Where did my buck go?

[Andy S.]

Sharing this research from MSU Deer Lab. This unorthodox factual data fascinates me.

 

[fairchaser]

Often we get a pic of a good buck several times and we believe we know his travel pattern and where he lives. But then we never see him during the season and come to understand that we only see a little piece of their travel puzzle. I've often thought I was just there on the wrong day. That buck could be miles and miles away. Thanks for sharing Andy.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Thanks for sharing, Andy. I love what MSU is doing.

 

[TheLBLman]

"Your" buck?
I thought that was "my" buck!

 

[Sasquatch Boogie Outdoors]

Was he brown, with 2 ears, and antlers???? I think that rascal came by stand in upper east tn. !!! That crazy boy gonna run himself to death.... thanks for the post. MSU checked full of interesting info.

 

[tree_ghost]

It never ceases to amaze me what these animals can and will do for survival. Very impressive!

 

[Spurhunter]

Guy that hunts the property next door to our lease in Fayette County killed a pretty unique buck a few years ago. He posted pics somewhere and somebody had trail cam pics of the same buck or his twin 13 miles away as the crow flies just 2 weeks earlier.

 

[TheLBLman]

Most hunters still do not believe just how far rutting bucks can frequently "range" in a 24-hr period. It is commonly over 2 miles in one direction, in one night, putting a buck many properties "off" where multiple hunters may believe that's "their" buck, often with each of these hunters on a different property, not aware other hunters on adjoining property are thinking same.

Then "their" buck gets killed 2 or 3 miles away by someone who had never seen it before, much less had a trail cam pic of the buck some other hunter thought he had "patterned".

 

[megalomaniac]

I've hunted the green dot areas south of Eagle Lake quite a bit. Almost bought into a club beside Paw Paw island when it was formed, but timber company retained all timber rights for 35 years when it sold.

used to be insane deer densities there before the huge flood a couple years ago.

 

[Heath423]

That's for the post. Interesting to see those wild travel routes as a reminder. Never stop learning folks.

 

[Ski]

Thanks for sharing, Andy. I love what MSU is doing.

I second that on both points! Thanks for posting and man how awesome is it to have a program like MSU? They study this stuff and then freely share it with the public. They are an asset to the deer hunting community.

 

[Antler Daddy]

That is wild.

 

[Headhunter]

One of the reasons when I hear hunters say "Hunt the wind, I have to have this or that wind to hunt this spot, etc", I always ask, if you know that why don't you kill every deer you want since you know better than the deer where they are traveling, whether it be to an area or leaving an area. Deer what they want, when they want, and they can for sure travel a long ways, I think so many times when someone thinks a spot has been killed by overhunting, which I believe for sure happens and I am sure I have killed spots by overhunting them, but I believe deer much of the time just use a different area and if you don't have access to it or you do have access but you don't hunt that area, then you don't see the deer. I know there are places, very few IMO, that you are wasting your time if you hunt with the wrong wind, well if you don't adjust to the wind when you get to the spot, but I have never looked at the weather forecast and thought I could not hunt an area or a spot because of predicted wind direction, not once. I cannot even remember all the times I have been told, "the wind is wrong, don't that spot or that stand", only to go hunt it and kill a deer, several times kill a great buck. I love the look on their face when they realize they don't know where the deer are going to travel even though they thought they knew better than the deer what they were going to do. Most of the time, if you look at the forecast and get to where you are hunting, just like the predictions for rain, snow, warm, cold, etc. the predicted wind direction is wrong anyways.

And I am sure I have spooked deer, because of the wind, it happens. But I do I know how many deer you will see or kill if you are not hunting because you think the wind is wrong.

 

[AT Hiker]

Wild stuff for sure.

Slightly off topic but this reminds me of the Wyoming Mule Deer doe that travels almost 250 miles one way during her migration, tough critters.

 

[jag1]

Hail State!

 

[JCDEERMAN]

One of the reasons when I hear hunters say "Hunt the wind, I have to have this or that wind to hunt this spot, etc", I always ask, if you know that why don't you kill every deer you want since you know better than the deer where they are traveling, whether it be to an area or leaving an area.

It's not necessarily that you know where the deer is coming from or where they will be going. It is more about positioning yourself on a terrain feature, knowing how the wind and thermals interact....and knowing how how deer typically utilize the terrain. And then sitting there knowing the odds are in your favor IF the deer happens to come through there. Obviously, you have to be lucky the deer comes through there and most times, you are not or can't capitalize on the moment.

As the original post exemplifies, the deer may be miles away, but if the deer is in the vicinity and happens to come by, odds are you may be afforded the opportunity at a shot.

 

[BSK]

I love GPS collar studies! Not only do they teach many, many new things, but they constantly corroborate ideas I proposed many years ago, but those ideas were somewhat scoffed at at the time. Now it is VERY clear many deer have "seasonal" ranges, and these seasonal ranges can be separated by significant distances. In addition, this GPS data often shows these seasonal ranges are traditional, in that the same deer uses the same distant areas each year at the same time of year.

 

[BSK]

It's not necessarily that you know where the deer is coming from or where they will be going. It is more about positioning yourself on a terrain feature, knowing how the wind and thermals interact....and knowing how how deer typically utilize the terrain. And then sitting there knowing the odds are in your favor IF the deer happens to come through there. Obviously, you have to be lucky the deer comes through there and most times, you are not or can't capitalize on the moment.

Exactly. Sadly, I'm not smart enough to figure out why deer do the things they do, but many years of observation have taught me - in ridge-and-hollow terrain - deer prefer to use certain terrain features to move across the landscape. I simply "hunt the odds." I try to get stands up on as many "preferred" terrain features as possible, and then rotate through as many of those different locations as possible over the course of a season. On any given day, I use wind direction and "gut feeling" to choose which stand I will hunt. And by wind direction, I mean I eliminate stand sites for that hunt that would produce the lowest odds of success from that stand. For example, if a stand is located to cover a low spot in a long narrow north-south oriented ridge, I don't want a wind blowing north or south along the ridge-top. That wind direction wouldn't guarantee I wouldn't see a deer from that stand, but it would certainly lower the odds.

In ridge-and-hollow hardwoods, I have NEVER patterned a buck to the point I feel strongly he will walk through a particular location on a particular day. They just aren't that patternable in that habitat/terrain. So I just play the highest odds locations, and try to move around a lot to keep deer from patterning me. Hopefully, if I roll the dice enough, they will eventually come up all sixes.

 

[sc8point]

Our Grandson used to talk to the members of a hunting club that leased land next to a farm he hunted when he lived up in Kentucky. They had a 200 class nontypical that they had a bunch of photos during the summer and fall. During the pre-rut they got video of that buck getting whipped by a bigger bodied buck with a smaller rack. the bigger buck was killed by a high school kid about 15 miles away.

 

[BSK]

Our Grandson used to talk to the members of a hunting club that leased land next to a farm he hunted when he lived up in Kentucky. They had a 200 class nontypical that they had a bunch of photos during the summer and fall. During the pre-rut they got video of that buck getting whipped by a bigger bodied buck with a smaller rack. the bigger buck was killed by a high school kid about 15 miles away.

I forget who it was on this site, but years ago they emailed me a picture of the first 170+ buck in velvet that I had ever seen in our county. He had several velvet pictures of that buck in summer, but as soon as velvet shed, the buck vanished (the classic time-frame for summer-to-fall range shifts). later that year, a juvenile hunter killed that buck, if I remember, 5 miles as the crow flies from where that buck had been spending the summer.

 

[Racknquack]

Very cool. I like the collar studies as well. Thanks

 

[Headhunter]

It's not necessarily that you know where the deer is coming from or where they will be going. It is more about positioning yourself on a terrain feature, knowing how the wind and thermals interact....and knowing how how deer typically utilize the terrain. And then sitting there knowing the odds are in your favor IF the deer happens to come through there. Obviously, you have to be lucky the deer comes through there and most times, you are not or can't capitalize on the moment.

As the original post exemplifies, the deer may be miles away, but if the deer is in the vicinity and happens to come by, odds are you may be afforded the opportunity at a shot.

Kind of agree, but some of my best bucks I killed, I was in the absolute worst place if you considered the wind and the terrain features. One guy was willing to bet a years pay, not only would I never kill a deer from that tree no matter how high I got or how hid I was no matter if I hunted from the ground or up in a stand but that I would never kill a buck and for sure not good one. His thought process was dead on when it came to wind thermals and the layout of the land in that bottom. That tree became one of the best I ever hunted til the land was sold. When I had that spot to hunt, I would hunt that tree every single time I went, no matter the conditions. Guy did not believe me til he hunted it and killed a good buck.

Sorry, I rarely pay attention to the wind. I hunt as often as I can and I watch, and move around when I think I need to til I get lucky and get a chance to kill a deer.

The tree I hunt in KY, is the only place I hunt on that farm. I hunt it every single time I am there, wind direction makes zero difference. Deer come from most any direction. Deer are almost never spooked, well the ones I see, I am sure some number of deer have to wind me and never show up, that happens to all who deer hunt. It is not in the best spot when it comes to thermals, but it is in the best spot to hide to some extent and for sure to see. Been one of the absolute best spots I have ever hunted.

 

[Ski]

Well you must smell better than me because if I don't pay attention to where my stinch is going, and it crosses big boy's nose, then I never see him again and that spot is usually dead for days if not weeks. Heck, even when I do everything right, if I hunt the stand too often it quickly drops off from being a good spot to a spot the deer avoid. I guess they can smell not only where I'm at but also where I've been, and they don't like it. I must smell like a stone cold killer!

 

[BSK]

Well you must smell better than me because if I don't pay attention to where my stinch is going, and it crosses big boy's nose, then I never see him again and that spot is usually dead for days if not weeks. Heck, even when I do everything right, if I hunt the stand too often it quickly drops off from being a good spot to a spot the deer avoid. I guess they can smell not only where I'm at but also where I've been, and they don't like it. I must smell like a stone cold killer!

I have seen set-ups like the one Headhunter describes. They exist. However, they are quite rare, and usually, finding such a location is more an accident than anything else.

But again, those types of set-ups are rare. For the majority of hunters, the more they hunt a stand, on average, the lower the older buck sightings become. Tons of research available on this topic.

 

[TheLBLman]

. . . . those types of set-ups are rare. For the majority of hunters, the more they hunt a stand, on average, the lower the older buck sightings become.

Agree with BSK, but there is a somewhat seasonal exception to this:

During the rut.

When bucks are roaming, with little on their minds beyond finding an estrous doe, they often seem oblivious to humans and other dangers.

There are times you can almost do jumping jacks on your stand and even older bucks just seem little alarmed.

Timing is everything, as in rut timing, including with some these spots like Headhunter has described.

Just to clarify, I'm talking mainly about travel routes used by older bucks, rather than feeding or bedding areas. In many these "spots" the deer density may be relatively low compared to nearby areas where deer bed and/or feed.

Bucks are simply taking the "easiest" route of least resistance between doe families and those doe family's preferred feeding & bedding areas (which are often outside the normal range of these bucks, except during the rut). On these roaming excursions, the bucks can be pretty oblivious to danger.

 

[Ski]

I have seen set-ups like the one Headhunter describes. They exist. However, they are quite rare, and usually, finding such a location is more an accident than anything else.

But again, those types of set-ups are rare. For the majority of hunters, the more they hunt a stand, on average, the lower the older buck sightings become. Tons of research available on this topic.

I was mostly being facetious. Bad attempt at humor I guess.

 

[Bone Collector]

Agree with BSK, but there is a somewhat seasonal exception to this:

During the rut.

I've gotten to the point where during the rut I do not pay much attention to wind. Usually the buck is chasing the doe, the doe isn't paying attention because she is trying to watch him, he is fixated on her, and it doesn't matter as much.

 

[Andy S.]

I've gotten to the point where during the rut I do not pay much attention to wind. Usually the buck is chasing the doe, the doe isn't paying attention because she is trying to watch him, he is fixated on her, and it doesn't matter as much.

Same here. If my time is limited (like always), the rut is in full swing, the temps are favorable and I have a gun in my hand, I am hunting my best spot and climbing to keep the wind in my face, or have a cross wind. If I am hunting with a bow, more consideration is given to the wind.

 

[BSK]

I've gotten to the point where during the rut I do not pay much attention to wind. Usually the buck is chasing the doe, the doe isn't paying attention because she is trying to watch him, he is fixated on her, and it doesn't matter as much.

I'm amazed at how rarely I've shot a buck actually chasing a doe. I've certainly done it, but of all the mature bucks I've killed, only one was actively chasing a doe at the time. I always kill mature bucks when their "cruising" looking for does. Or maybe it's the type of hunting set-ups I choose? Perhaps I choose stand sites that are far more likely to see bucks travelling between doe groups.

 

[TheLBLman]

I always kill mature bucks when their "cruising" looking for does. Or maybe it's the type of hunting set-ups I choose? Perhaps I choose stand sites that are far more likely to see bucks travelling between doe groups.

Definitely.
Along with stage of rut as well.