When do the bucks show where you hunt? All season or ?

[burmjohn]

When do the bucks show where you hunt? 

 

I find that most of the bucks we see during bow/rife do not show up until right before the rut.  And these bucks are ones we have not seen ever before on the camera's.   My area seems to hold a lot of does, which I'm fine with, because where there are does there will be bucks eventually.

 

How about your area?

 

[WNYBuckHunter]

All season for me. We start having the non resident bucks showing up around this time.

[orion]

Halloween.

[NFA-ADK]

Usually right after I leave. 

[HuntOrBeHunted]

Bigger boys always come out later when the rut season hits for me. I think having a million doe around so the bucks seem to find them every year. Couple smaller ones out poking around but nothing to brag about.

 

 

Good luck all I smell hunting season in the air.. Wait, That might be a pork roast lol !!!

[NYbuck50]

locals through 3rd week in oct. after halloween i start seeing "new deer"

[gfdeputy2]

Usually right after I leave. 

Exactly

[dbHunterNY]

right now into bow season we can have random bucks cruising around.  by second week of bow season into first week of gun season we find a particular buck hang around an area for 2-3 days as a doe on the property approaches and goes into estrous.  by last week of early bow season young bucks are going crazy chasing everything around.  I don't pay attention though unless the buck has her undivided attention and following her every move.  i'll change stands or sections of cover until I do.  i'll then usually see every younger buck at least a couple times due to the craziness.  if I didn't change things up I'd be in a state of ignorant bliss thinking so many doe were "hot" when really the ones farthest along are hunkered down in cover with more mature but usually more dominant bucks (bigger 2.5 or the rare 3.5 yr old).  there's so many doe compared to bucks around here that the phases of the rut can seem almost non-existent if you hunt one spot and wait for a doe you see to come into estrous.  first few days of gun season I may see those bigger bucks as they get flushed through funnels and pinch points by the chasing phase and hunting pressure.  then it's like mid October again through gun season up until about thanksgiving.  after that if you're not on a late season food source you're not hunting but watching the woods, as the late season food sources have the most doe in a small area and potentially out in the open.  there's so many doe around that they're coming into estrous all over a spread out area and it's almost impossible to find the right one as they stick to cover and are harder to observe as a whole.  that's my experience of where and when the bucks show up which is mostly about the doe in my opinion.  seems obvious but most hunters I feel hunt a buck one step ahead, when they should be hunting what he's after.

 

 

[phade]

I think hunter tactics play a larger role in this than most people think. Sure ranges come into play, but most people outhunt themselves. They take themselves out of the game early or make silly mistakes (learning opportunities nevertheless). These are also the same people that think the rut is the only time to kill a mature buck or any buck for that matter.

 

Bucks don't simply materialize out of thin air. They have to exist somewhere. Why more hunters don't think about it that way is mindboggling.

Edited September 22, 2014 by phade

[A Sportsman]

I agree Phade. But ill also admit to thinking that way too often myself. Over the years I never seem to see big bucks in mid october. Then Come early november they seem to just materialize. I think its the hunting pressure. For the record, I don't have any non-pressured spots to hunt on long island. Then again, maybe I'm not getting close enough to their bedding areas. I know one thing, I have plenty to learn still.

[ants]

Most of the bigger boys I see, around me, start to show around  late Oct. but I see bucks almost  all season.  

[njg0621]

If I don't kill the buck I'm after in bow season I usually don't see them in rifle.

[burmjohn]

A lot of people also don't understand that bucks can have a 6+ mile range during the rut. Which is why you can see bucks you have never seen before, and might never see again. Before and after the rut they can have a pretty big range too.

[G-Man]

my resident bucks are still in summer patterns, i usually get bucks end of september that are being dispursed by older/or more agressive resident bucks,or yearlings kicked out by mom . I have seen a lot more buck after really knocking doe numbers down and am as close to a 2or 3 to one ratio now.. to maintain that ratio i take 10 doe(not anterless but doe) a year. i think greater competition for a doe causes bucks to really move while searching.

[crappyice]

Where i am, they leave by September 30 and return around Christmas.

[ATbuckhunter]

I get most of mine starting the third week of october, but I usually have a few around all year. 

[sweet old bill]

last week of Oct seems to be the start of the pre rut, the bucks are ready and doe's are not ready...so we see more bucks on the move at all times of the day...

[AdirondackBH]

My property holds a number of young bucks and a healthy doe herd. Buck to doe ratio is almost perfect. Every single year we have two to three mature bucks show up in November and stick around post season.

[dirt_a_KISS]

I usually find they start coming out right around halloween, the first week in november.  However, I've notice the big guys come out after i harvested my first bow buck lol.