Really good article on buck homes ranges

[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.