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Really good article on buck homes ranges

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BSK

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Nashville, TN
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.

deerassociation.com

6 Facts You Need to Know About Buck Home Ranges, and 1 You Don't

We know almost too much about buck home ranges. But when you filter down to these 6 facts, you can assemble a practical strategy that's useful for hunting.
deerassociation.com deerassociation.com
 
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.
 
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.
.
 
Mr.Bro said:
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?.
Click to expand...

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.
 
Ski said:
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.
Click to expand...
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
BSK said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
DoubleRidge said:
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.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Fascinating data.
 
Ski said:
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.
Click to expand...
Makes it even harder when you got two good bucks on 2 farms 10 miles apart.
 
BSK said:
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.
Click to expand...
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.
 

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