When bucks are in their winter pattern

[dreaming bucks]

I own a small parcel (60 acres) of land, which is surrounded by a bunch of other small parcels that is owned by friends and relatives. It's not big woods country by any means. There is a lot of farm land that borders my land, but it seems like the local farmers fall plow everything, so there is very little left over in the fields for the deer to eat. So a lot of the deer I am seeing now, are in the fields down the road a quarter mile away or so. There is very little activity on our land right now for deer. I think they just all move down the way and group up with other deer in the area, where there is a little more food available...
My question is this... When will the deer start moving back to their spring locations ? Do we need the woods to actually start greening up again, or will they start making there way back in, say, around march or April when it's not so cold out ? I'm just trying to get a feel for when I need to go out scouting and see when they are useing the beds on my property again. Maybe there is no exact science for this, just wanted your guys and gals opinions.....
Thanks....

[huntinfool14]

the deer winter on my property..it seems to me the deer start moving back when it warms up and the snow is almost gone..id say around mid april is when i start to get bucks moving out..

[Wrinkleneck]

I'm guessing when it starts to green up so they don't have to go far from bedding for food. I'm not 100% sure as the deer in my area tend to winter close to me and my neighbor as he leaves corn standing for the deer to eat in the winter.

[Hodag Hunter]

Dreaming bucks,

I wouldn't really worry if the deer are there or not in spring before green. What I look for is the fall activity "laid down" right before freeze-up, before snow hits the ground.

It's like going back in time before the snow hit late fall/early winter. If you head out before spring green-up ground is still usally frozen showing tracks yet from fall.

Scrapes, rubs and beds will jump out you like they were made recently. This is the sign I look for as it indicates fall deer activity/travel patterns.

[dreaming bucks]

ok, I guess that makes sense... I just have to wait for the snow to melt before I can see those "signs" from last year, which is fine, I'm just getting antsy is all.

[dan]

Hodag beat me to what I was going to say.

[Singing Bridge]

ok, I guess that makes sense... I just have to wait for the snow to melt before I can see those "signs" from last year, which is fine, I'm just getting antsy is all.

If your property has three (3) feet or more of snow on it right now, scouting can be pretty tough. Otherwise...

If you are antsy get out there and scout- I would walk the property in a grid pattern, and keep reminding myself that I may not know my property as well as I think I do. Take a sheet of paper and pen along, maybe in a Ziploc. Draw a line on the sheet of paper to scale in the shape of your property. As you march out your grid pattern search, mark on your map all of the different types of habitat you find and where you found it- a "habitat map", so to speak. Note mature woods, cuttings, tree types, oaks, fields, thickets etc. Mark on your map each buck rub you find while doing a grid search. Mark any other deer sign you find as well.

When finished, rub patterns on your property may be revealing as to preferred buck travel. You might notice the rubs appear along a transition line where one habitat butts up to another. You may find a flurry of rubs, and ponder as to why they exist in that exact spot... bedding / staging / a field edge / nightime only? Rubs can certainly give away bedding areas for young bucks, and sometimes to the experienced eye can reveal potential bedding areas for the big boys.

Now, when the snow is off you will have a jump start on a few spots you want to really take a look at- for actual beds, scrapes and the like. When you finished your grid search, were you surprised at what you found on your 60 acres? Pretty good chance the answer will be yes, but there's only one way to tell...

[dreaming bucks]

Thanks singing bridge, a lot of good points.

I walked it yesterday, and I was actually pretty shocked at how much sign I saw. I'm not use to seeing much on our land in the winter, but we logged last year, and it seems the deer are really liking the treetops and brush. Found quite a few fresh beds, and lots of tracks. It snowed Monday, so it was only two days since the fresh snow, and there was tracks everywhere. I never really came across any "big" tracks though, looked like mostly doe and fawn tracks. I know there is one really great buck around on our land and I was trying to cut his tracks, but the fluffy snow made it hard to make out a lot of the tracks. The snow would basically fall back into the hole after they pulled their hoof out.

[76chevy]

at green up they will start moving back

it's all about food sources right now...

[Singing Bridge]

I walked it yesterday, and I was actually pretty shocked at how much sign I saw.

The reason I posted is I used to own a piece of property that was very similar in size- 55 acres. I did a quick scouting recon or two and thought I knew the lay of the land. I saw so many deer / young bucks on my property it bordered on being ridiculous. I'd often have three deer going through to the north, five within sight to the west going somewhere else... you get the idea. I pretty much thought I had my property down pat... then one day I was tracking a deer I shot, and came across a tiny bedding area that contained a beast of a buck. 12" trees were beefed in the area, and I had never laid eyes on the mature buck. I was shocked that the buck could live right under my nose with me having no idea he was there. My grid pattern scouting left me shaking my head at how much I didn't know about my own little property.

[Buckfever]

The size of the track in the right snow tells you something but also consider the spacing. The buck you're looking for is just a much bigger animal, the size of the gait, the spacing of the tracks will really strike you as so much greater than the other tracks. It'll be: "wow that's a big animal".