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Annual fall shift

DroptineKrazy

DroptineKrazy

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2019
Messages
3,050
Location
Brunswick, Maine
So Iv'e read studies and seen videos talking about an annual fall shift by big bucks from summer patterns to a new core area sometimes miles away. I have proof of this transition from a huge buck that I have on camera in the early season near one of my stands about a mile and a half from my house. On Nov. 20th last year he came out on my lawn. I also have pics and videos of him behind my place during Nov. right through the winter. I have heard stories of bucks killed several miles from their summer core areas.
This makes me curious as to whether the rest of you guys and girls have noticed this phenomenon in your area?
 
Yes, I think it is a thing. It is not 100% since I think there are home body bucks just like there are home body people. My feeling is that bucks spend summers in bachelor groups and then about the time the season starts these groups break up when the velvet drops off and people start roaming the woods. Food sources change around this time also and in some parts, the cover starts to drop, changing the woods. They move based on any or all of these things, that is why I don't put much stock in getting bucks on camera in the summer. They may be miles away when the season arrives. At my house, I have does hang around all year, but the bucks won't start showing up until November or December. They likely come from miles away. Someone probably has them on camera now and will be wondering where they went in a few months.
 
Some of this shift is due to them noticing increased activity in the woods. I'd be curious of a study on zero pressure lands (large state parks where hunting is not allowed, etc) and see if they shift as much as on more heavily hunted public land.
 
All throughout fall is a transition period. Nothing is static in the woods. I notice a few major changes in patterns. First is when the acorns drop the deer move off their summer browse patterns into sucking those up often not moving much because feeding and bedding are the same. Then when human activity picks up it supresses daylight movement even more which starts with preseason archery scouting, the first two weeks of archery, then crescendos with our early inline season which is the low point of the season for daylight deer movement here. Then obviously the rut they get careless and move a lot and hang out near the does. And afterward their recovery from that coincides with our primary rifle season so the bucks are pretty well hunkered down for a few weeks. Finally during our late season after Christmas they really pick up their movements and feeding again.
 
raisins said:
Some of this shift is due to them noticing increased activity in the woods. I'd be curious of a study on zero pressure lands (large state parks where hunting is not allowed, etc) and see if they shift as much as on more heavily hunted public land.
Click to expand...
I think MSU deer lab did a study on pressure where they had a big chunk of private ground they divided into three parts and had zero pressure on 1/3. moderate pressure on another 1/3 and heavy pressure on the last 1/3.
 
elk yinzer said:
All throughout fall is a transition period. Nothing is static in the woods. I notice a few major changes in patterns. First is when the acorns drop the deer move off their summer browse patterns into sucking those up often not moving much because feeding and bedding are the same. Then when human activity picks up it supresses daylight movement even more which starts with preseason archery scouting, the first two weeks of archery, then crescendos with our early inline season which is the low point of the season for daylight deer movement here. Then obviously the rut they get careless and move a lot and hang out near the does. And afterward their recovery from that coincides with our primary rifle season so the bucks are pretty well hunkered down for a few weeks. Finally during our late season after Christmas they really pick up their movements and feeding again.
Click to expand...
I agree with this breakdown and would add the transition to hard horn and break up of bachelor groups. The thing we are noticing on the private that I hunt is that as we have built some inventory of bucks across age classes, it seems we are seeing more instances of when a buck hits 5.5-6.5 they can isolate away from the bachelor groups or pair up with another older buck.
 
An old mentor of mine used to say they go on walkabout. I hunt two parcels that are about 5 miles apart and I have had the same bucks on cameras on both parcels during the fall starting around Octoberish. Before and after that they stuck around their respective parcels.
 
Here is a link to an interesting on-going study being done on public land deer in PA. With the GPS collars we can now see what they are doing each month. Notice how this particular buck moved in late Oct. miles away from where he was in Sept.. I don't belive hunting pressure had anything to do with it either. He was just on the move, testosterone levels rising. This buck is very similar to what the study is showing for most bucks.

A Summer pattern means nothing in the big timber, they are gong to be on the move in late Oct. & Nov.

www.deer.psu.edu

Patterning a buck in the rut

Since the inception of this blog, I have thought about the idea of patterning a deer’s movements using either game cameras or simply spending enough time in the woods. How would one do it? Personally, I don’t have enough time to sit in a tree stand THAT long, and I don’t own enough game...
www.deer.psu.edu www.deer.psu.edu
 
luv2bowhunt said:
Here is a link to an interesting on-going study being done on public land deer in PA. With the GPS collars we can now see what they are doing each month. Notice how this particular buck moved in late Oct. miles away from where he was in Sept.. I don't belive hunting pressure had anything to do with it either. He was just on the move, testosterone levels rising. This buck is very similar to what the study is showing for most bucks.

A Summer pattern means nothing in the big timber, they are gong to be on the move in late Oct. & Nov.

www.deer.psu.edu

Patterning a buck in the rut

Since the inception of this blog, I have thought about the idea of patterning a deer’s movements using either game cameras or simply spending enough time in the woods. How would one do it? Personally, I don’t have enough time to sit in a tree stand THAT long, and I don’t own enough game...
www.deer.psu.edu www.deer.psu.edu
Click to expand...
That was some very interesting information that I have never seen before. Thanks for posting that.
 
A buck I killed last year I hunted for 4 years and he always disappeared and I couldn't find him. 1 year he was gone no sign what so ever. The year I killed him he was strict to one bedding area. He stuck to 1 exit almost all summer until a few acorns started dropping in the weeks leading up to season. I killed him the 2nd day of season. I have no doubt he was soon to disappear again like he normally did. I do not think he disappeared from food or pressure bc other bucks always moved into the same bedding area. I have killed 5 different bucks from that area over the last 5 years.
 
We have bucks show up every year in October or early November. No idea where they spend the summer months. Occasionally we have a nice buck or two using our place in the summer or part of the summer, they’re usually close by in the fall as well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Every buck is unique. Every ecosystem is also unique. I think we often forget just how diverse the behavior and habitats are across the continent.
I’ve checked out the MSU research and find it fascinating. A lot of their data seems consistent with the bio regions where I live and hunt, but some of it is inconsistent with my observations. Some of those deviations I suspect are related to the temperature differential between Mississippi and New England. I’ve seen data from research in my region that shows deer relocating by as much as 30 miles in December. It’s hard to know how much of that movement is from hunting pressure and how much is to avoid deep snow / seeking food.
 
30 miles? I know there are instances where deer in Northern regions sometimes travel long distances to "yard up'' but 30 miles seems excessive to me. Maybe I'm wrong.
 
The PSU Deer Lab stuff has been great. I've been watching it for the past three years. There is one video where they follow a buck and almost to the same day he would disperse and go on a long trip and then come back. He did that at approximately the same time each year. I've had very nice mature bucks show up on the private I hunt around the beginning of October each year and then I never see them again. Some bucks we watch grow and continue to see off and on. For whatever reason Its very hard for me to get a definitive pattern on any buck where I hunt. I've been trying for years and the only pattern is no pattern.
 
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