I found these on the QDMA website, and thought it was a very good read and pretty informative. I dont think hunters realize the different patterns of deer movement that exist.
Didn't read the article yet, but the above images don't really tell me much. Of course, I think its safe to assume that the rut (November) will see the largest travel patterns. However, I find it astonishing that the 3.5 year olds don't roam further during that time. What the images don't depict are food sources. I believe its safe to assume that in Jan-Feb, deer will be on the best food sources available. This could be a 100 yards away from where they are in November yet, or it could be, as shown, 5 miles away. I'd venture to guess that if this study was done for an entire year, that the travel patterns would still be the same size, but perhaps different locations, based on food sources. Deer always will be a slave to their stomachs, regardless of time of year. To me, all this tells me is what deer are typically doing from November - January. November.. the rut, December.. secondary rut and as typical, bucks will wander a bit more looking for the last doe to estrous, January... food sources and the travel they sometimes have to do to find the best sources of food.
The Doe density is so high here that bucks dont really travel too far from their home range during the rut.Once winter hits and all the ag land is cleared from harvesting is a different story.If you have a picked corn field that wasnt worked over you can see 100 deer in it every night till they pick it clean. and then it's on to the next food source they can find.I have records over the years watching this and in the winter they will most definately move several miles to find food.
If I knew that I'd kill more of them. Wouldn't it be nice if every buck had a collar or micro-chip so we could follow their movements. Be nice to see a topo of the area too. I know some of the bucks I see all fall disappear for the summer.
The North vs South map helps explain why I so often will see certain bucks all summer and through the rut, and then suddenly they disappear, making me think they got shot. Then all of a sudden the same deer will reappear early the next summer. I wish I knew where they were going for the winter, it would make those December hunts more worthwhile!
Drive around your area the last hour before sunset looking for fields of agriculture you'll find them. They will be in large groups eating.
if those are supposed to be deer travel routes then it looks to me like they either have vehicles or someone's trailering them around. Is there more info on those maps??
I find this stuff very interesting, and yes i do wish i could see where all the bucks in my area go over the course of a year. Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2
Websites explains it better. These are from texas, and all those lines are fence rows. Its just an example... Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2
Looking more and more like an exercise in futility... unless... My property falls within the heavy time spent areas, then it might make all the difference in the world. Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2
I was just making a joke, that second picture he looks like he traveled the road. I don't know if maybe I missed something but I didnt see a website, just three pictures.
those are just the ones they chipped, I'm sure those "empty" areas have their own bucks and their own preferred areas. I think if you create a place the deer want to be, then it doesn't matter what some map of a couple bucks says. Deer will find your honey hole and hopefully wanna stay close.
That is an opinion yes... What i find interesting is how the bucks avoided certain open fields. At all cost. Didnt even go into them one time.
Original post clearly states they were taken from something i read on the QDMA website. Once again...its just examples. Studies with collard bucks are rare...so we can only go off of what is available.
I have seen and read through a coyote study like this, this stuff is cool. If I remember I will look and see if I still have the email.