I have cams on 2 properties. Here in the last 2 weeks I've had a group of bucks on each one. On one property: There is a really nice 10 pointer, not real old, but definitely the dominant buck. At my house: There have been about 5 bucks that make an appearance regularly. However, none of these would be large enough to be considered dominant in this area. My questions are: 1. When would these bachelor groups break apart? 2. Would you expect to see a larger buck show up to show dominance in the area?
1) They will start breaking up in roughly 2 -3 weeks. Even faster with hunting pressure. 2) The bucks already know who is dominant. From what I have seen, the biggest, most dominant bucks don't even hang out with lesser bucks anymore. It seems that once they shed their velvet, the become more solitary. Usually the larger bucks shed velvet first.
I have been seeing the past week that they are splitting up. Haven't seen two bucks together since they lost velvet.
