Fall shift in territory

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mheichelbech
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Fall shift in territory

Unread postby mheichelbech » Sun Jun 14, 2015 7:21 am

What percentage of bucks, in your experience, make a shift in territory for Fall? Do you typically see other bucks take their place on your hunting property?

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Re: Fall shift in territory

Unread postby mattyq2402 » Sun Jun 14, 2015 9:22 am

I stop getting pictures around mid September of my big deer. This year I had one big boy stick around and he has done the same for the last 3 years, I believe I have a good idea where he beds and on my November trip I plan on going after him close to home. I believe he will be 5 or 6 years old this year. Every year I lose bigs, I get awesome summer pics on mineral sites then they head out. My neighbor is a doctor, he spends his spare time farming for deer and my potential booner for this year was found 1.5 mile away on his cameras. I have a lot of thick bedding but just don't keep bucks local, its hard to do when you live 2000 miles away. I'm going to put in crimson trail this year and hope to entice them. I'll have cameras up in a month to inventory. Plus finding this site has changed the way I look at set ups 100%. To answer the question I had two shooters disappear and one stayed, my set ups could have been a problem in not seeing them though, they just never showed on camera.

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BHC
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Re: Fall shift in territory

Unread postby BHC » Sun Jun 14, 2015 9:48 am

How much land are you hunting? In my experience they do not abandon their summer home. All of them expand their home range. Some more than others. A lot is going to have to do with primary food source. Best fall bedding.. Where does bed.. Most of our deer live in about a 500 acre areas. The question is: is he only using 10-15 acres of your land and 400 on your neighbors? This is generally see him "shift" off your property...

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mheichelbech
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Re: Fall shift in territory

Unread postby mheichelbech » Sun Jun 14, 2015 12:01 pm

Question was more due to an article posted on Wired to Hunt about the "fall shift". It postulated that buck often move up to a mile or more away but often return in November/December. Just curious as to Beast members experience with this. The property behind my house, 35 or so acres, there seem to be no bucks in October and them you start seeing them in November/December. There isn't any great food source there other than oaks. I think they get pressured to this property by gun hunters on neighboring properties. Another property I hunt seems to have bucks all summer and then they vacate. It has great food, corn/beans, oaks and good bedding. I don't think I put too much pressure on either property as I only hunt weekends and rotate a lot.

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Re: Fall shift in territory

Unread postby Hawthorne » Sun Jun 14, 2015 12:53 pm

Bucks during the summer like the cool overstory of a mature woods with air flow and it doesn't get in the way of their sensitive velvet antlers. Then they will shift to their fall habitat.For the most part I believe this to be true and their is never an always when it comes to deer behavior Could be a quarter mile or 5 miles.Does will stay in the fall thick cover all year.

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Re: Fall shift in territory

Unread postby mattyq2402 » Sun Jun 14, 2015 1:24 pm

The farm I'm on is in hill country and is only 64 acres so I don't doubt they may only be visiting a portion of my place. I've had quite a history of neighbors shooting my bigger deer a mile away or so. Sometimes not in the legal manner.... I'm really anxious to get there this year and apply what I've learned on here.

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Re: Fall shift in territory

Unread postby BHC » Sun Jun 14, 2015 2:04 pm

I didn't think about it earlier, but I think that big shift often occurs more in a farmland setting. We run cameras from June-feb and get the same bucks throughout the yr. Sometimes a buck near the property line will disappear for a time. But our deer generally stay relatively close. Most deer we kill we have summer pictures of them. But this is on 3300 acres. I have also found pattern in bucks on a certain part of the property will travel the same loops as bucks before them did from that region of the property. We do however have a few new bucks show up every yr during the rut.

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Re: Fall shift in territory

Unread postby Bucky » Sun Jun 14, 2015 11:53 pm

I run a ton of cameras and the shift happens a lot even on primo properties. The keys to keeping "mature" deer are pressure, cover and water. They will travel a long ways for food daily.

A family friend owns more land then most can dream of... he still looses bucks come Sept... even with acres of food/habitat/no pressure.

In my experience... deer have larger home ranges in big woods settings and hilly terrain... smaller in farmland


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Re: Fall shift in territory

Unread postby JoeRE » Mon Jun 15, 2015 6:21 am

What I see is a third to a half of bucks I follow completely change their core areas. About all adjust their bedding and way they move a little even if its in the same general area. That's in farm and hill country.

The telemetry studies I have seen show most of the time there is overlap, so its not like they are in one area all summer and a completely different area all fall, but where they spend, say, 75% of their time, might be different - half a mile apart, a mile apart, or even more.

I think one big factor for fall relocation, besides food, cover, and hunting pressure, is levels of dominance between bucks. As soon as testosterone levels start rising bucks start pushing each other around.
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Re: Fall shift in territory

Unread postby hunter10 » Mon Jun 15, 2015 6:30 am

I hunt farmland and each year have new bucks showing on cam and actually losing bucks from the cam from previous years. not to say they have moved on but camera didnt pick them up again
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Re: Fall shift in territory

Unread postby Southern Man » Mon Jun 15, 2015 11:50 pm

JoeRE wrote:What I see is a third to a half of bucks I follow completely change their core areas. About all adjust their bedding and way they move a little even if its in the same general area. That's in farm and hill country.

The telemetry studies I have seen show most of the time there is overlap, so its not like they are in one area all summer and a completely different area all fall, but where they spend, say, 75% of their time, might be different - half a mile apart, a mile apart, or even more.

I think one big factor for fall relocation, besides food, cover, and hunting pressure, is levels of dominance between bucks. As soon as testosterone levels start rising bucks start pushing each other around.


I agree with this. Most all of the bucks I watch will shift when the first of October comes. Anything with any age that is. Some stay in the same areas while others completely move and don't return until late January / early February.
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mheichelbech
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Re: Fall shift in territory

Unread postby mheichelbech » Tue Jun 16, 2015 1:21 am

JoeRE wrote:What I see is a third to a half of bucks I follow completely change their core areas. About all adjust their bedding and way they move a little even if its in the same general area. That's in farm and hill country.

The telemetry studies I have seen show most of the time there is overlap, so its not like they are in one area all summer and a completely different area all fall, but where they spend, say, 75% of their time, might be different - half a mile apart, a mile apart, or even more.

I think one big factor for fall relocation, besides food, cover, and hunting pressure, is levels of dominance between bucks. As soon as testosterone levels start rising bucks start pushing each other around.

This makes some sense but begs the question of why would the biggest buck move? Especially when they already have what they need and are not pressured or are able to manuever around it easily. So much about deer that I don't know!

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Re: Fall shift in territory

Unread postby headgear » Tue Jun 16, 2015 2:16 am

Good question mheichelbech, I think it comes down to several answers. Food, yes you might have everything you need on your property but maybe you can't compete with some of the seasonal food at specific times of the year. Cover, the leaves are dropping and those casual summer bedding locations aren't as secure, even with low pressure I think the bucks will shift to more secure fall bedding locations. Rut, as we get closer to the rut the bucks are going to slowly expand their range, maybe not chasing does yet but advertising they are in the area and sizing up the competition. I think it's just a natural progression because of the time of year, the rut windup up and winter around the corner. You can try to slow them down and keep them around but they have a great urge and get out and about.
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Re: Fall shift in territory

Unread postby bones09 » Tue Jun 16, 2015 3:18 am

mheichelbech wrote:
JoeRE wrote:What I see is a third to a half of bucks I follow completely change their core areas. About all adjust their bedding and way they move a little even if its in the same general area. That's in farm and hill country.

The telemetry studies I have seen show most of the time there is overlap, so its not like they are in one area all summer and a completely different area all fall, but where they spend, say, 75% of their time, might be different - half a mile apart, a mile apart, or even more.

I think one big factor for fall relocation, besides food, cover, and hunting pressure, is levels of dominance between bucks. As soon as testosterone levels start rising bucks start pushing each other around.

This makes some sense but begs the question of why would the biggest buck move? Especially when they already have what they need and are not pressured or are able to manuever around it easily. So much about deer that I don't know!

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If you have 1 particular deer that just disappears as soon as the velvet drops could it be that the doe group in your immediate area are his relatives, so he's gotta skip town to meet some different ladies??

I really have no idea. I see it every year and it seems every deer is different. Some bucks don't come back until January. Some will still cruise thru once a week at night but not really stay. Could be that the deer your after is no bully and getting pushed around. Rack size has really nothing to do with dominance.
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Re: Fall shift in territory

Unread postby JoeRE » Tue Jun 16, 2015 4:04 am

Yea sometimes a deer appears and disappears and I just scratch my head but Bones brings up some good points particularly about antler size and level of dominance. There are a ton of factors, sometimes you cannot pin it on one thing.

Some people turn 18, leave home for some place two time zones away. Others move 50 miles. Others stay in the same small town they grew up in their whole life. Everyone would give a little different reason why.


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