Here's my thing. I lease a 600 acre timber lease, for whatever reason the lease can't seem to hold mature bucks at any time of the year outside of the rut. We have a TON of acorns on the ground currently. I've planted 6, 1 acre food plot year round and only does eat on it. We have food, sanctuaries and mating opportunities. I hear a lot of people talking about water maybe being a problem, will deer just drink out of creeks? Thanks ahead of time for your help.
Without knowing your area it is hard to say. It there a lot of cover outside your lease for the deer to bed ?? Do you have a good deer population in your area ?? Is there a lot of pressure from you or others year round on the property... four-wheeler trails or other disturbances ?? If there are creeks with water in them on your lease year round... I wouldn't think water is a problem. Tim
There is cover everywhere, there is some thined pines (about 300 acres) then we have 200 acres of hardwoods that is has plenty of cover and food We have a good doe population. Not much hunting pressure in most areas. There is a 20 acres that is really thick that we said is a sanctuary. Very few if any atvs go off the main road.
If you have a ton of does, maybe the buck to doe ratio is off. If that's the case, the bucks probably aren't inclined to chase or compete with one another for a doe because they have access to hot does whenever they want. If that's the case, they're likely just coming out to feed at night and then going back to the bedding area where they probably do most of their tending and breeding. Also, have you tried some hinge cutting an area between the deep woods and the plots to create a "safe haven" path to the food? Bucks don't like wide open paths to food that exposes them to/from their bedding area. Just some thoughts to consider.
You say mature bucks, are you holding small bucks seeing a lot of small bucks? If you are, could poaching be a problem? I assume you're running several cameras to know that you're not holding mature bucks? 600 acres is a lot of dirt to not hold a mature buck if its managed right and makes me think that any decent size deer in your area is shot on sight.
We have a good number of spikes and small 8 pointers. I don't believe poaching is a problem, I'm life long friends with a number of a joining landowners and they know when mature bucks get shot around that area. We also don't find any evidence of poaching like, brass, someone else's deer stands, other feeders, boot tracks that aren't ours, or bones.
This sounds like your problem. I face this problem on the ranch I hunt in Arkansas. Mature bucks are rarely seen in daylight but are all over trail cams after dark. The doe to buck ratio on the ranch is about 3:1. A couple of years ago it was 5:1. Start taking out more does and give it a couple of years. We occasionally see a mature buck in daylight now which is a big improvement from a couple of years ago.
Where do you have the cameras? Do you have the cameras on any scrapes? I find the best way to get pictures of bucks during hunting season is to setup a mock scrape on an existing scrape line and typically the bucks will start using it, or at least checking it out for hot does.
set trail cams on runs leading outta the sanctuary and not on big runs just on littlier runs hard to see runs that's where you'll find mature bucks
