That's an awesome response and solid intel. I tend to disregard randomness, which is a mistake on my part. I get caught up in the details and lose sight of the big picture. Like this year....I lost the buck I was hunting for 3 weeks. I got so focused on trying to find where he WAS...that I completely lost sight of a huge piece of information that was right in front of me...where he obviously WASN'T.
I'm on board to an extent. I have a spot (a couple thousand acres) that gets little to no pressure. The area is very secluded and hard to get to. It's also all the same (All wooded) with little variety (brows and mast) or diversity (terrain and soft cover edges within the timber). On the rare occasion that a buck doesn't disperse to better grounds. His core is random, large and with no real definitive reason as to why it is where it is. But the same area also produced this buck. On the other hand, I have a small spot of public that gets hammered with pressure...but it has hardwood, mast crops, clear cut thickets, farm ground with CRP and crop rotation, terrain, water. This little honey hole will become the core of a mature buck ever couple of years or so...it where this buck was taken.
I am personally in the camp that the more random a bucks core area seems there are two factors typically which may explain: -It is simply so larger predictability or ability to define it becomes extremely challenging. OR -We ourselves haven't figured out the reasonings, factors or answers to why a buck is utilizing a certain spot. Another thing to remember is what time frame are we talking about also? Collared studies have shown bucks to sway between summer areas, fall areas and rutting/breeding time frame areas. Yes, these will overalap but the timing can greatly impact what appears to be a "core" area for a buck. Some bucks also exhibit larger "seeking circles" than others as well...
One thing I have picked up on in my study groups...the core doesn't seem to expand or shrink...it simply shifts (which is very important info) as the need arises. Anything between Oct 31st and Dec 1st doesn't concern me in my area...all data collected in that time frame is tainted and means very little to me.
Which correlates with my earlier post about the 3 different time of year “core areas”. Grizz, the thing I find frustrating is the fact that I only know what I know, and what I don’t know is far greater than what i do know. Sign, sightings and pictures only give a small glimpse into where a buck spends his day. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
This keeps me up at night (I started this thread at 2am. lol)...drives me...keeps moving forward. It's the process I enjoy most about deer hunting.
AMEN x100. It is that facet that separates hunting ranks as far as I'm concerned: those that accept that and don't care AND those like us continually obsessed with that fact and desire to shrink the gap LOL
I'm learning more every year, but only been in the mid-west for 4 seasons now. When do you guys typically see a mature deer return to summer ranges? Specifically, a mature buck is there daily all summer and fall, daily pics during daylight through maybe late Oct, then dissapears.........if/when he returns when do you see that return? I had 3x good deer I had pinned this year. Killed Nacho on opening day, and stayed out a while to let things "cool off". That was a huge mistake. Those other 3 good ones then disappeared about 3rd week of Oct before I really got back after it. I got one random night pic of each buck between 10/31 and 11/5, and nothing since. I'm curious when you guys see deer like this show back up? I'm thinking they probably got killed, but also hoping maybe they just haven't "come home" yet......... Specifically this is a property I acquired in April last year. Those bucks were there in April when I did an initial trail cam survey but I had no prior history to know what their annual patterns were. Thoughts?
http://ecosystems.psu.edu/research/projects/deer/news This link is for the PennState deer study and it shows a few bucks actual patterns. Interesting how these collared bucks react to pressure and what they found. Sent from my XT1710-02 using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
Here, (which is probably real close to what you would see there as well), they revert back to their core around the first week of December, but shifted to the nearest winter food source. I take that back...your deer may yard up then revert back end of March, first of April. The deer in my area don't yard up. I've got this bucks core pinned down...the last pic I got in his core was Oct 31st....then the very next pic I got in his core was on Dec 3rd.
Getting to food, water, and mating with as little disturbance and loss of energy as possible. That being said, I don't know crap. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
State what you know and whatever you don't know you can just make up as you go along. That's what I do, lol. Dazzle them with brilliance or baffle them with bull ****.....and I'm far from brilliant, lol.
This is been a great read. Even though I can only apply a tiny bit of it to my hunting scenario, I still love this type of talk! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I believe this is also a key. My scenario is different than guys 30 miles away, let alone across the country. Take big woods Canadian deer, I don’t think they would take too kindly to daily intrusion, yet there are buck rubbing trees in my front yard. These animals must be treated differently. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I hunt in CT, public land, pure hardwoods, 10,000 acres. I am a needle in a haystack. Very little hunting pressure. The deer are few and far between. My dad’s been bow hunting there in the past 30+ years, and has come to the conclusion that there is no real rhyme or reason to the deer movement, in this particular set of woods. In the 2016 hunting season, I did not see a single deer on the hoof. This past season was gone the same exact way, until November 9, when I caught this guy working a scrape line. There are decent size bucks in these woods, I have seen plenty of sign, and I know how to hunt for the most part. I’m kind of starting to agree with my dad when it comes to hunting this set of woods, you have to put your time in, and you just have to be at the right place at the right time, and you have to have a lot of patience. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Definitely an interesting topic. I'd be curious on the insight from hunters who have been very successful for hunting big buck beds, for example Dan Infalt.
I was taught to hunt edges about 30 years ago, when I first started hunting. These edges consisted of cover, structure and terrain...how cover promotes/encourages movement...how structure forces/alters movement...how terrain defines movement. Deer tend to bed on and travel with the grain in relation to edges. These same edges also create funnels. Edges also provide an excellent ambush location, with a low impact approach and helps keep the wind in your favor. There are also many degrees "between" and "within" each edge...from soft, to hard, to absolute. With this in mind, it's all relatable and easily translates from one type of edge to the other I've also found that these edges (though they can easily be crossed) create imagery boundaries or even a sense of order within social groups...and where all of this comes together creates social hubs. I've killed a lot of deer during all different phases of the rut on the edge, in a funnel, down wind of doe bedding, in and around social hubs, between and surrounding doe group's (social groups) ....I've started calling it "working the seams", lol. Where all this is leading...all of these kills where stacked odds, right place right time, LUCK. When I started targeting a specific buck, I quickly found that the rut and my rut tactics where all but useless. Although I would have lots of good buck's and even mature buck's in bow range, the rut made a specific target buck extremely hard to hunt. I've found that the only way I can consistently kill specific buck's on purpose is to identify the core and make it happen pre-post rut while purpose and order are still relevant.
Glade you mentioned that...buck's bed in there cores...which in turn, makes finding the bed a piece of the puzzle. A person can make almost any scenario fit the narrative after the fact...which is why I don't put much stock in certain individuals.
I try to hunt edges as much as possible. Here are a few pictures from my tree stand of the types of edges I have to work with. There is plenty of scrapes and rubs along these edges. I purposely try not to go up to this area until the beginning of November. I now hunt on the ground, (ghille suit) along those edges. It has been extremely liberating not searching for a tree, but it also puts me at the disadvantage of not being able to see to far. It gets super thick nasty nearby the edges. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I think if a person can back up the narrative with their successes, I think their insight can be valid and credible. Not all individuals are like that but there are some out there.
