I see alot of bucks early season, and I feel my chances are MUCH better in the early season than any other time of the year. My question to you is, if I had been seeing a shooter early on (Oct 1-14) in one particular area of a property, and hadn't seen him since, would you go back to hunting him in that area again right now? I really don't think anyone shot him- I know most of the people in the area that hunt and nobody killed him as far as I heard. So will a buck go back to their "early season" AREAS and habits? I watched him bed quite a bit in the early season, but then I just stopped seeing him. It was like he just left. Now I haven't had a chance to hunt for a month (last time out I shot a doe) so I haven't been able to see anything. Just trying to put some ideas together for the last few days of the IL season.
Englum--if there is a late season food source near by, why not give it a go where you saw him before? What type of pressure has that buck received? Do you think he would feel comfortable continuing to bed in that particular area
My experience has been that unless there is a food source right there, you will probably not see him again until this summer/fall.
What I have noticed in my area, is that everything changes based on the conditions. There is quite a bit of research on this if you look it up and most of it is very conclusive with regards to a deer's range during different phases of the year. If the buck was there in the early season, he may not be back to that spot on a consistant basis until next early season....that is if he doesn't find something he likes better or the area changes somehow. (crop rotation, etc..) In my area, also the midwest, the bucks absolutley bed in different places now than they did in the early season. What was once a cool place to lay down is now a bad option for a deer in search of some warmth....especially with our weather right now. He may still be around....he just may be a quarter mile or less away. The bucks in our area are bedding on S to SE facing slopes that recieve alot of sunshine throughout the day. They are sticking to one in particular that is mostly covered in cedars and evergreens. They are just going back and forth from this to standing corn and open water (creek bottom) moving only short distances. I took a gamble and switched spots last weekend and got into a "bee's nest" of deer. I got four shot opportunities on bucks in two, 1.5 hour sits.....just not on the right deer.
He was bedding just on the inside of a woodline on the edge of a beanfield. Seems like all the bucks on this farm bed just on the edge of the beans in the early season which makes it tough to get to them. The beans are cut now of course. He shouldn't have received much pressure (from me atleast). Everytime I hunted him I saw him but he was out of range, and the wind was in my favor, so he never did bust me.
hey i have seen bucks come back to the ground they know after the rut is over. Like last year i seen a 100 inch funny lookin buck and during the rut i seen him almost two miles away and when it came to bein the last couple days of season about this time i seen him back at his 150 acre home
