Bucks transitioning to fall

[Hildebrand]

Hi, so over the summer and my trail cam photos I have noticed zero night night time phots on my cell cameras, but my others cameras I have not checked once so I dont know. 90 percent of my pictures are 10-2 and I do have some around 5 ish at times. Is this normal for summer ? when will deer start to change things up? I noticed like one of my first pictures I had 3 bucks together, 5,8 and a 9 point but the 5 point split off real fast from the other two. I see the 8 and 9 together a lot but here and there I do see them split up. About when will they start to split and when would you expect the fall bucks to roll in ? thanks

[Lockdown]

Around the Midwest, patterns will start changing soon. Definitely in another 7-10 days. Whenever they start shedding their velvet, the switch flips. That is, the switch flips if it’s going to. Some bucks stay on pattern.

It’s pretty common for bucks to move around mid day during middle of summer. If you’re getting consistent mid day and very early evening/late morning pics, you know you’re close to bedding. They don’t go waltzing around just anywhere. Whenever I’m getting pics like that, I expect it to change to dawn and dusk pics right around Sept 1st.

Once that velvet comes off they’re a different deer whether they stay on pattern or not.

[Trout]

I'm seeing the same thing on my cell cams and the regular cameras where I've pulled cards. I've got about 75 different buck events on camera and close to 90% of those are during daylight. In June and July, a majority of those were between 10am and 2pm but that has started to move to closer dawn and dusk as August has progressed, averaging like 830-930am in the mornings and around 830pm in the evenings (gets dark here around 930pm this time of year).

[jkelley1487]

Early September is when I see a big shift. The velvet comes off, bucks start splitting up, fall ranges come into play, acorns start to fall, and the beans start turning yellow.

[Hildebrand]

Around the Midwest, patterns will start changing soon. Definitely in another 7-10 days. Whenever they start shedding their velvet, the switch flips. That is, the switch flips if it’s going to. Some bucks stay on pattern.

It’s pretty common for bucks to move around mid day during middle of summer. If you’re getting consistent mid day and very early evening/late morning pics, you know you’re close to bedding. They don’t go waltzing around just anywhere. Whenever I’m getting pics like that, I expect it to change to dawn and dusk pics right around Sept 1st.

Once that velvet comes off they’re a different deer whether they stay on pattern or not.

I am in , Michigan. All my cell camera pics are 10-2 on the bucks that I actually want to hunt. I am hoping to see a change here soon with them coming in the evening. The spot I have picked is just off a field edge closer to a transition which is real close to bedding. I actually have a mock scrape and water bin out and they come hit the water or mock and then head back.

[Hildebrand]

I'm seeing the same thing on my cell cams and the regular cameras where I've pulled cards. I've got about 75 different buck events on camera and close to 90% of those are during daylight. In June and July, a majority of those were between 10am and 2pm but that has started to move to closer dawn and dusk as August has progressed, averaging like 830-930am in the mornings and around 830pm in the evenings (gets dark here around 930pm this time of year).

Nice! I have not had them transition yet to a Moring or evening walk by at least for this area my cell camera is at. This is the area I am focused on most because it seems as the days go on these bucks are making almost a daily stop. I am going to start today and check the wind direction and try to gather information on that and see if I can put a plan together. Thank you for the replies