Really good article on buck homes ranges

[BSK]

Although most on here have educated themselves to the point most of this information is "old news," I still pulled a few tidbits that were helpful and interesting.

https://deerassociation.com/6-facts-you-really-need-to-know-about-buck-home-ranges-and-1-you-dont/

 

[Coker]

A good read for sure. Thanks for sharing.
"Keep This Fact: The mere act of hunting a buck, and how you hunt him, can change how he uses his home range. If he can predict you, he'll avoid you."
This is common sense but so many of us are predictable.

 

[Mr.Bro]

Kind of what I've thought is a buck in rut usually gets back to his cor area every 4 or 5 days.
Problem is how many of us have the patience or time to sit there all day every day waiting on him to come back around?.
The grass seams greener elsewhere and we move around to much.
Also interesting to think a spooked or wounded buck may come back to that same spot in just 3 or 4 days.
Good read .
Thanks.
.

 

[Ski]

Kind of what I've thought is a buck in rut usually gets back to his cor area every 4 or 5 days.
Problem is how many of us have the patience or time to sit there all day every day waiting on him to come back around?.

It's the only way I know of to predictably kill older bucks. Gotta embrace the boredom and ignore the constant doubts. If you are confident in your scouting then make a plan and hold to it. Might take ten minutes or ten days but he will show up.

Worst part of it is that older bucks by nature are recluses who prefer solitude, so they establish their tiny cores where they are least likely to encounter other deer. That means regularly sitting on stand day in day out never seeing a single deer.

 

[BSK]

Worst part of it is that older bucks by nature are recluses who prefer solitude, so they establish their tiny cores where they are least likely to encounter other deer. That means regularly sitting on stand day in day out never seeing a single deer.

Can't tell you how often mature buck encounters for us occur where there isn't any deer sign at all. We placed a stand there not because of sign, but because we found it was a "hole" in our hunting pressure.

 

[BSK]

For me, one of the most interesting findings in the compilation of studies was, no matter how big a buck's range gets during the rut, on any given day, bucks are only covering about 200 acres. And that was true during all phases of the season.

 

[DoubleRidge]

Great read. Thanks for sharing. My experiences and observations over the years align closely with this article. Some bucks do seem to disappear only to reappear later while other bucks never seem to shift. Several points in this article shed some light on this fact...but one of my favorite parts of the article says:

"Local habitat improvement – increasing the quality and quantity of forage and cover where you hunt – can potentially shrink average home-range sizes among bucks in your area".

Giving them everything they need can only help....Good stuff....interesting read.

 

[Ski]

Can't tell you how often mature buck encounters for us occur where there isn't any deer sign at all. We placed a stand there not because of sign, but because we found it was a "hole" in our hunting pressure.

That doesn't surprise me at all. A lot of the bucks I've hunted and killed didn't leave much of anything for sign. They all will hit a scrape but I'm not sure all of them rut. I've long believed if they breed at all it's because the doe goes to them rather than them searching for does.

I was closing in on a buck once and was sitting as close as I could to where I believed he was bedding. I was waiting for him to come in to bed down for the day, thinking I had beat him there. While waiting I heard some commotion off in the periphery and here came a pretty decent buck hounding a doe. She wasn't trying to get away but wasn't letting him climb on either. Next thing I knew the buck I was after stood up from a spot I wouldn't have even thought to look, bristled up ears back and walked a small semi-circle putting on a show of force, and it worked. The other buck and the obviously hot doe got the heck out of there. I shot the big guy just as he was fixing to lay back down. Turned out he was only 45yds away the entire time and I had no clue. He showed no interest in that hot doe at all beyond being visibly agitated by the disturbance. Middle of November but he wasn't having it. I think the other buck and doe were looking for an out of the way spot to lock down and just by happenstance stumbled into the big guy's bedroom.

 

[BSK]

Great read. Thanks for sharing. My experiences and observations over the years align closely with this article. Some bucks do seem to disappear only to reappear later while other bucks never seem to shift. Several points in this article shed some light on this fact...but one of my favorite parts of the article says:

"Local habitat improvement – increasing the quality and quantity of forage and cover where you hunt – can potentially shrink average home-range sizes among bucks in your area".

Giving them everything they need can only help....Good stuff....interesting read.

Agreed. Fascinating data.

 

[Mr.Bro]

It's the only way I know of to predictably kill older bucks. Gotta embrace the boredom and ignore the constant doubts. If you are confident in your scouting then make a plan and hold to it. Might take ten minutes or ten days but he will show up.

Worst part of it is that older bucks by nature are recluses who prefer solitude, so they establish their tiny cores where they are least likely to encounter other deer. That means regularly sitting on stand day in day out never seeing a single deer.

Makes it even harder when you got two good bucks on 2 farms 10 miles apart.

 

[DoubleRidge]

Can't tell you how often mature buck encounters for us occur where there isn't any deer sign at all. We placed a stand there not because of sign, but because we found it was a "hole" in our hunting pressure.

I believe it.....and there are certain places on our property I dont ever scout. Couldnt tell you if there is any buck sign or not? But these areas are known travel corridors where deer are going to be at some point or another...I'm not going in there stomping around looking for sign when Im already confident deer will use the area...especially during the rut.

 

[Ski]

Makes it even harder when you got two good bucks on 2 farms 10 miles apart.

That's a problem I wish I had this season. So far I've got nothing on the radar that interests me. I'm no stranger to eating tag soup but I usually at least have something to try for. Not this season .... yet.

 

[Mr.Bro]

Tag soup?
I've eaten it 7 of the last ten years. Used to it now.

 

[LenS]

Can't tell you how often mature buck encounters for us occur where there isn't any deer sign at all. We placed a stand there not because of sign, but because we found it was a "hole" in our hunting pressure.

In your opinion how big a "hole" is needed in the hunting pressure for the change? We talking 5 acres or 50? We have 3 of us hunting 300+ acres and there are areas which haven't been hunted in 20 years.

 

[BSK]

In your opinion how big a "hole" is needed in the hunting pressure for the change? We talking 5 acres or 50? We have 3 of us hunting 300+ acres and there are areas which haven't been hunted in 20 years.

Not much, maybe 20 acres. Just before we move stands around for the coming year, I run a program that looks at everywhere we've hunted over the last 3 years and produces a "topo map" of our hunting pressure. I look for holes or valleys in our hunting pressure. A stand is going to get moved into each hole, whether there is sign there or not. It is these stands that produce most of our mature buck sightings. However, that's pretty much all you're going to see - a mature buck moving around or past hunting pressure. There's no sign in these locations because there are no other deer to influence with sign. Bucks only burn the energy necessary to make rubs and scrapes where they interact with other deer.

 

[megalomaniac]

For me, one of the most interesting findings in the compilation of studies was, no matter how big a buck's range gets during the rut, on any given day, bucks are only covering about 200 acres. And that was true during all phases of the season.

sortof....

for me it wasn't the 200ac daily range, but the fact that the largest variation in those daily ranges is late rut. I would have expected the largest variation to be prerut or early rut.

At least that's what I have personally seen....

of course my view is skewed. I really pretty much just ignore deer that aren't 4.5, and don't really focus on younger bucks. I pick up the most new mature bucks in late October/ early November (pre rut). It is not common for me to pick up mature bucks in late November (late rut). Instead of them having smaller variances in daily range locations, it may simply be because they are already dead. Dead deer don't move from the neighbors onto me.

 

[BSK]

sortof....

for me it wasn't the 200ac daily range, but the fact that the largest variation in those daily ranges is late rut. I would have expected the largest variation to be prerut or early rut.

At least that's what I have personally seen....

of course my view is skewed. I really pretty much just ignore deer that aren't 4.5, and don't really focus on younger bucks. I pick up the most new mature bucks in late October/ early November (pre rut). It is not common for me to pick up mature bucks in late November (late rut). Instead of them having smaller variances in daily range locations, it may simply be because they are already dead. Dead deer don't move from the neighbors onto me.

The maximum number of mature bucks I will have on camera each year (suggesting the point of greatest range expansion) is always the last week of October and first week of November.

 

[megalomaniac]

The maximum number of mature bucks I will have on camera each year (suggesting the point of greatest range expansion) is always the last week of October and first week of November.

Exactly... which would mean the largest variance would not be late rut as they listed in the article, it would be prerut/ early rut.

 

[Andy S.]

"Keep This Fact: The mere act of hunting a buck, and how you hunt him, can change how he uses his home range. If he can predict you, he'll avoid you."
This is common sense but so many of us are predictable.

This x10,000. I wish I had a dollar for every time a hunter texted or said to me........ "my target buck was on camera in the thicket where I hunt, could have killed him if I had been there." When in reality, their target buck was most likely in the thicket visible during daylight because they WERE NOT IN THE THICKET WITH HIM. Same can be said for deer in general a lot of times. The reason the deer are on your camera at a certain time is because you/me are at home/work/etc (not in the woods with them).

 

[Coker]

Exactly... which would mean the largest variance would not be late rut as they listed in the article, it would be prerut/ early rut.

My thought is Pre rut/Early rut is when there is a larger population of doe coming into estrus and they are not hard to find. Late rut is when the bucks have to travel the most to find that last doe in estrus.

 

[BSK]

This x10,000. I wish I had a dollar for every time a hunter texted or said to me........ "my target buck was on camera in the thicket where I hunt, could have killed him if I had been there." When in reality, their target buck was most likely in the thicket visible during daylight because they WERE NOT IN THE THICKET WITH HIM. Same can be said for deer in general a lot of times. The reason the deer are on your camera at a certain time is because you/me are at home/work/etc (not in the woods with them).

Couldn't agree more. Two years ago, we had the most visible mature buck we've ever had on our property. He was in one of our food plots, late in the afternoon but easily in shooting light, EVERY afternoon. My daughter and I hunted him hard. However, he would always turn up in one of the plots we weren't hunting that day. Eventually it became obvious this was not random chance. He would visit whichever plots were NOT being hunted.

 

[.243 Deer]

I really enjoyed reading the article. Basically confirmed the other studies I've read.

Did anyone else see an article linked in that article where a buck traveled nearly 200 miles ?
Crazy how far deer can travel.

https://deerassociation.com/the-mysterious-adventure-of-an-exceptional-buck/

 

[TheLBLman]

Tag soup?
I've eaten it 7 of the last ten years. Used to it now.

There was a time I couldn't imagine going a year without killing at least "a" buck.
Now, I can't imagine taking a buck any less than what is an acceptable trophy buck to me,
even if that means I skip years in between buck kills.

I take enough female deer for the table, and don't really need a buck for the meat.
So guess that makes me a trophy buck hunter.

A trophy buck to me is a mature buck, preferably with a unique rack, although many the mature ones have smaller racks than the middle-aged bucks that get a pass.

In terms of hunting skill, a specific mature doe is often a greater "trophy" than a specific mature buck.

 

[Mr.Bro]

There was a time I couldn't imagine going a year without killing at least "a" buck.
Now, I can't imagine taking a buck any less than what is an acceptable trophy buck to me,
even if that means I skip years in between buck kills.

I take enough female deer for the table, and don't really need a buck for the meat.
So guess that makes me a trophy buck hunter.

A trophy buck to me is a mature buck, preferably with a unique rack, although many the mature ones have smaller racks than the middle-aged bucks that get a pass.

In terms of hunting skill, a specific estimate mature doe is often a greater "trophy" than a specific mature buck.

Yes sir . The older i get my standards get higher and higher.
One more buck in my life would be OK with me.

 

[BSK]

A trophy buck to me is a mature buck, preferably with a unique rack, although many the mature ones have smaller racks than the middle-aged bucks that get a pass.

As you well know, and I point out all the time, take a single property and monitor it over a number of years, and you're going to find that the range of possible antler scores for each age-class of buck 9above yearlings) will produce a range of scores exceeding 100 gross inches. We've seen mature bucks on my place that will score 50, and a few that will go 160+. I just got a new mature buck on cam this year that has a small 8-point rack that I don't think will break 80 gross.

 

[TheLBLman]

Yes, for every buck born with the antler genetics to become 140 by maturity, there is another born with only the potential to become something like 80.

However, we hunters skew the results actually seen because we tend to "take out" the best antlered younger bucks, leaving more of the below-averaged-antlered bucks to survive to maturity. It's called high-grading antlers, and I continue to believe it's the number one reason we don't see more higher scoring mature bucks.

We can trend the antler high-grading up or down over time, but sadly to me, much of what has been done in effort to produce more older bucks, has actually resulted in increased hunter high grading. Things like antler restrictions of a minimum 4 points on 1 side, etc., have actually increased this high-grading.

 

[Ski]

Yes, for every buck born with the antler genetics to become 140 by maturity, there is another born with only the potential to become something like 80.

I think it depends on area. Where I'm at in TN it would be hard to imagine a buck growing 130", never mind 140". Most 5yr old bucks i see are 100" give or take 10.

 

[BSK]

We can trend the antler high-grading up or down over time, but sadly to me, much of what has been done in effort to produce more older bucks, has actually resulted in increased hunter high grading. Things like antler restrictions of a minimum 4 points on 1 side, etc., have actually increased this high-grading.

BINGO!

And that's why I've been trying to "retrain" hunters in trophy or mature buck programs to harvest by age and not by antler characteristics. In the past, hunters thought the only way to identify and protect young bucks from harvest was through antler restrictions. They didn't believe the average hunter could learn to field-judge buck age through body confirmation. But this just isn't true. Anyone can learn to field-judge age well enough to not accidentally kill younger bucks the vast majority of the time.

Now that won't single-handedly solve the high-grading problem. We hunters still want to kill large-antlered bucks, hence we are going to pass up small-antlered mature bucks. No matter what we do, our own desires will produce some high-grading.

 

[BSK]

I think it depends on area. Where I'm at in TN it would be hard to imagine a buck growing 130", never mind 140". Most 5yr old bucks i see are 100" give or take 10.

Every location is going to have its own unique bell-curve distribution of scores. And that bell-curve distribution is going to be HIGHLY influenced by localized habitat and soil quality.

I've got a friend who manages a trophy program in some of the best habitat in North America (Illinois mixed ag-forest). Comparing average scores of 4 1/2 year-old bucks, his area was about 15 gross inches higher than my place (135 versus 120). But it wasn't that the entire bell-curve was shifted upwards, it is that his bell-curve is "truncated" on the left (low-end) side. In essence, he sees very few low-end mature bucks. I'm sure that is due to their much better habitat. In addition, although he had a bunch of bucks in the same range as what I see, his rare super top-end bucks are much higher scoring than my rare super top-end buck. Throw those numbers into the average and that jumps it up quite a bit.