Rut Hunting

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SidewayZ
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Rut Hunting

Unread postby SidewayZ » Fri Jan 20, 2017 12:34 pm

Has anyone seen a mature buck return to the same area (during rut) as prior year to breed does or is it to sporadic?


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jman22
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Re: Rut Hunting

Unread postby jman22 » Fri Jan 20, 2017 1:17 pm

I have witnessed this through trail cam photos twice. The most recent was in 2015 when I had a 2 (maybe a weak 3) yo make an appearance on a cam on November 12. Had never seen this buck before (velvet, in season, post season etc..). This year I had the same buck walk in front of the same camera on the same day in 2016. Again, never saw him before or after that pic. I'll be ready in 2017 haha!
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Re: Rut Hunting

Unread postby jman22 » Fri Jan 20, 2017 1:51 pm

I'll also add that on a few of the smaller farms I hunt it's not unusual at all to have mature bucks disperse once velvet sheds only to return for a brief period during the rut. These days are usually fairly similiar from one year to the next.
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seazofcheeze
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Re: Rut Hunting

Unread postby seazofcheeze » Fri Jan 20, 2017 4:34 pm

Bucky has quite a few posts about "rut circuits" as he calls them. Andrae has an article from a while back called "circuit rider" about how he moves from one stand location to the other throughout a day during the rut. If you use the search feature, put in Bucky as the poster/author and "circuit" in the keyword box. I know the "camera bombing thread" had some circuit discussion.
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Re: Rut Hunting

Unread postby mauser06 » Fri Jan 20, 2017 5:34 pm

I think it was the original marsh video...Andrea killed that giant that was essentially doing just that....Sounded like he showed up around the same time running does around the same field as the year prior...


Interesting to ponder....They might not have a calendar...But every year on Nov 1st (or whatever day) the amount of daylight is pretty dang close to what it was the year prior...And the amount (length) of daylight is the trigger for most things wild...


I've actually never watched a buck from year to year...
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Re: Rut Hunting

Unread postby Bucky » Tue Jan 24, 2017 7:22 am

Return to same areas same times of year.... yes in many instances

If you run cams long enough and keep detailed records you will see patterns. The more cams you run the higher likelihood you will find a pattern
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JoeRE
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Re: Rut Hunting

Unread postby JoeRE » Wed Jan 25, 2017 3:58 am

Yes, if you see a buck spend time in a particular doe bedding area - he is probably come through that exact same spot next year too if still alive. This happens a lot, I would say most of the time.

The exact days sometimes change though and I have been studying that a lot the last few years, trying to figure it out. Say I will have a camera on a buck cruising trail through a doe bedding area. One year a buck will be there regularly the first week of November. The next year, it might be more the second week. Predicting this is the tough part. Some of it is tied to weather but not always. A big high pressure system boosts cruising activity. I swear some of it is tied to full moon times too but also not always. I have become certain I see spikes in daylight cruising activity around full moons in the rut even if no telemetry study has found this yet. I think what makes things hard to predict are factors we don't know about such as pressure from other hunters and exactly when individual does come into estrus.

One pattern I have nailed down is when there seems to be an early hot doe in a spot, say end of October around here - look at that spot next year, if she is still alive (a big IF) there's a good chance she will come around close to the same dates. Late pre-rut seeking behavior by mature bucks is very consistent year to year I think for that reason. They shadow the same doe groups, use the same primary scrapes and buck bedding each pre-rut once they hit age 4 or so. Younger bucks change more year to year. That is my bread and butter tactic to kill bucks often using info from previous years. If they don't show up in the same areas, something big changed like hunting pressure....or most likely they are dead.
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Re: Rut Hunting

Unread postby mainebowhunter » Wed Jan 25, 2017 4:34 am

Yep. I sure do. If the buck is still alive. Thats always the #1 important factor... :D

2015 had a 6x5 come through the spot early morning on 11.7. Saw him again 1 more time with a doe. Almost had a chance again to kill him.

2016, the same buck came back through in the evening on 11.11. I am figuring that buck may bed their during the rut. Now to say he is or he is not, who knows. Its not my ground, so no scouting it so he is either checking does or he is bedding around the does during the rut. So I went with the assumption that he WAS bedding there. 11.12 I setup 150yds closer to where he came from. As close as I could and still stay on our ground. Ended up killing another 5.5yr old buck that we knew about from 1.5miles away. Historically, this area I hunt gets really good for mature bucks 14-20th. Many times, we observe the same types of behavior with the deer as the year previous.

Historical data is one that I push for big time. BUT here in Maine, I am pushing for data well outside the rut. You have to if you want to hunt ahead of the deer and not behind them. I am constantly trying to use data from the year before to put a plan together for the next season. Early season though, big tougher as its really really dependent on food. But there are still patterns.
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Stanley
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Re: Rut Hunting

Unread postby Stanley » Wed Jan 25, 2017 4:49 am

If a buck lives in a certain area and within that certain area there are what I call sweet spots. Then yes a mature buck will frequent the sweet spots. A sweet spot is nothing more than a safe area/spot a mature buck can travel in undetected. I think it would be a little naive on our part to say a certain buck visits the same spot the same time every year. :think: The buck lives in the area so that is where you will see him.

If there is a nice water hole in a bucks area of living. It is more likely he uses that water hole than another water hole out of his living area. Same thing applies to areas where does live he will visit those areas much more often than areas out of his living area. If a buck lives in a certain area and you hunt in that area it is very logical that is where you will see him.

Really no mystique here just kind of common occurrence. Sometimes we like to think outside the box, when in reality the answers are within the box. :think: I think Joe nailed it,"if you see a buck spend time in a particular doe bedding area - he is probably come through that exact same spot next year too if still alive". I mean why would he not?
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: Rut Hunting

Unread postby Jonny » Wed Jan 25, 2017 4:53 am

If something ain't broke, why fix it. If a buck is comfortable where he is, gets his fair dose of the ladies, and has everything he needs, why would he risk his life moving? I think magicman said deer are a creature of habit. So are humans. We frequent the same half dozen locations probably 90% of the time right? Why would deer be different?
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Re: Rut Hunting

Unread postby mainebowhunter » Wed Jan 25, 2017 4:59 am

Stanley wrote:If a buck lives in a certain area and within that certain area there are what I call sweet spots. Then yes a mature buck will frequent the sweet spots. A sweet spot is nothing more than a safe area/spot a mature buck can travel in undetected. I think it would be a little naive on our part to say a certain buck visits the same spot the same time every year. :think: The buck lives in the area so that is where you will see him.

If there is a nice water hole in a bucks area of living. It is more likely he uses that water hole than another water hole out of his living area. Same thing applies to areas where does live he will visit those areas much more often than areas out of his living area. If a buck lives in a certain area and you hunt in that area it is very logical that is where you will see him.

Really no mystique here just kind of common occurrence. Sometimes we like to think outside the box, when in reality the answers are within the box. :think: I think Joe nailed it,"if you see a buck spend time in a particular doe bedding area - he is probably come through that exact same spot next year too if still alive". I mean why would he not?


Stan stan your taking all the magic out of it. :D Its more fun to over analyze it and write books about it!
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Re: Rut Hunting

Unread postby goldtip5575 » Wed Jan 25, 2017 5:20 am

Stanley wrote:If a buck lives in a certain area and within that certain area there are what I call sweet spots. Then yes a mature buck will frequent the sweet spots. A sweet spot is nothing more than a safe area/spot a mature buck can travel in undetected. I think it would be a little naive on our part to say a certain buck visits the same spot the same time every year. :think: The buck lives in the area so that is where you will see him.

If there is a nice water hole in a bucks area of living. It is more likely he uses that water hole than another water hole out of his living area. Same thing applies to areas where does live he will visit those areas much more often than areas out of his living area. If a buck lives in a certain area and you hunt in that area it is very logical that is where you will see him.

Really no mystique here just kind of common occurrence. Sometimes we like to think outside the box, when in reality the answers are within the box. :think: I think Joe nailed it,"if you see a buck spend time in a particular doe bedding area - he is probably come through that exact same spot next year too if still alive". I mean why would he not?

Because doe bedding can go dry from year to year.....
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Re: Rut Hunting

Unread postby JoeRE » Wed Jan 25, 2017 6:44 am

You are right goldtip. Some things have to stay the same. I think in regions with low deer densities, bucks have to move a lot further in the rut - like Maine's home state. Deer move around too year to year based on food, predators like wolves, and human factors like hunting pressure or logging.

But if the does are there still, and a buck got lucky there last year, well that sort of thing sticks in a man's brain :lol:

The question is of course exactly WHEN...will it be November 7th or November 11th like in the example Maine posted? Maybe a hunter can be there every day during the rut. Usually we can't, due to access issues, wind issues, or time issues. That's when the guessing game starts.
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Stanley
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Re: Rut Hunting

Unread postby Stanley » Wed Jan 25, 2017 7:05 am

goldtip5575 wrote:
Stanley wrote:If a buck lives in a certain area and within that certain area there are what I call sweet spots. Then yes a mature buck will frequent the sweet spots. A sweet spot is nothing more than a safe area/spot a mature buck can travel in undetected. I think it would be a little naive on our part to say a certain buck visits the same spot the same time every year. :think: The buck lives in the area so that is where you will see him.

If there is a nice water hole in a bucks area of living. It is more likely he uses that water hole than another water hole out of his living area. Same thing applies to areas where does live he will visit those areas much more often than areas out of his living area. If a buck lives in a certain area and you hunt in that area it is very logical that is where you will see him.

Really no mystique here just kind of common occurrence. Sometimes we like to think outside the box, when in reality the answers are within the box. :think: I think Joe nailed it,"if you see a buck spend time in a particular doe bedding area - he is probably come through that exact same spot next year too if still alive". I mean why would he not?

Because doe bedding can go dry from year to year.....


True that, many variables as to why or why not a buck would revisit a certain area. I think the discussion is why do/would bucks revisit certain areas. Doesn't happen with every buck either. Most bucks don't make it through the season for most of us.
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: Rut Hunting

Unread postby sethg » Thu Jan 26, 2017 4:25 am

At least three different instances I've had bucks show back up within 1-2 days of the year prior... I was successful in killing 1 of them (140" 10 pt)... the other was 125" 8 pt (which is huge for mtns of WNC), but he was over property line and I didn't shoot him. I have a 10 pt on public land in Midwest that I have got on camera on the same scrape 2 years in a row, on the same day... facing same direction and everything. I think its really common. As long as doe bedding remains the same, they run the same circuits every year. Once he figures out what works, he ain't changing it.


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