Buck Range

[Al Bundy]

Its looking like the buck I got this year was on my trail cam, 2 miles by car from where I shot it. Even further as the deer walks. Not quite certain but they look very very close.  I would not have thought they travel quite that distance.    Anyone seeing ranges this distance?

[moog5050]

We had one on cam this year shot by a hunter 5 miles away only a couple of days later.  No doubt it was the same deer.  They can move.

[Buckmaster7600]

My good buddy lives 2.5 miles as a bird flies from me and every year that one of us gets a mature buck we we will both have pictures of him. This has been going on since we started using trail cams 10 years ago. Often times one of us will have pics during the summer and the other one will kill him, it has been that way for the last 3 years anyways.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Some bucks travel a long way this time of the year. I know of one buck that I had on camera that was killed around 5 miles away from the camera site.

 

Do some searches on GPS studies on deer. Lots of good info out there.

[G-Man]

2.5 miles common traveling here...

[Lawdwaz]

Do you think they'll return to their "home" range after breeding season?

IF they survived the past few weeks?

Edited December 8, 2015 by Lawdwaz

[phade]

I think most studies show bucks that range go on "forays" that last 48-72 hours before returning to their home range/core range. They do it a few times during the Oct-Dec time period.

 

The buck that I had on camera Moog talked about was solid. Beautiful buck, and a few days later that buck was shot busted up (no tines were busted on the pic) 5 miles west, across a major highway.

[chrisw]

Do you think they'll return to their "home" range after breeding season?

IF they survived the past few weeks?

It depends if there home range is also a good wintering area. Some areas I have seen this, others I'll have pictures of deer extremely often all summer, then they shed velvet and a few will not be on camera ever again until the following year during the spring /summer. I've also found the sheds to deer I've gotten pictures of miles from where they were so photogenic early in the season. On the flipside, I have a wintering area that I'll usually get 8-10 sheds out of every spring and I won't have any pictures of most of them... You just never know.

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[nyslowhand]

I think most studies show bucks that range go on "forays" that last 48-72 hours before returning to their home range/core range. They do it a few times during the Oct-Dec time period.

 

 

..... others I'll have pictures of deer extremely often all summer, then they shed velvet and a few will not be on camera ever again until the following year during the spring /summer..... 

These are the typical SOPs of the mature bucks in the area of 8F I hunt.

 

Once the summertime fun & crizing is broken up for the bachelor groups, the more mature bucks seem to always return to their secure, core home-base. Typically for my area, about the end of October I begin to see strange bucks I've never gotten cam photos of before and then disappear again. Also, unfortunately some of the summertime regulars are never seen again either! Not to say that they aren't still in the approximate vicinity. It's been my experience that all of these rutting forays seem to be based around the BBs home-bases. My little micro hunting world is only part of a semi-isolated area of ~6-700 acres, but I can see a BB foraying several miles if the terrain/habitat allows it. Biggest factor prompting these long distance forays is probably the buck to doe ratio in the general area of the BB's home-base. Sort of akin to the old fable about the old and young bulls standing on the hill viewing all the cows in the field below them. When the young bull say; Let's run down and...... You know how the rest of the fable goes!

[G-Man]

One of the reasons I don't get excited by summer buck sightings, they can and do have different summmer, fall, and winter ranges... but if you see good bucks in the fall and they survive chances are they will be back in the area following fall

[Al Bundy]

Good stuff here. I knew they roamed, but I thought they stayed closer to home than this.  It somewhat concerns me as I saw very few does this year where I had him on the trail cam.  Hoping he didn't have to go outside a normal range due to lack of does. HIs body was somewhat small for his rack. I am guessing he was looking hard for a doe and his body went downhill from it. Ill get the trail cam photos this weekend and do a side by side comparison.

[Jeremy K]

We will have typically the same deer activity on our cameras during summer up until the farmer cuts the corn then it's outsville til next year for any buck spotting ,either in person or on camera.

[nyslowhand]

..... HIs body was somewhat small for his rack. I am guessing he was looking hard for a doe and his body went downhill from it.......

Experts claim a buck can lose up to 25% of his weight due to his rutting activities. Do the math, a BB may not look much bigger than a mature doe after the rut.

[wheelieman]

In think the core area of a mature buck doesnt change very much, Its the same 1 Sq mile it was born in, the first couple of years i believe they travel but then always come home to an area that has good doe bedding, He stays close all year and when the rut comes he doesnt have to travel at all, I think he will defend his core area, But as far as traveling they just dont do it, I have a friend who has killed 4 bucks all over 160" and many more that arent far from that, Every one of them he has had on camera for atleast 2 years, In the same woodlot he kills them in, never are they far from where he got his first sighting, His buck last year was shot right down his back 3 years earlier a 1/4 mile away from where he ended up killing it,, The reason we know its the same buck is because the slug hole through his ear and the scar down his back was put there buy him, When he shot at him in a deer drive when he was a 115" 10 point, after 10 years of data im convinced a 11/2 and 2/12 are roamers any thing older just stays put and doesnt move unless you kick him in the ass, jmho

[phade]

In think the core area of a mature buck doesnt change very much, Its the same 1 Sq mile it was born in, the first couple of years i believe they travel but then always come home to an area that has good doe bedding, He stays close all year and when the rut comes he doesnt have to travel at all, I think he will defend his core area, But as far as traveling they just dont do it, I have a friend who has killed 4 bucks all over 160" and many more that arent far from that, Every one of them he has had on camera for atleast 2 years, In the same woodlot he kills them in, never are they far from where he got his first sighting, His buck last year was shot right down his back 3 years earlier a 1/4 mile away from where he ended up killing it,, The reason we know its the same buck is because the slug hole through his ear and the scar down his back was put there buy him, When he shot at him in a deer drive when he was a 115" 10 point, after 10 years of data im convinced a 11/2 and 2/12 are roamers any thing older just stays put and doesnt move unless you kick him in the ass, jmho

Killed 5 miles away. That is alot of asskicking.

[nyslowhand]

..... im convinced a 11/2 and 2/12 are roamers any thing older just stays put and doesnt move unless you kick him in the ass, jmho

Pretty sure those young'uns don't roam or relocate by their own choice. The BBs won't tolerate them and will either pushed or chased them out of the their kingdom!

[chas0218]

We had one on the camera in August then shot 150 yards from the camera. It depends if the doe are there, we don't push our property, it is seldom that we even walk the perimeter during deer season to and from stands that's it. We tend to have "regulars" on the cameras and new comers during regular season. Lots of people say we need to kill doe off our property for the health of the herd and to bring in more bucks but I am happy killing 135" 10 points. The best is they don't go far (deer on our property), my neighbor also only had 1 photo of this buck but was in July and wasn't sure of the size of his rack.

 

I think it is the same deer and is the only picture we have of him up until he was killed.

 

[chrisw]

We had one on the camera in August then shot 150 yards from the camera. It depends if the doe are there, we don't push our property, it is seldom that we even walk the perimeter during deer season to and from stands that's it. We tend to have "regulars" on the cameras and new comers during regular season. Lots of people say we need to kill doe off our property for the health of the herd and to bring in more bucks but I am happy killing 135" 10 points. The best is they don't go far (deer on our property), my neighbor also only had 1 photo of this buck but was in July and wasn't sure of the size of his rack.

I think it is the same deer and is the only picture we have of him up until he was killed.

I think you might be surprised how far your deer travel unbeknownst to you. But every area is different. There are a lot of factors that determine why and when deer travel. I've been running cameras for 10 years all over CNY and its rare to see a specific buck on camera regularly from August through December in my experiences anyway. During November and December I ALWAYS get different bucks that stop in for a day or two and never seen again. But like you said if you have a great piece of private land with everything they need/want that may cut their travels way down too...

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[Doc]

Quite an interesting thread. Basically, it all says what I often have thought. Don't be picking out a spot on the wall when your trail-cam snaps pictures of monster deer. It sounds to me that whenever a deer feels like taking a hike (especially during rut) even if you've raised an award winning food plot, he's history. You need to be hoping for some other random traveling buck from somewhere else to happen to accidently stumble along in front of your bow or rifle on one of his random hikes. Once again hunting seems to be simply an accidental condition of luck to a large extent.... right?

[landtracdeerhunter]

Just when I thought to have figured out these white tail, they throw you a curve ball, LOL.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Quite an interesting thread. Basically, it all says what I often have thought. Don't be picking out a spot on the wall when your trail-cam snaps pictures of monster deer. It sounds to me that whenever a deer feels like taking a hike (especially during rut) even if you've raised an award winning food plot, he's history. You need to be hoping for some other random traveling buck from somewhere else to happen to accidently stumble along in front of your bow or rifle on one of his random hikes. Once again hunting seems to be simply an accidental condition of luck to a large extent.... right?

 

During the rut, yes that holds pretty true. In my experience, on the farms I hunt, if you want to go after a specific buck, the best time is early archery and late gun/ML season (if they didnt get whacked during the rut). They are more patternable at those times, and tend to stay pretty close to their core. During the rut all bets are off. You still have a good chance of seeing a buck near his core area, but he might go for a wander, or some other buck may wander in that you never saw before.

 

Theres a buck that lives on one of our farms that I have tons of trail cam pics of, figured out his core area and I was after him all through bow season. I came very close to killing him twice. Since the second to last weekend of bow, Ive seen him once, at about 500 yards. I tried to cut him off but was unsuccessful. I havent seen him since opening week. This weekend Im going to collect up my cameras to put new batteries in and move them to new spots. Im hoping to see pics of him from the last week or so, as Im starting to think he got whacked somewhere else. I know Id have heard if any of the neighbors got him by now.

[LET EM GROW]

I think it all depends on the doe #'s in your area when the rut hits. who's hot who's not.. if a buck has plenty of does to tend and less confrontation with other bucks to stay on a hot doe. i bet he sticks around until every doe is bred, or until they get far and few between, he then may wander to find a last doe or two for sure, as phade said. if doe numbers are down, that buck has to travel way more from the beginning to the end of the rut. i guess thats one good thing about keeping not harvesting a ton of doe... ? .. 

 

 

this buck was one of our local slobs from 2012, since he was a 1.5 yr old, summer fall winter, he was always on cam, not every day but often.. i had the opportunity of releasing an arrow at him, the last weekend of bow season, which sailed right over his back :/ .. ... he was killed about 2 miles from my place the following weekend, which was opening of rifle 2012

[chas0218]

I think you might be surprised how far your deer travel unbeknownst to you. But every area is different. There are a lot of factors that determine why and when deer travel. I've been running cameras for 10 years all over CNY and its rare to see a specific buck on camera regularly from August through December in my experiences anyway. During November and December I ALWAYS get different bucks that stop in for a day or two and never seen again. But like you said if you have a great piece of private land with everything they need/want that may cut their travels way down too...

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You're right, but in my instance we were seeing this buck regularly (every 2 days) in the same field at the same time (within a few minutes). I'm not saying he didn't frequent other properties but the amount we were seeing him he definitely wasn't traveling far. On the opposite nights we were seeing what looked like him (near dark and 400 yards away) in our adjacent green fields munching on cut soybean.

[BizCT]

Need GPS dart to shoot out of trail cam at time of picture. It would make tracking and finding these bucks a lot easier

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[wheelieman]

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Killed 5 miles away. That is alot of asskicking.

Never said they all do that, I think the majority do, But there is always exceptions to the rule,

Most people get a big buck on cam in august, Then hunt that deer; Unless you own hundreds if not thousands of acres

What you are saying is the chances of killing him are slim, Im just saying its not the case, You might even want to add some 31/2 year olds into the wondering category, But i still believe the big boys are home bodies in my area,