Buck moving same direction at various hours?

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phade
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Buck moving same direction at various hours?

Unread postby phade » Sat Aug 02, 2014 5:39 am

Been following a buck that is a decent 3, maybe 4 yr old.

He appears on camera a few times a month. I (we - me and moog5050) have a handful of cams (which the buck doesn't seem to see or pay mind to) along a trail running N/S with bedding potential around it on either side. At the end of this trail is a small clover plot and a creek running w-e which is the property line.

Cams reveal we only pick him up moving N to S. And, it could be 9ish pm (maybe bed close by as there's a hint of light left)...or 10-11 a.m. or an hour or so of solid daylight left around 7-8 p.m. We see no S to N movement at all on the cams on that trail for that buck. And, it's not daily...we probably pick him up 3-4x a month on that trail.

That typically wouldn't bother me much other than the fact he's sticking N to S on random winds, conditions, and time. We reasonably don't get him during the mid-night time when he's up and feeding in the surrounding ag...other than that, he shows up a random times going south.

Throw some ideas out there as to why...we don't go on the property much at all, some of the cams are MMS, so the pics get sent to me.


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Re: Buck moving same direction at various hours?

Unread postby Southern Man » Sat Aug 02, 2014 8:05 am

phade wrote:That typically wouldn't bother me much other than the fact he's sticking N to S on random winds, conditions, and time.


Maybe it just a "one way" trail? :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Most of the pics I get of older deer always are traveling the same direction. Very seldom do I get pics of both way traffic by the same buck on the same trail. The younger bucks seem to go everywhere in all directions. Even with the older does, seldom is the trail going, the same as the trail coming back. Haven't a clue why. I always assumed (I know, I know what happens when you assume) they had a trail for going here or there and another route coming back, and wind has little to do with it.... generally speaking. I also figured, as an example, it's not just from bedding to feed and back to bedding, but instead it's bedding to feed, then feed over there, then feed over there, then back to bed after stopping back to feed over there. More of making the rounds, so to speak, rather than a direct travel to and back.

As far as older bucks go, I assumed the same thing, only not just for feed, but to keep tabs on other areas he will be interested in later on. It's interesting to watch a buck (or bucks) feed in a bean field every evening with no harassment and suddenly he's gone for a couple days only to show up again and feed in the same bean field for days on end. Maybe I'm giving an older buck too much credit. But I think seldom will they do anything random and there is a reason for the variation of travels.

Even though the older bucks I see, travel one way on a trail, that doesn't mean all deer will, some will move the way he does, then others will move the opposite. What about the other deer on that trail? Or are there any?
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Stanley
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Re: Buck moving same direction at various hours?

Unread postby Stanley » Sat Aug 02, 2014 11:40 am

I have noticed this also over the years. Buck will go from bed to food source, but not from food source to bed on the same trail. I think it is because the bed is a small area and the food source is normally much bigger. In other words the buck roams from food source to food source. Or if he is in on large food source he just doesn't end up back the way he came from.
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Re: Buck moving same direction at various hours?

Unread postby backstraps » Sat Aug 02, 2014 12:51 pm

I have noticed this as well. However, mine was easier to theorize... when I caught my buck going "one way only" on a trail it was generally in the same time frame. I had assumed he preferred this particular route to bed
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Re: Buck moving same direction at various hours?

Unread postby Primetime41 » Sat Aug 02, 2014 2:12 pm

I'm glad you asked about this, as I've been noticing this with big bucks the last few seasons. They show up 1 or 2 times a month going in the same direction, and it seems random as to when. Makes me wonder what they're doing the rest of the days. Looking forward to reading the opinions of beast members.

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Re: Buck moving same direction at various hours?

Unread postby TN Whitetail Freak » Sun Aug 03, 2014 5:22 am

It could be an added defense against predators....take a rabbit for instance when its flushed from its bed they can run ive seen a mile ahead of dogs 20 min later he returns full circle to his bed only to get rolled over by the 12 ga....
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Re: Buck moving same direction at various hours?

Unread postby phade » Thu Aug 07, 2014 5:34 am

Mostly does and fawns travel this path. A few doe families seem to call the area home and travel every direction.

I assumed that he wouldn't necessarily travel this path back the same way, but with the random times/conditions of when he does take this trail, i thought there might be a time where he'd walk back in that way in some fashion.

There's alot of bedding nearby too, so my expectation is that he's bedding in the suspected area (we've found plenty of beds already).
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Re: Buck moving same direction at various hours?

Unread postby rochester coops » Thu Aug 07, 2014 6:18 am

Is it possible he beds there on certain morning wind directions. Could it appear that he beds there on random wind directions because the winds are shifting during the day? So he may bed there on say e morning winds, but by evening the wind may be whatever and appear random. Is it possible he is leaving the bed at 10 am on days that wind shifted? Maybe he only goes 1 direction down that trail as he j-hooks into the bed on another trail?
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Re: Buck moving same direction at various hours?

Unread postby dan » Thu Aug 07, 2014 7:31 am

The buck may or may not be coming thru daily... Exactly where he beds and which trail he goes down may be the varying factor. One way travel is good... Back and forth from food to bed. I think the trick would be to get closer to his bed for more consistency. You may also see more nocturnal movement as the season approaches, I don't think this is dona as much about pressure as it is just timing. As the fall approaches they just move less and shorter distances in daylight.
Its pretty common to find deer on patterns like this. Its much harder to find great bucks on solid patterns that are easy to decipher.
My suggestion would be to try and figure out where he is coming from with out buggering him, and to really keep track of weather, wind, moon etc, and try and establish some sort of semi-predictable pattern.


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