How far will a mature buck travel to feed
- Singing Bridge
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Re: How far will a mature buck travel to feed
like Bucky said, a couple of miles is no big deal at all for a buck to travel to a preferred food source.
a buck's nighttime travels can easily cover a few miles or more, and hitting a preferred food is a piece of cake and a routine thing for a buck to do. i think a lot of hunters forget the range a buck may travel under the cover of darkness.
a buck's nighttime travels can easily cover a few miles or more, and hitting a preferred food is a piece of cake and a routine thing for a buck to do. i think a lot of hunters forget the range a buck may travel under the cover of darkness.
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Re: How far will a mature buck travel to feed
The marshes by my house are surrounded by crops, but often, you don't see the mature bucks come out till the early morning hours. Safety trumps food. I am convinced some old mature bucvks on the public or pressured properties would rather eat twigs and browse than stand in an open bean field... Even at night.
- jlh42581
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Re: How far will a mature buck travel to feed
dan wrote:The marshes by my house are surrounded by crops, but often, you don't see the mature bucks come out till the early morning hours. Safety trumps food. I am convinced some old mature bucvks on the public or pressured properties would rather eat twigs and browse than stand in an open bean field... Even at night.
Ive thought that a big buck might even forgo the rut to save his hide.
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Re: How far will a mature buck travel to feed
hunting pressure definitely dictates how a far a buck will move and be comfortable, even at night. My hunting spots run the gamut, from intense pressure to virtually none in my Canadian areas.
In Canadian fringe areas, where some alfalfa crops but up against non-ending tracts of wilderness to the north, those bucks will cover a long, long ways while running their circuit of travel and feeding during the night (which may include the alfalfa).
In Canadian fringe areas, where some alfalfa crops but up against non-ending tracts of wilderness to the north, those bucks will cover a long, long ways while running their circuit of travel and feeding during the night (which may include the alfalfa).
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Re: How far will a mature buck travel to feed
Singing Bridge wrote:hunting pressure definitely dictates how a far a buck will move and be comfortable, even at night. My hunting spots run the gamut, from intense pressure to virtually none in my Canadian areas.
In Canadian fringe areas, where some alfalfa crops but up against non-ending tracts of wilderness to the north, those bucks will cover a long, long ways while running their circuit of travel and feeding during the night (which may include the alfalfa).
This surprised me a little when I first read it because I thought with the low hunter numbers these bucks wouldn't need to go that far from such a good food source. Unless it is very poor habitat and they need to go miles so they can get the balanced diet they need. I imagine the wolves may contribute to the pressure because a food source like that will attract and produce a lot of small game for them.
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- Tadmdad
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Re: How far will a mature buck travel to feed
I agree with SB, in northern bigwoods they can travel miles at night, to feed and search for does.
For example, i remember where i first realize the distance a buck will travel. In 1984, was on a hunt in the W.U.P. of MI, hunting the Sylvania wilderness, is about 20K acres with no motorized vehicles. Located across the border from Land o lakes WI, was hunting the backside of cub lake, which was almost a 2 hr hike. The 4th day i shot a decent buck and when i gutted the buck, he was full of sunflower seeds and millet, was kind of stumped by that, and it was long before baiting was going on in MI.
We had a couple inches of snow, so i backtracked this buck to see where he was feeding. Tracked back to a house in WI that had a birdfeeder. It was before GPS, so i got out the topo and figured out that it was over 3 miles as the bird flies. That birdfeeder was pulling in deer for miles in every direction, looked like a hub in a wheel, with trails going everywhere. For several years, i used that birdfeeder to track off and located where the deer were bedding. And setup hunts in those bedding areas, killed several bucks using that birdfeeder. Then the owners sold the house, and the new owners didn't use the birdfeeder.
In the years after, i have used the same tactic when hunting new areas. When i find a area that is heavily used for feeding, i will backtrack and still hunt and stand hunt the bedding areas.
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For example, i remember where i first realize the distance a buck will travel. In 1984, was on a hunt in the W.U.P. of MI, hunting the Sylvania wilderness, is about 20K acres with no motorized vehicles. Located across the border from Land o lakes WI, was hunting the backside of cub lake, which was almost a 2 hr hike. The 4th day i shot a decent buck and when i gutted the buck, he was full of sunflower seeds and millet, was kind of stumped by that, and it was long before baiting was going on in MI.
We had a couple inches of snow, so i backtracked this buck to see where he was feeding. Tracked back to a house in WI that had a birdfeeder. It was before GPS, so i got out the topo and figured out that it was over 3 miles as the bird flies. That birdfeeder was pulling in deer for miles in every direction, looked like a hub in a wheel, with trails going everywhere. For several years, i used that birdfeeder to track off and located where the deer were bedding. And setup hunts in those bedding areas, killed several bucks using that birdfeeder. Then the owners sold the house, and the new owners didn't use the birdfeeder.
In the years after, i have used the same tactic when hunting new areas. When i find a area that is heavily used for feeding, i will backtrack and still hunt and stand hunt the bedding areas.
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Re: How far will a mature buck travel to feed
back in the '90's i was hunting the river bluffs of Pike Co. Missouri (across the river from the famous Pike Co. IL) where the Salt and Mississippi rivers converge. there is a 7000 acre piece of public in the bottoms that is mainly a duck hunting area but is open for bow only deer. part of that public has a duck refuge area closed to all hunting. anyway, from my stand on private i could see off the bluff and down into the marsh refuge area. it was well over a mile as the crow flies but farther to walk. it was late season, snow on the ground, full moon and the cut corn field on the private i was hunting was getting pounded. i was in a draw leading up the bluff and does, fawns, small bucks poured into the field about 1/2 hour before dark until there were over 50 deer out there. 36 deer walked by my tree at 3 yards. after legal shooting time/light ended you could still see great with the moon and snow so i sat there just to see if any big bucks were coming. seven P&Y caliber bucks including a really wide 150-160" filed by in the next 30 minutes. when i heard those bucks walking there was no meandering or pausing, or mistaking what was coming, they had someplace to be and they were getting there. you could tell by the difference in their cadence of walking compared to does/faws/small bucks. they lived in that refuge and wouldn't budge until after dark.
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Re: How far will a mature buck travel to feed
The Buck I killed this last year had a stomach full of corn. The nearest corn was up a huge bluff then a decent walk, it was over a mile.
- Singing Bridge
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Re: How far will a mature buck travel to feed
DEERSLAYER wrote: This surprised me a little when I first read it because I thought with the low hunter numbers these bucks wouldn't need to go that far from such a good food source. Unless it is very poor habitat and they need to go miles so they can get the balanced diet they need. I imagine the wolves may contribute to the pressure because a food source like that will attract and produce a lot of small game for them.
predators and a balanced diet are both contributing factors, you are right on the money Lance. wolves, canada lynx, coyotes and more have the bucks bedding in secure areas. a lot of them go high on big bluffs, the predators seem to spend less time up there. others bed low next to serious protection of cover and water, etc.
the balanced diet is also a requirement, and the bucks I've tracked have browsed on numerous twigs and leaves of maple, aspen, dogwood, lichens... on and on in addition to hitting the alfalfa within a few miles striking distance of their bed.
the wilderness bucks with no agriculture whatsoever may travel all of that and more, depending on conditions. these bucks are really something to see, they walk and act like olympic athletes compared to a lot of farm country bucks i've hunted. they are big and heavy in weight, with a lot of muscle and very little fat.
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Re: How far will a mature buck travel to feed
Tadmdad wrote:I agree with SB, in northern bigwoods they can travel miles at night, to feed and search for does.
For example, i remember where i first realize the distance a buck will travel. In 1984, was on a hunt in the W.U.P. of MI, hunting the Sylvania wilderness, is about 20K acres with no motorized vehicles. Located across the border from Land o lakes WI, was hunting the backside of cub lake, which was almost a 2 hr hike. The 4th day i shot a decent buck and when i gutted the buck, he was full of sunflower seeds and millet, was kind of stumped by that, and it was long before baiting was going on in MI.
We had a couple inches of snow, so i backtracked this buck to see where he was feeding. Tracked back to a house in WI that had a birdfeeder. It was before GPS, so i got out the topo and figured out that it was over 3 miles as the bird flies. That birdfeeder was pulling in deer for miles in every direction, looked like a hub in a wheel, with trails going everywhere. For several years, i used that birdfeeder to track off and located where the deer were bedding. And setup hunts in those bedding areas, killed several bucks using that birdfeeder. Then the owners sold the house, and the new owners didn't use the birdfeeder.
In the years after, i have used the same tactic when hunting new areas. When i find a area that is heavily used for feeding, i will backtrack and still hunt and stand hunt the bedding areas.
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excellent post- great information.
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Re: How far will a mature buck travel to feed
Singing Bridge wrote:...these bucks are really something to see, they walk and act like olympic athletes compared to a lot of farm country bucks i've hunted. they are big and heavy in weight, with a lot of muscle and very little fat.
I bet if a 6.5 year old farm buck and a 6.5 year old north country big woods buck got into a fight, the farm country buck would be in for a bit of a surprise.
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Re: How far will a mature buck travel to feed
I would say most of the areas I hunt 1 mile would be a good toke. If a buck has security and a food source there really isn't any reason for him to travel farther to eat the same thing. Most of the bucks I have kept track of over the years 1/2 mile is much closer to how far bucks travel. come rut that is a different story. 2-3 miles is no big deal for them to travel.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Re: How far will a mature buck travel to feed
The deer I hunt seem to be different from what I am hearing from others. Most of my areas are big woods or public land that has a crop field or three within striking distance of the big woods. I have observed bucks travelling in a nighttime circuit to feed, and the quality and quantity of the food near their bedding influences the size of these circuits. Even in summer I have watched bucks and bachelor groups running a circuit of over four miles to feed during the night. That seems like a lot to us, but its a piece of cake for them to travel that in an evening.
Even when I spent a lot of time hunting farm country, the bucks didn't simply go from bed A to food B and back... they also ran a circuit to feed on various crops and browse, but it was much smaller because of the quality of feed.
Even when I spent a lot of time hunting farm country, the bucks didn't simply go from bed A to food B and back... they also ran a circuit to feed on various crops and browse, but it was much smaller because of the quality of feed.
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Re: How far will a mature buck travel to feed
I have hunted the tall grass priarie in the plains region, I have found bucks bedding and using small patches of cover 2 miles from the food, where they don't get bothered.
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