Have a couple areas with lots of does, young deer but no bucks sightings or evidence until pre-rut/rut.
What are the usual reasons for this and is it feasible to alter the property to attract them better in early season...also, for these areas, particularly early season, thickness of the areas is not the issue. My main guess for me is better food sources and adequate bedding near the food. Did I just answer my own question?
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No bucks except for the rut-is this fixable
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No bucks except for the rut-is this fixable
"One of the chief attractions of the life of the wilderness is its rugged and stalwart democracy; there every man stands for what he actually is and can show himself to be." — Theodore Roosevelt, 1893
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Re: No bucks except for the rut-is this fixable
Post topo an aerial of the place.
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- Hawthorne
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Re: No bucks except for the rut-is this fixable
I own a property like this the bucks don't show up till October. I have thousands of pictures of does and fawns with an occasional young buck all summer. Come mid to late October I get pics of older bucks. I save that property for the rut and hunt elsewhere early season.
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Re: No bucks except for the rut-is this fixable
Hawthorne wrote:I own a property like this the bucks don't show up till October. I have thousands of pictures of does and fawns with an occasional young buck all summer. Come mid to late October I get pics of older bucks. I save that property for the rut and hunt elsewhere early season.
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This is what I've been doing....since it is right behind my house...few hundred yards...it'd be great to get bucks around more than just late October/November.
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Re: No bucks except for the rut-is this fixable
One of my hunting grounds is behind my place. A nice big suburbia pocket. There is a nice chunk of public across the road and that public butts up against some housing but nothing extreme. I'm confident these bucks utilize both grounds. But what I have observed is that occasionally relocating a cam will pick up an older buck in velvet that I haven't seen majority of the summer. Being that home ranges shrink during summer months into early season because of unlimited amount of food sources, I believe older, more mature bucks are bedding on the property but are really elusive. I call them pocket ghosts. Then once it comes closer to prerut rut, they make appearances more frequent.
So I thought I'd throw that out there because I thought I was in the same position as you. Seeing tons of does, younger bucks on cam summer to early season. You may have some older bucks within but just not catching eye. Or, that ground may just well be a doe, young buck hot spot and the rut is where it's at.
It does not hurt to throw in bonuses if you can..micro food plot in deeper cover, hinge cutting, clear cuts, funnel cutting, mineral sites. Any little thing that will/can attract and hold.
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So I thought I'd throw that out there because I thought I was in the same position as you. Seeing tons of does, younger bucks on cam summer to early season. You may have some older bucks within but just not catching eye. Or, that ground may just well be a doe, young buck hot spot and the rut is where it's at.
It does not hurt to throw in bonuses if you can..micro food plot in deeper cover, hinge cutting, clear cuts, funnel cutting, mineral sites. Any little thing that will/can attract and hold.
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Re: No bucks except for the rut-is this fixable
I have some land behind my house that is the exact same. I have seen some really good bucks during the rut but the rest of the year they are absent. I have planted a small food plot in the woods, and it did nothing but feed the does I already know are there. I hunt it during the rut and once or twice if I want to get out and am short on time.
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Re: No bucks except for the rut-is this fixable
Good bedding, lack of pressure, and food will equal bucks... I have seen properties with bad bedding, and low quality food fill up with huge bucks cause its posted and no one walks around there. and the surrounding area gets a lot of pressure.
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Re: No bucks except for the rut-is this fixable
dan wrote:Good bedding, lack of pressure, and food will equal bucks... I have seen properties with bad bedding, and low quality food fill up with huge bucks cause its posted and no one walks around there. and the surrounding area gets a lot of pressure.
This is also partly why I think I see more bucks after the rut as well....gun season comes in (opening day sounds like the Middle East) and the migrate to this property. Opening day of gun last year I saw 7 bucks.
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"One of the chief attractions of the life of the wilderness is its rugged and stalwart democracy; there every man stands for what he actually is and can show himself to be." — Theodore Roosevelt, 1893
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