where have all the bucks gone........

[Robhuntandfish]

this is the first year that i havent had a single pic of a real decent buck.  The two main properties i hunt there is always one real good one and usually another decent one.  Best pick i have is a 4, possible 6 point.   Last year i had a big 9 at each spot and a smaller 8 at each spot.  And that has been the norm for years.  These properties are certainly not loaded with big bucks and have never been, but usually have something around to get ya excited.  Just seems so different this year. I guess during the rut you never know what is gonna come thru but i am hesitant on waiting as much as i might normally.  And it even seems there are less does.  Am thinking the neighbors all had a good season last year?  I still get the rush of hunting over even getting a doe so dont get me wrong , but its always great to have that feeling that a big boy could step out.  Not feeling that this year.  Am thinking that if a 5 point comes thru he might be in trouble early this year.   I just wont shoot a spike as i would rather just take a doe.  and generally pass anything 4 and under.  The properties i hunt are def surrounded by other hunters and i dont have enough land with them to bother with trying to grow big bucks, but i do like to let the smaller ones pass and take a doe.  And i certainly dont harvest enough bucks myself to be causing the low numbers, as i didnt even fill a buck tag last year.   I passed on a decent 7 point last year and a couple of 4s and spikes.   Would think there would be more decent bucks around this year, this year def seems different.  and the cameras are so empty.

might do some card pulls this weekend and see if anything has been thru.  But have had them out since Aug 1 and nothing bigger than than a 4 is so outa the usual. 

[LET EM GROW]

I have had a pretty bad year for good bucks on trail cam this season. But after doing a drive around.. They are definitely there. IT mostly depends on where the best food source is and good bedding from summer through this time of year. Though in the next week or so the buck traffic will pick up no doubt. As they focus more on territory and the local doe herd. They could possibly got hunted hard last year, but I doubt it. I used to thnk the same way.. they are there.. Just be ready.. the woods can be so unpredictable at any time..

I normally do not get a ton of good velvet pics but once mid October rolls around.. Buck traffic steadily climbs.  

[G-Man]

food source and habitat changes are biggest reasons i see for camera photo or lack of. we tend to hunt the same spot year after year regardless of changes in food and habitat because we saw a good one there 1x..  unless you have found a good natural funnel with food and bedding at both ends a move is usually nessary. i have a couple of stands that fall in funnels and are consistant producers the other 30 stands are based off pressure, or food or new patterns due to logging,pond construction, wind damage,ect

[landtracdeerhunter]

I have watched big bucks come to a game camera, smell the strap, then walk behind the camera; never getting a pic. Some of them are real smart. That's why their big bucks, LOL.

[LET EM GROW]

9 minutes ago, landtracdeerhunter said:

I have watched big bucks come to a game camera, smell the strap, then walk behind the camera; never getting a pic. Some of them are real smart. That's why their big bucks, LOL.

Exactly, If i hide my "Black Flash" cams well.. I can usually fool the 2 old guys i have roaming the hill.. But if i dont, they'll pick it out before walking in front of it and avoid it. And I'll never get their pic there again if at all, unless they are trailing a hot doe. 

Only exception ive noticed for these 2 bucks in the last 4 or 5 years is that if the camera is near camp at all, it doesnt seem to bother them as much. They seem to feel very comfortable in my backyard at camp since no one is really ever around..  

Heres a pic from last week of one of them, this cam is 15ft from the back porch of my camp.. And sticks out in the middle of the yard. Any where else away from camp, this wouldn't fly.. lol 

[G-Man]

ive got pics of the same mature buck by turning the camera 90 to 180 degrees they learn to walk behind them quickly

[Robhuntandfish]

i actually dont put my cams too close to my stands.  I usually put them along some field edges for a couple of months at the end of summer just to get picks of whats in the area.  That way when i go to pull them i am not at my stands leaving scent. My stands are setup along areas in between the fields and bedding - or across the other side of the field in an area with more cover.  

But i have some on the edge of a huge cloverfield and also on a wheat field or a beanfield, next to a cornfield.  I have always gotten pics of at least one good buck (good for me at least lol) but this year just a total strikeout.  And i am esp surprised by the one place with the large fields. 

I also hunt another spot that we dont get many summer pics but generally have one or two pics still.  Its real brushy and we put cams on the onnly trails avail.  That spot always pics up during season and i hope it really picks up this year.  

this is about the usual pics i get Aug/Sept below 

Edited October 11, 2018 by Robhuntandfish

[grampy]

We have 9 or 10 cams out, and lately we have only been getting a bunch of doe and small bucks. Back in early September, we got a couple mature buck pic's though. We do have buck sign popping up all over, and my grandson almost shot a mature 8pt last Sunday that we don't have on camera yet. And he was moving in thick bedding cover. 

My feeling is that with plenty of food all over, and the abnormally warm temperatures, they just don't seem to want to move much. I think with the coolest temps so far this season, moving in this weekend, we should see an uptick in deer movement.

If not, we should all go sit moog and phade's spot!!!!

 

 

[Robhuntandfish]

Finally there's one.  Date is wrong on cam this was a week ago.  At night but I will take it.  

[LetEmGrow]

I am disappointed as well.  Saw/had pics of some decent bucks last year.  More than ever.  Was expecting a damn good year and it may still be.  But I am not seeing the deer I normally do.

Agree about the cameras but I don't think that is the issue.

Might wanna keep in mind how much snow was on the ground during gun season last year with the two previous gun seasons being very warm.  Guys didn't get much those two years.  They may have made up for it last year.

Just sayin.

 

[sits in trees]

Strange I'm not seeing the bucks I've seen in previous years either here in Ulster. I thought someone in my area poached them

[CapDistPatriot]

13 hours ago, sits in trees said:

Strange I'm not seeing the bucks I've seen in previous years either here in Ulster. I thought someone in my area poached them

I am in columbia county, and i know for a fact that the locals here eat venison year round. When they get hungry, they post up near the corn feeder and take a doe. Simple as that.

Last Saturday, me and my partner were on our lease for 4 hours and heard about 12 rifle shots. This time of year they start taking bucks and leaving the legal hunters the scraps.