every leaving the sanctuary cover & food supply of that corn field. Similar can happen with a soybean field.

That makes sense. I imagine thats what we're dealing with- both ag fields bordering us are corn and it's probably tall enough now to hide a deer.

I never knew that bucks antlers are that sensitive this time of year. What do bucks that only have woods habitat normally do? Stay in open sections, or just not move much at all in thick ones?

 

[Ski]

What do bucks that only have woods habitat normally do? Stay in open sections, or just not move much at all in thick ones?

They spend a lot of time in open, closed canopy areas of the forest, wide open woods. My place is 99% big mature timber in hill and holler terrain. When the velvet bucks are there, they're usually in one of the paw paw groves. The paw paws grow on the damp shelves of the shaded north facing slopes where it's cool and undergrowth vegetation is lush.

 

[JJBraves]

One more thing about buck movement, range shifting, etc.

As has been mentioned, pregnant does take over the the very best habitat creating "doe sinks" where nothing older than a yearling buck is allowed to be in proximity.

But this is not the only reason buck sightings commonly go down during May thru July. Growing antlers are apparently extremely sensitive to touch, as in intense pain if they brush against something hard or sharp. Imagine wearing your testicles on your head and running thru the woods, or a briar patch, etc.

Bucks usually group into bachelor groups, kinda looking out for each other during this time they may feel more vulnerable due to the pain if something touches their "velvet" antlers. They just don't move around as much until those antlers begin hardening and are no longer sensitive to touch.

So right now, they're not only just NOT where the does are having their fawns, but these bucks are also NOT most other places either. They're concentrated in a small portion of what was their range and will become their range once their antlers harden. As to 2 1/2 & older bucks, you either have several right now, or none at all. This all starts rapidly changing in September when the bucks' new antlers become hard.

This is a very good point that I've never thought of. Makes a lot of sense as to why my doe sightings in my open timber mineral sights are minimal and why I've been getting quite a few pictures of my resident bachelor groups.

 

[Texas Horns]

BSK, this thread is related to a question I've had. My parents just got about a 100 acre farm. We have been running 5 cams since may to get an idea about the deer population on and around it. We have tons of does, but haven't got one single pic of male deer. I realize 100 acres is tiny compared to a normal bucks home range. Is it realistic to think we might have some bucks show up when patterns shift this fall?

You definitely will have bucks, especially when the rut arrives. Be patient and put a lick for feeder out in order to see if that will draw any bucks in the area in. The remoteness of the land helps along with the topography of the adjacent properties. You might look at a topo map in order to get a better idea of where they bed and feed.

 

[BSK]

I think a lot of hunters are unaware of just how far many bucks shift from their summer range to their fall range. It is part of the male deer social dynamic to group together into bachelor groups during the summer months. These bachelor groups give bucks a chance to establish their social hierarchy long before they have dangerously sharp antlers and their bodies are over-flowing with testosterone. However, these social groups can have a range far from where each buck lives the rest of the year. Once these bachelor groups break up right around antler velvet shedding time, each buck moves to his fall range. That distance is often several miles. What this means to the small-land hunter/manager is that the bachelor group you've been watching all summer may not be on your property come fall (and hunting season). In addition, "new" bucks will start showing up on your property right about the time that bachelor group broke up and vanished. These are bucks that were part of a bachelor group "somewhere else," but as summer turned to fall, they moved back to their fall range, which happens to be your property.

And that doesn't even begin to touch the issues of range-shifting and expansion that occur around the rut. Not only do almost all bucks greatly expand their range during the rut (usually, at least doubling the size of their range), but some bucks actually move to a completely new range during the 4-6 weeks of peak breeding, and these temporary "rut ranges" can be miles from their normal fall range.

What this all means is the small-and hunter/manager can see several sudden changes in buck population over the course of the summer, fall, and early winter. Bucks that were on the property in summer may suddenly vanish right around velvet shedding. However, new bucks may suddenly appear about the same time. Then as the rut approaches, bucks that normally spend their fall on adjoining properties begin expanding their range for the rut and begin crossing your property. In addition, some bucks will move from their normal fall range miles away and take up residence in and around your property during the rut. As the rut winds down, these rut range-shifters and expanders will suddenly vanish, and bucks that left the area during the rut will return. Then towards the end of deer season, bucks may begin transitioning to their winter range. All of these movements can produce some really confusing patterns in which bucks are using your property on any given date.

 

[BSK]

The below graph is one of the ways I track which bucks are using my place, when they were first captured on camera, and when the left (last time they were captured on camera that year/hunting season). On this graph, each older buck is represented by a horizontal red line. The first time the buck was photographed is represented by the red diamond on the left of the line and the last time he was photographed (or was killed) is the red diamond at the right of the line (note that dates are listed along the bottom of the graph, running from left to right). Some bucks' timeline lines go off the right side of the graph, meaning they were still being photographed right until the end of deer season. The timeline lines are stacked bottom to top with the first buck caught on camera at the bottom and the last buck photographed at the top. Notice that there are very distinct times when bucks suddenly appear or disappear. These are grouped around 1) antler velvet shedding and the shift from summer to fall range; 2) just before the rut; and 3) the end of the rut.

 

[Ski]

The below graph is one of the ways I track which bucks are using my place, when they were first captured on camera, and when the left (last time they were captured on camera that year/hunting season). On this graph, each older buck is represented by a horizontal red line. The first time the buck was photographed is represented by the red diamond on the left of the line and the last time he was photographed (or was killed) is the red diamond at the right of the line (note that dates are listed along the bottom of the graph, running from left to right). Some bucks' timeline lines go off the right side of the graph, meaning they were still being photographed right until the end of deer season. The timeline lines are stacked bottom to top with the first buck caught on camera at the bottom and the last buck photographed at the top. Notice that there are very distinct times when bucks suddenly appear or disappear. These are grouped around 1) antler velvet shedding and the shift from summer to fall range; 2) just before the rut; and 3) the end of the rut.

Although I don't graph them like that, I do keep tabs on each buck just like that. It helps me decide not only which bucks I can reasonably hunt, but also roughly when to hunt them. Some bucks are far too sporadic to predict, but some are like clockwork with their movements. A whole lot of my hunting strategy is overlaying data sheets of successive years for an individual buck to see if there are any trends in his timing/location that I can predictably exploit. At least every other year and sometimes every year it pans out and I tag a nice buck.

 

[BSK]

Although I don't graph them like that, I do keep tabs on each buck just like that. It helps me decide not only which bucks I can reasonably hunt, but also roughly when to hunt them. Some bucks are far too sporadic to predict, but some are like clockwork with their movements. A whole lot of my hunting strategy is overlaying data sheets of successive years for an individual buck to see if there are any trends in his timing/location that I can predictably exploit. At least every other year and sometimes every year it pans out and I tag a nice buck.

That's really fascinating to be able to exploit these traditional timings. I had an individual buck that, three years in a row, showed up on camera on the exact same date. He would show up Halloween night and then stay for the rut (until the end of November).

 

[Ski]

That's really fascinating to be able to exploit these traditional timings. I had an individual buck that, three years in a row, showed up on camera on the exact same date. He would show up Halloween night and then stay for the rut (until the end of November).

That was a very huntable buck! Those are exactly the bucks I have an eye out for. In recent years I've began paying attention to does as well because they come into estrus same time every year. Identifying a doe isn't as easy as a buck, but they're such homebodies that if you know where one was in heat last year then she'll be there in heat same time this year. I've been able to target several specific bucks because they have a knack for showing up right in time to catch her cycle, I'm guessing because he bred her last year.