BSK
Well-Known Member
Much higher percentage of those. I would have to go year by year, but I bet 30% of the annual buck inventory are never photographed in food plots.
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More useless data
- Thread starter BSK
- Start date
Seems to give scientific credence to the "same place same time" theory. And that is NOT useless data. Two of the biggest bucks on my wall were taken using that tactic. I've noticed it's not necessarily applicable to individual bucks. I have one spot where I almost always see a mature buck on the afternoon of Oct. 30. It seems to be more site specific than buck specific.
DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
I've studied this theory and find it fascinating....one article says if you get a picture of a mature buck in the daylight...mark that day....hunt 3 days before and 3 days after that day the following year and your odds will go up significantly.....so after reading this article I looked back through three years worth of pics and did see that there may be something to this....but at the same time I also noticed it was more site specific than buck specific....so I'm still chewing on it.....but again.... fascinating conversation and I agree....this type of data is very useful.
Thelonegoose
Well-Known Member
I am just waiting on BSK to publish a book that includes all of his data. It would probably be the first TNDeer best seller.
Yes I do find it to be more site/date specific. That depends on the deer I think. If the deer is still alive, chances are good he'll be there same time same place. If not, I've noticed another buck will take his place. I've had this tactic work 3 times in the last 2yrs, and actuallykilled two of the bucks. The third was just out of bow range but sure enough showed up nonetheless. All three times it was same day, no more than 2hrs difference. It feels like cheating.
I'd buy a copy or two
BSK
Well-Known Member
I definitely don't want anyone to think the data for my place applies to other places. It is highly site specific. What I'm trying to point out by posting it is the value of data collection. So often I get asked, "Why do you collect all that data? What good is it?" Well, I'm trying to show that. Detailed data collected over a number of years can display patterns in local deer behavior, that if noticed and capitalized on, can make someone a more successful hunter. I can promise you, if my time to hunt were limited, I would be focusing on hunting around those dates where peaks in activity keep showing up year after year. That's just common sense.
BSK
Well-Known Member
I've certainly mulled that over.
DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
Again...fascinating...you mention site and day specific...I agree....of the three years worth of pics I reviewed there were a couple of days in the first week of November that seem to be the first "daylight pic days" that I'd capture a mature buck at a particular site...then last year I looked back at the days in November where we actually killed a buck....and there's zero doubt over the years there are some days that are more successful or repeatable than others....and also there is no doubt the bell curve peaks toward the end of the second week November on our property...for daytime pictures collected as well as kills.....with that said....if someone was plotting my usage of vacation days at work over the last ten years....they would absolutely see a pattern of vacation days used in the first two weeks of November....with a few used in third week as well.
Why not? Deer in your area are still whitetails, and while your dates and stand sites differ from other properties, the general tendency of the species remains.
Point being, deer at your place fall into a macro, long term pattern. Who knows why? Could be photoperiod, estrous dates, learned behavior, etc. Regardless, the pattern of behavior, if mirrored in other places, indicates a species wide trend.
Highlighting the trend could be the missing piece of the puzzle a hunter needs to pin a buck down. Some folks enjoy sitting in nature, waiting to capitalize on a chance encounter. But some of us like playing the game of chess and actively tighten the noose on a specific buck until we have him on the ground. Info like you posted is likely relative to any whitetail woods, albeit varying specifics.
DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
I absolutely agree with this statement....but I'll admit that I have got to improve on my data keeping....I have older notes on paper, notes on phone, some pics stored on desktop computer, some pics on tablet, several pics saved on phone....so I have notes and data....I've just got to find better ways to manage it.....I've honestly considered buying a laptop that's dedicated to nothing but wildlife and land management....having one place to store everything.
Again...fascinating...you mention site and day specific...I agree....of the three years worth of pics I reviewed there were a couple of days in the first week of November that seem to be the first "daylight pic days" that I'd capture a mature buck at a particular site...then last year I looked back at the days in November where we actually killed a buck....and there's zero doubt over the years there are some days that are more successful or repeatable than others....and also there is no doubt the bell curve peaks toward the end of the second week November on our property...for daytime pictures collected as well as kills.....with that said....if someone was plotting my usage of vacation days at work over the last ten years....they would absolutely see a pattern of vacation days used in the first two weeks of November....with a few used in third week as well.
Yeah its uncanny. First I heard of it was an article written by Don Higgins. I never gave it much thought for a long time, and that was a mistake. One particular spot I killed my target buck on Oct. 30 at 3:30pm. Sat in same stand the following year and got my new target buck on Oct. 30 at 5:45pm. He followed seemingly step for step where the other buck walked.
That's when I realized it was as much site specific as it was buck specific. In this particular spot, it's a trail coming from a mature buck bed. The bed has been used my entire life by big bucks, so I'm sure that skews things a bit. However, I've hunted that spot a hundred times and not seen a single deer, so figuring out that my odds at a big buck there on Oct. 30th afternoon was a eureka moment.
DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
Same here. I've really got to organize things so I can begin gleaning patterns like BSK does. His posts inspire me to do it for sure.
DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
Your date of October 30 is extremely interesting....we run three cameras on one property....and there is one camera (site) that I expect to get a mature buck picture within plus or minus 2 days of October 30th.....very interesting stuff.
And I'll edit my post to say that it doesn't always happen every year...but many times year to year it's repeatable....for me very late October...last few days...it's definitely the beginning of the bell curve of day time opportunity...with the bell curve going downward third week of November.....dang I've got to get all my notes and pictures in one location to manage them better....this thread has motivated me.
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JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
Same here. I have so much data, it just needs to be managed properly. I run 19 cameras on 650 acres and take notes after every hunt generally consisting of where I was sitting, wind direction, wind speed, temperature, # of deer seen and at what times they were seen, their demeanor and what they were doing, where they came from and where they were headed. Also document a "significant event" of when other hunters saw an older buck.
It's the spot on the property that is consistently hot on Oct. 30th. I have a couple other spots that are good for stretches of time, but that's the only one confined to a single day. I'd sure like to have a folder full of spots like that!
JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
I'm prone to place my cameras in dual purpose locations, meaning they are not only in high traffic locations in heavy cover, but there is an old logging road and I'll add a licking branch….or make a scrape under a branch and pee in it. Same for a field edge where deer typically use for entry or exit. I'll put a t-post in the ground and wire a sapling to it for them to utilize as a mock scrape / licking branch. If they don't use the sapling, no harm/no foul…they were still there and got photographed. Just about all my cameras have a scrape in front of it. Several though will be on specific crossings. I've been wanting to place cameras over watering holes during the rut to see how much those are used because that's the only source of water on all our property…I just can't talk myself into taking those cameras off scrapes
- they are just so productive.
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BSK
Well-Known Member
As I've described many times, we get a lot of "rut range shifter/expander" bucks show up on our property at the end of October and into early November. I had one particular buck that was such a buck - no pictures of him until just before the rut and then he would only hang around for about a month during peak breeding. I got him on camera 3 years in a row. And in all 3 years, he first showed up on camera the exact same date: Oct. 31.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Completely agree with DoubleRidge and Ski. Some hunters like the "surprise of the unknown." And that's great. I do get it. But for me, it's the "figuring the older bucks out" that is the real thrill. Like Ski put it, "actively tighten the noose" through information. Just another example of how "to each their own" is so true in all facets of life.
