So you scouted your hiney off, found a big guys core area and sucessfully killed him. In your experience have you had other Big Bucks take over the same area after taking its previously resident out? If yes did it take a couple years or so? Or do you find yourself having to find another holy grail area? Just curious what some of your answers are. nothing right or wrong, Im just hoping me or someone else can learn from your experiences!
I took my "big" buck in '09. He was obviously the top dog on the block. However, there was also a really nice 10 in the same small woods. My cousin took him that year. So, we had to start from scratch. '10 was slow. There was only one decent buck but nowhere near the caliber. This last year we saw a really nice 8 pointer, near the 140 mark. So for my situation, 2 years. I think a lot of it depends on the surroundings. I'm lucky (kind of) to have a 300 acre woods next to mine that isn't hugely pressured. That means that we get spill over, a big buck from that woods will come fill in his place and I don't have to wait for a small one to grow.
It depends on the area in southern wisonsin i hunt a 150 acre property and the owner shot a 155" deer 4 years ago and havnt seen one like that since. Yet in the property westcentral wisconsin we shoot a big one every year. In my openion it depends on the amount and caliber of deer that are in your area.
Another mature buck will definitely take over an area/bedding spot that was previously taken by another mature buck. These bedding area's that these previous mature bucks were using are good spots and these older bucks are bedding there for a reason.
I have been lucky enough to do this a few times and it has always been my experience that another good buck will be in that same area the very next year. Like Schultzy mentioned, it is a good area and that's why there was a mature buck there to begin with. When the vacancy sign flashes, another will move in.
Agree with this. This year we had a resident mature buck dominate our property. He tore up field edges and trails with rubs and scrapes. He never really moved very far and when he did it was almost exclusively at night. We knew he was there all October and November as we kept getting trail camera photos at mock scrapes, on trails and visiting our food plots. During that time, we only saw a couple of bucks that were over three years old. One was a wanderer that got shot over a mile away and just the casual passerby. No bucks that called the big boy's core area home. My brother shot the aforementioned buck on November 12th and almost immediately it was like someone flipped a switch. Mature (3.5 year old +) buck sightings went up both in the field and on trail camera. Fresh new scrapes and rubs started popping up along the same trails and field edges, so obviously it wasn't the same buck. Bucks that hadn't shown themselves for over a year started showing up and I ended up shooting a beauty of a 3 year old and my dad shooting another 4 or 5 year old in the weeks that followed. It's common sense as a part of a buck's physiology that when a dominant buck is removed from the area, so are his chemical sign posts. Other bucks know (instinctively) to move in and capitalize on breeding opportunities. A mature buck's pheromones suppress subordinate buck's drive and readiness to breed, so when that buck is no longer in existence, it just opens the door for the next socially stronger buck to take place. It's simple biology and physiology.
This deer was absolutely the boss. His rack was not big, but his body was probably the biggest I have seen. Just a bull. He got hooked up with another buck during a fight in November that year and died. He was approximately 8 years old. Once he was gone, it was like opening the flood gates. I had several new bucks show up and some of them ended up being slammers. It took a while to figure out, but I decided that buck had to go and was going to kill him the next opportunity I got. I am still disappointed that it turned out the way it did. Even though his rack was not big, he would of been one of my favorite trophies.
I believe it's about habitat. If the habitat is there, big bucks will move in to take he place of the one(s) that were harvested. Your question is more of, did we destroy the gene pool for big bucks. The genetics will likely flow with the off-spring and will continue for a good number of years.
"Core area" is a loosely used term. For some they use it to describe a buck's beds within a small area. For others they are talking about 50-100 acres when talking about a "core area". And finally, some think they know a buck's core area when they see him a couple of times during the rut each year, when in reality that buck does not even bed on their property.
Point well made. I guess when I am referring to a "core area", I am thinking of the area where the buck is bedding and spending the majority of his time other than during the rut. For me, that often includes where he is likely to be feeding some. Quite often that core area can shift some during the chage of seasons, food supply, pressure, weather, etc. Some bucks will have a much larger core area than others. I killed a buck a few years ago that was approximately 7 to 8 years old and he seldom left a sanctuary area that was not more than 40 acres. And when he did, you could be sure it was dark. He finally slipped up during the prerut and started working scrapes on the edge the last hour of light.
Fletch that was a HOSS my friend! The Buck you killed in the last pic was a HOSS, Congrats on that one! Good points all, was good reading all the responses! I have killed three that I believed was right in the middle of there core area! 2 of them I have Sheds from that came from 60-300 yards from where I killed them, kinda assuring me that I was in those Bucks bedroom's! The surrounding areas were tore up with hugh rubs and nearby scrapes. You could smell the nasty rank smell of Rutting Buck. I did see others in the same areas but they always seemed tense. You can tell when a mature Buck owns the area by his actions sometimes! The Buck I killed this year was I believe in his core area and 3 days later when I was trying to put my son on a good Buck a 135" 9 point showed up that I had never seen before in that same area. He was not scent trailing Does and was at my broadside at 20 yards. I only get 1 IN tag so I couldnt shoot. Unfortuantly He was at 30 for my son but quartering to so he had no shot. He seemed to own the area, was at ease and we got to watch him just walk around and check things out for about 10 minutes. Maby he was the one that owned that core area I dont know but hopefully Ill find out next season if he stays around. Out of the three there was only 1 area that I didnt see any sign of another taking over the area! So yeah, I believe in most case if the area contains everything a Buck need to feel safe in, another will eventually take it over. Just have to figure out his moves to make it happen!
That area can be takin over just as soon as another dominate buck walks through that area. If he like the area and no other buck can push him out, he will stay. I took these four bucks out of the same area the last 2 seasons.150" 160" 167" 180"
