Suburban buck home range

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Zona
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Suburban buck home range

Unread postby Zona » Wed Mar 04, 2015 5:50 am

Last year I had high hopes in one of my areas. I captured 5 different bucks in a 100 acre woodlot in a suburban type setting. Most of the ridge tops are covered with houses and there is no agriculture. I did manage to find 2 buck beds and did jump a smaller 8 point in this area but never laid eyes on any of the bucks I had on cam. I am going to the area at the end of the month to try and find more beds and would like to hear from anyone else who hunts these suburban areas. I am curious in hearing of hiding spots you have found that these bucks hide in. Below are a few pics just to add some color. As far as I know, none of these bucks were killed last year.
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Re: Suburban buck home range

Unread postby Edcyclopedia » Wed Mar 04, 2015 6:05 am

I just read your bottom page saying... Hmmm..

:mrgreen: ;)

I find that Bucks are not loafers in the suburban settings for the most part.
They travel with a destination in mind and a time they can do it based on patterning humans.

I've done trail cam pics questions with a buddy that "never saw deer" and it was hilarious...
I asked him when he left for work?
He answered 8:45.
Boom - I dropped a pic of a 6-pointer from 9:20.

I asked him again on a Saturday morning about a day he went antiquing with his wife.
He answer 10:30.
Boom - 10:40, 8-pointer.
I revealed 3-other times based on his remarks that deer where patterning him!

If you can get closer to the homes the better from my experience, you just have to put up with lawn mowers, school buses and screaming kids playing in the neighborhood...
Expect the Unexpected when you least Expect it...
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Zona
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Re: Suburban buck home range

Unread postby Zona » Wed Mar 04, 2015 6:16 am

Edcyclopedia wrote:[glow=red]I just read your bottom page saying... Hmmm..[/glow]

:mrgreen: ;)

I find that Bucks are not loafers in the suburban settings for the most part.
They travel with a destination in mind and a time they can do it based on patterning humans.

I've done trail cam pics questions with a buddy that "never saw deer" and it was hilarious...
I asked him when he left for work?
He answered 8:45.
Boom - I dropped a pic of a 6-pointer from 9:20.

I asked him again on a Saturday morning about a day he went antiquing with his wife.
He answer 10:30.
Boom - 10:40, 8-pointer.
I revealed 3-other times based on his remarks that deer where patterning him!

If you can get closer to the homes the better from my experience, you just have to put up with lawn mowers, school buses and screaming kids playing in the neighborhood...


Got me Ed!! My bad.
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Re: Suburban buck home range

Unread postby wickedbruiser » Wed Mar 04, 2015 7:59 am

I hunt suburban deer here in MA. I learned the hard way my first year hunting here by using more rural tactics. These deer are most definitely a different breed. In small pocket hunting, these deer are conditioned postively to everyday neighbory activities (kids playing, lawn cutting, etc.) and are alerted as "no threat". Sums up why travel trails run so closely to housing. Any off guard activity that the deer are not conditioned by, they are alerted as a "threat" and will pattern accordingly to avoid harm.

I have found a few buck beds on the edges of backyards in thick stuff. When I recovered my buck last year in his bed, it was given that he used this bed on a N or NW facing the backyard and the wind to his back through the woods.

Urban deer are used to everyday activity. It's the postive conditioning that keeps them around. Actin as a non threat as much as you can may pay off. Why do you think the neighbor walking the dog sees the big 8 every time?

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Re: Suburban buck home range

Unread postby wickedbruiser » Wed Mar 04, 2015 8:06 am

Also, I've learned that these bucks love to jump pockets to pockets. If something bumps them, mostly likely they won't be back for weeks. Had a small buck on cam, the next day he was shot 3+ miles away.

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Re: Suburban buck home range

Unread postby briar » Wed Mar 04, 2015 8:31 am

The frustration in hunting small woods suburban bucks and soooo many times they can live or choose to live where you can't hunt. Everywehre is a sanctuary except your little pocket of woods. Its so hard to pursue a deer that way.
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Re: Suburban buck home range

Unread postby tim » Wed Mar 04, 2015 9:04 am

this style hunting is tough. after not filling my tags this year on my vacation i specifically set out to fill my remaining tags in a 1 acre suburban area ive hunted for a few years. i moved my stand only 30 yards and was able to hunt 3 out of 4 wind directions for the deer travel . problem is hardly ever seing deer and entry. i can only hunt evenings for this setup due to travel of deer and trailcam times showed that i would blow the deer out in am hunts. so i started hunting this stand almost every day as it was my only option left . i killed 2 does and a 2.5 yr old 9 pt. he was the only buck i was getting pics of and a 1 yr old 12pt that could really turn into something incredible. what i have noticed though in my metro area is once a new years rolls around i never see the same bucks from year to year---ever. since i dont take the spot to serious as its a last resort type area for me it doesnt upset me too much but i would think i would see some repeat deer from time to time. entry is key as i am usually not very far from bedding in these areas . this is bedroom hunting , i am in their wheelhouse on this setup. i do notice patterns at times , its as if it takes 5 or 6 days for deer to reappear from running their woodlots.
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Re: Suburban buck home range

Unread postby dan » Wed Mar 04, 2015 9:16 am

Every suburban situation is different... Some hold the bucks in a tight area and in some they shift to the no pressure properties...
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Re: Suburban buck home range

Unread postby Zona » Wed Mar 04, 2015 9:51 am

Without a doubt hunting these areas are tough. Many of Pennsylvania's best bucks are shot in this part of the state and the suburban setting is a large part why. My problem has been locating mature buck beds when the "typical" hill country bedding areas are non-existent. I am going to expand my search this year. Could be the bucks are relocating farther away than I think.
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Re: Suburban buck home range

Unread postby Milk Weed Seed » Thu Mar 05, 2015 6:55 am

I've bumped mature bucks from under a deck a few times at one spot. Anything overlooked can be bedding in the suburbs, it's like at some farms, they bed next to barns, and other structures as well as equipment sometimes. In the suburbs they bed next to houses, sheds, wood piles, fences etc.
Suburban deer can go a long way fast as they can generally cut through lots of little clusters of woods via train tracks, park paths, stream beds, between houses, etc. this gives them lots of places to wander off for a while. I have run corn piles in front of cameras almost all year, sometimes bucks show up for awhile and some just once or twice then never return (not just during the rut, but year round). In a bad winter they can get pinched together pretty tight though.
They can grow big old and smart in the suburbs. They can sneak past a backyard BBQ undetected, and sniff out if someone set up in the trees in just a few yards. I think I might get busted more in the suburbs than in hill country?
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Re: Suburban buck home range

Unread postby Zona » Thu Mar 05, 2015 9:47 am

I know I get busted more in the suburbs than any other terrain. Lack of good access routes to the stands is my problem. Bucks will also bed close to and watch parking areas like some here have experienced on pressured public ground. These bucks seem to be on high alert year round.

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Re: Suburban buck home range

Unread postby turflord » Fri Mar 06, 2015 12:54 am

I hunt suburban deer alot and have noticed in the morning they move later after the school busses and morning traffic has died down. In the 9.30am to 10.30 am.. This is only in smaller towns and less populated areas. In the bigger cities you have constant traffic and people moving around..
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Re: Suburban buck home range

Unread postby Zona » Fri Mar 06, 2015 2:37 am

turflord wrote:I hunt suburban deer alot and have noticed in the morning they move later after the school busses and morning traffic has died down. In the 9.30am to 10.30 am.. This is only in smaller towns and less populated areas. In the bigger cities you have constant traffic and people moving around..


I agree with your statement turflord. I can think of at least a dozen encounters with nice bucks after 9am early in the season. The mature bucks in this area seem to be strictly nocturnal. I use to try and beat them to their bedding areas in the morning only to have them bust out in the dark.
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Re: Suburban buck home range

Unread postby phade » Fri Mar 06, 2015 2:58 am

Subruban bucks in the fall have plenty of food in some or many cases. Pockets of native browse is supplemented with house after house of trees, shrubs, gardens, etc. that are food sources. This reduces their need to really be on their feet for longer distances during hunting hours when outside of the rut. Bucks can move from pocket to pocket if bothered, but I see them more often staying inside a small few acre postage stamp of trees/brush without a need to leave it because the border is lined with above noted food sources.

I think late season hunting in suburban areas can pay off if your access is the areawhere deer congregate after food sources dry up. Surburban rut hunting can also be exciting because oftentimes funnels are created by the rows of houses that want some woods behind them (for views, no further development, etc.). Anytime there is a strech of road with houses on the same size lot, there is usually a strip of woods, brush, etc. running behind them. Bucks will traverse the strips of woods checking for estrous does that might be bedding in those woods, or in the little strips between the houses themselves.
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Re: Suburban buck home range

Unread postby Zona » Fri Mar 06, 2015 5:01 am

phade wrote:Subruban bucks in the fall have plenty of food in some or many cases. Pockets of native browse is supplemented with house after house of trees, shrubs, gardens, etc. that are food sources. This reduces their need to really be on their feet for longer distances during hunting hours when outside of the rut. Bucks can move from pocket to pocket if bothered, but I see them more often staying inside a small few acre postage stamp of trees/brush without a need to leave it because the border is lined with above noted food sources.

I think late season hunting in suburban areas can pay off if your access is the areawhere deer congregate after food sources dry up. [glow=red]Surburban rut hunting can also be exciting because oftentimes funnels are created by the rows of houses that want some woods behind them (for views, no further development, etc.).[/glow] Anytime there is a strech of road with houses on the same size lot, there is usually a strip of woods, brush, etc. running behind them. Bucks will traverse the strips of woods checking for estrous does that might be bedding in those woods, or in the little strips between the houses themselves.


Agreed phade. Most of our success has been catching bucks doing just that. Around this area the steep side hills are used by the bucks looking foe does. Usually though bucks in this area will not leave the woodlots they are in until after dark or very early in the morning before daylight. If you happen to have a hot doe in the woodlot with you, you are in for a fun day, if not you are counting squirrels all day. I also agree that mature suburban bucks do not move very much. Prime bedding spots are at a premium and when they find an undisturbed area they don't venture too far from it.


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