Summer Range vs Fall Range, when is your buck activity best?

[soavejas]

I saw something similar posted in another thread and it got me thinking. Does your property seem like a place that bucks appear to flock to during the rut phases, during the summer, or both? It seems like there's 3 common scenarios:

A. Guys who watch bucks develop only to have them disappear once velvet sheds.

B. Guys who have minimal activity during the growing season and then have a bunch of bucks move in sometime after velvet has shed.

Or,

C. Guys that have the best of both worlds and get to watch them grow during the summer and throughout the hunting season.

What category do you find yourself in and what do you attribute it to?

I personally find myself in the group that has bucks pass through during the summer (mostly young ones) and then in early to mid October our buck population will generally jump drastically not only in quantity but also in age structure.

I'm working with limited acreage (43 acres) and I would attribute this mostly to food and cover. Our property and the adjoining properties are dense swamps dominated by dogwoods and such and although there is plenty of corn and soybeans nearby none are directly adjoining our ground. My guess is that this type of setting is preferred habitat after leaf drop and when pressure is high, but not desired during the summer months. Take this with grain of salt, as I'm far from an expert.

I added a poll to the question might be interesting to see what other say.

 

[H20fwler]

I have one piece of property (eight acres) that is kind of in a natural funnel that holds bucks all spring and summer, lots of bucks.. some big. But late August they disappear until rut and after, it is crazy thick cover.
Another property I have five miles away that is in a great location and is much bigger (thirty acres) is half woods half native grass that only holds a couple bucks in spring & summer then bucks seem to move in in the fall.

Both have produced good bucks during season but it is strange how one is a summer spot and the other more of a fall spot.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

If I might, I'll post a variation of answer A. I get tons of pics of young bucks and does all summer into early fall. Spikes, fork-horns, small 5's and 6's. Lots of them. Then right around the end of October I stop getting pics of any of these deer. They vanish. Here's the variation though...it's because I then get 1 or 2 mature bucks that show up; bucks I have never seen on camera. I get them on camera and I see them from my stands. By December they are gone, and the small bucks that survived bow season tend to move back in.

 

[Greta&Gus]

The movement of bucks is honestly one of the most interesting things about hunting. Every property is different and offers different challenges. I see bucks come and go all year. It makes it fun.

 

[SWIFFY]

My answer was (C), HOWEVER its not always the SAME deer.

I have many bucks that summer on my property only to leave come velvet shed. Then there are others that stay and some new ones that come in. By the time the deeper snows set in there are many of the surviving bucks from summer and fall and they all stay until about the first part of May. I feel lucky to have a spot where many good bucks like to summer and usually stay, must be something they like. And for the ones that leave, I wish I knew where the heck they went and why they went there?? Thats what makes it fun i guess!

 

[yoderjac]

The problem is that most folks are operating on anecdotal observations that are different throughout the year. What I see and what is using my property is quite different. During the summer, I'm working on the farm. I occasionally come around a corner and run into a deer, but those observations are quite different from hunting. During the fall, I'm sitting in a treestand looking for deer. Deer observations will be much higher simply because of observation technique. Now, for what is actually using my farm:

I've got a high end wireless camera network with solar panels that run 24/7/365. Most pictures of mature bucks occur at night. During the summer, I'll occasionally get a daytime picture of mature bucks. Once September rolls around, guys start hitting the woods to set stands and scout. This is immediately felt as pressure by deer. Deer don't leave, they just become more nocturnal. This chart shows all deer, not just mature bucks:

A few notes on the chart:

1) Our rut typically occurs in mid-November so we see a bit more daytime use in November due to the chase phase.

2) While we don't hunt deer with dogs, it is permitted in our county during the general firearms season. We see a dramatic drop in daytime pictures once dogs start running deer.

3) Also note that daytime pictures don't rebound immediately when the season ends. It takes deer a while to recover from the pressure.

4) While the chart is for all deer pictures, the same effect is true for mature bucks except that it is exaggerated. Mature bucks are more nocturnal by nature and are even more responsive to hunting pressure.

In my area, deer don't really do much winter/summer travel to a new range. That may be largely because we have moderate weather compared to areas to the north and south of us. We also have quite varied habitat so when food plots are wisely added for key gaps, deer have good food and cover 12 months of the year.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Boll Weevil]

The bucks on my place are homebodies but they can definitely prefer different areas of the farm at different times of year. They are most visible and predictable during the summer and glassing any given crop field with a spotting scope will reveal them munching away most evenings. Lots of daylight pics on cameras at this time.

Cameras positioned over mineral sites predictably show that nearing velvet shedding time, bachelor groups start to break up and some bucks will move. It's at this time the number of cameras I have out goes from 6-7 to 12 or more as I try to discover where they went. But what I've generally found is that with crops still in the ground and acorn beginning to fall they usually don't go far. The majority of pics are now at night.

By the time hunting season rolls around the frequency of pics is much lower and they are generally at night but as the rut approaches I start getting bucks on multiple cams where that wasn't the case earlier...they've start searching. When I start seeing daylight pics is when it's time to start hunting our best areas. In nearly every case, the 4.5+ year old bucks we kill are within a few hundred yards of where we watched them all year.