One of the reasons I collect such an insane amount of data

[BSK]

Some people can experience things and simply mentally put the pieces of a pattern together. I am not one of those people. My brain needs to see the world reduced to numbers before I can see the patterns. One of the insane levels of data collection I go to with trail cameras is to record the date and exact time I get all bucks on camera. I also record the bucks relative age (breaking them down into yearlings [1 1/2], middle-aged [2 1/2 and 3 1/2], and mature [4 1/2+], simply because those three groups of bucks seem to display similar behavior patterns). I also record location, what the camera is pointed at (scrape, trail, road, food plot, etc.), and a general behavior of the buck (scraping, passing through, feeding, chasing, etc.). Because I record the exact time the buck first shows up on camera (and I check the times on the cameras every time I visit to ensure the time is accurate to the minute), I can compare the times against a sunrise and sunset table for the date to see if that camera encounter occurred during legal hunting daylight. Over time, I can graph out the number of buck camera events I get per day across the entire hunting season. What has appeared when doing so is some very distinct patterns in when bucks are most active on my property through the fall months. I have used this data many times to decide on which days I absolutely need to be hunting. I never use the data to exclude a hunting trip, but I definitely use the data long in advance to plan what days I better to be in the field.

However, when looking at the data from year to year, I've noticed differences in the annual patterns based on what the seasonal conditions have been. The most prominent has been acorn crops and drought. I see a very different pattern in peak buck activity dates in a good acorn year versus a droughty acorn-failure year. I have also observed massive changes in peak dates following major habitat changes (such as large-scale timbering). For instance, in 2019 the remnants of a hurricane road north up Kentucky Lake and devastated the hardwood forest on either side. My property took a real hit. Immediately after, we brought in a logging crew to not only clean up the downed timber but while they were at it, conduct the biggest logging operation we had ever experienced. We cut the timber off 1/5 of the property. That large-cale logging operation completely changed the patterns of buck usage on the property. For that reason, I analyze data pre-2019 versus post-2019.

To get to the point, below are two graphs of the average daily number of older (2 1/2+ year-old) bucks we've picked up on camera, post 2019, during adequate acorn years versus drought acorn-failure years. The first graph displays the total number of buck events caught on camera, 24-hours per day. When looking at this data, there isn't a huge difference between good acorn years and drought acorn-failure years, with the exception of how the entire pattern is delayed about a week in drought acorn-failure years. However, the important difference occurs when I only graph those older buck camera events that occurred during legal daylight (second graph). When looking at only legal daylight data it becomes clear that peak daylight older buck activity peaks much later in the year. In essence, in good acorn years, hunters need to be in the woods right at the start of Muzzleloader season to take advantage of the peak that occurs right at the end of October and beginning of November. In addition, there is a secondary peak around November 17. However, in a drought acorn-failure year, peak daylight activity occurs much later, with peak dates being around November 21, and then again around December 1.

I realize this data only applies to one property in one area. Unfortunately, no one collects data at this level, so I have no other properties to compare against. However, for a given property, data like this can be invaluable.

 

[DoubleRidge]

Very interesting and while the exact days your showing may not be the same for another property I bet a similar pattern exsist. I know in our area during non-drought good acorn years the first two weeks of November are the most productive. Where this year, following the drought and little to no acorns...things seem to be slightly delayed. For example..this morning I watched a 3½ year old 8pt tending a doe. He would not leave her side. She'd walk, he would walk, she'd stop and he would stop. He was laser focused on her. Calm but focused. Then later in the morning watched a 2½ year old 8pt pester 4 does that were feeding. They wanted nothing to do with him. So for us the rut hasnt been terrible, but less intense and spread out..or again, slightly delayed. Anyway, your data makes sense from our observations over the years....Thanks for sharing.

 

[BSK]

I use this same data to look at the times of the day I get buck events on camera. I've noticed that in good acorn years, older bucks are active in daylight much longer into the mornings, often seeing good movement through the 10 o'clock hour. But in an acorn failure year, daylight older buck activity is much more concentrated into just the first and last hour of daylight. Especially the last hour, making evening hunting more productive than morning hunting.

 

[DoubleRidge]

I use this same data to look at the times of the day I get buck events on camera. I've noticed that in good acorn years, older bucks are active in daylight much longer into the mornings, often seeing good movement through the 10 o'clock hour. But in an acorn failure year, daylight older buck activity is much more concentrated into just the first and last hour of daylight. Especially the last hour, making evening hunting more productive than morning hunting.

Very interesting and also echoes what we are experiencing this year. One 4½ year old has been taken off our place this year and it was in the last 30 minutes of daylight and from muzzleloader opener until now I have made multiple all day sits and most days the midday activity has been extremely slow...normally during the first two or three weeks of November we can occasionally catch mature bucks cruising mid-day. Not so much this year...as your data suggest, the majority of bucks 3½+ we've seen this year have been very early or late in the day.

 

[CrossVolle]

love this

 

[megalomaniac]

Everything about mature buck daylight activity is dictated by breeding first, then food.

Breeding is dictated by the does, and what i think is going on is the does are taking a bit longer to recover body weight from nursing without acorns, thereby delaying when they first ovulate.

Everything i have seen in person and on camera indicates the peak of breeding is going on right now on my farms, and normal peak breeding is Nov 22nd.

Not a huge sample size, but the 5 bucks and 3 does we have killed so far are about 5lbs less than average for their ages. None appear 'skinny', but none have had significant amounts of covering or internal fat

 

[Dumbluck]

This is about what I see. I don't keep data anywhere near like this but I do file all my photos per year and I go back to those photos during the season and scroll through past years. The trends your mapping are within the same time frame I'm seeing them. I'm primarily in south dickson county and north Williamson County. I am always pressuring my target bucks much earlier than the other hunters and I constantly hear that I'm expecting things to ramp up too early but I'm very successful in doing so. Typically if I don't kill an old deer early before the does start to really come in, it makes it much harder to capitalize. I grew up on farms and around cattle, our largest oldest bull would always start hanging with the cow that would come in heat days before the other younger bulls knew what was up. I see this with whitetail as well. The older mature bucks waste less energy searching and already know where to be and a big way, I think they do it is scrape activities. When I see an increase in mature bucks running scrapes and being aggressive at scrape sites. I know it's any day and I start hammering my spots. This year has been tough on data collection for me because scrape activity was nearly void on all 4 farms I hunt. I used past data to move cameras into locations that I knew a rut range shifter would move into. He came into the same area but didn't show up until about 10 days later than normal. I was able to put an arrow in him on the 12th. I then had another small farm that's basically a big thicket. I had a doe that was in heat in there last year the 23-25th I believed; conditions just happened to be perfect to hunt it the 23rd and I was able to arrow another super buck there that was crazed looking for a doe in that thicket. Past data and trends in my photo logs are a huge part of my hunting strategy.

 

[DMD]

This is about what I see. I don't keep data anywhere near like this but I do file all my photos per year and I go back to those photos during the season and scroll through past years. The trends your mapping are within the same time frame I'm seeing them. I'm primarily in south dickson county and north Williamson County. I am always pressuring my target bucks much earlier than the other hunters and I constantly hear that I'm expecting things to ramp up too early but I'm very successful in doing so. Typically if I don't kill an old deer early before the does start to really come in, it makes it much harder to capitalize. I grew up on farms and around cattle, our largest oldest bull would always start hanging with the cow that would come in heat days before the other younger bulls knew what was up. I see this with whitetail as well. The older mature bucks waste less energy searching and already know where to be and a big way, I think they do it is scrape activities. When I see an increase in mature bucks running scrapes and being aggressive at scrape sites. I know it's any day and I start hammering my spots. This year has been tough on data collection for me because scrape activity was nearly void on all 4 farms I hunt. I used past data to move cameras into locations that I knew a rut range shifter would move into. He came into the same area but didn't show up until about 10 days later than normal. I was able to put an arrow in him on the 12th. I then had another small farm that's basically a big thicket. I had a doe that was in heat in there last year the 23-25th I believed; conditions just happened to be perfect to hunt it the 23rd and I was able to arrow another super buck there that was crazed looking for a doe in that thicket. Past data and trends in my photo logs are a huge part of my hunting strategy.

Utilizing data like that to kill great bucks like you do, you need to consider changing your tndeer handle!Cool info!!

 

[Dumbluck]

Utilizing data like that to kill great bucks like you do, you need to consider changing your tndeer handle!Cool info!!

At the end of the day I still need dumbluck to make it happen. BSK is the data legend, I'm just an over obsessed deer hunter.

 

[JN]

I alway like when you post this information. T always seems to confirm things I have suspicions about what might be happening but don't take the time to document it like you do.

I do not go into that much detail but basically keep track of buck sightings and time of day and all the way up here in the NE part of the state and I have very similar data. I know there is usually two peaks of buck movement starting at the beginning of November going to end of November with usually the best time being usually between 11/1-11/15. Then it will usually drop off then another peak around the same time in dec. As life has gotten busier with kids and work my hunting time seems to get limited more and more each year. I have started using this data to try and time when I am going to focus my time to hunt.

Something else I noticed this year is that my places that I hunt that are high elevation (4000'+) started rutting about a week sooner then my place at lower elevation. I am not sure why because usually they are the same.

I have also never compared acorn years to movement but this is the first year in awhile where we did not have a good acorn crop. We had some trees that produced ok but not the abundance as we have had in previous years. I have noticed a significant decrease in deer sightings in my areas where acorns are the main food source in the fall. Enough decrease that I have not even hunted those areas this year. The deer in this area are all in the fields feeding and I need a good acorn crop to draw them away from the fields I don't have permission to hunt.

 

[BSK]

Everything about mature buck daylight activity is dictated by breeding first, then food.

Breeding is dictated by the does, and what i think is going on is the does are taking a bit longer to recover body weight from nursing without acorns, thereby delaying when they first ovulate.

Everything i have seen in person and on camera indicates the peak of breeding is going on right now on my farms, and normal peak breeding is Nov 22nd.

Not a huge sample size, but the 5 bucks and 3 does we have killed so far are about 5lbs less than average for their ages. None appear 'skinny', but none have had significant amounts of covering or internal fat

I agree completely with your summation Mega. And the patterns for a droughty acorn-failure year held up this year. Normally, rutting activity is really winding down by the 27th or 28 of November. However, as what happened in the previous drought year, it got really hot the last days of November. We had two bucks shot on the 29th, and activity was peaking.

 

[BSK]

I know there is usually two peaks of buck movement starting at the beginning of November going to end of November with usually the best time being usually between 11/1-11/15. Then it will usually drop off then another peak around the same time in dec. As life has gotten busier with kids and work my hunting time seems to get limited more and more each year. I have started using this data to try and time when I am going to focus my time to hunt.

Looking at my data, the "double peaks" are quite clear. I honestly don't know exactly why that happens, but we see it every year. In an acorn failure year, the two peaks are just shifted later.