I believe this to be fact

[ghoasthunter]

this kind of pattern is just not during rut bucks tend to go to same areas all season long if a buck does not follow his script he's dead or something changed. so if you had an encounter with a buck this season in a certain area hunt it the next year around the same time frame unless something changes that pattern its likely to continue. biggest thing is to be able to see that shift and adapt if needed. big bucks are never random they do what they do because its working.

[bh bowhunter]

Great thread! I believe I have a rut pattern of a mature buck I have been hunting for a couple years now. A little history about the place I call the Elk Wallow. I found this soft bottom while scouting in 2014, and noticed a wallow starting to appear. I decided to leave a trail cam to get pics of the bull making the wallow for a future elk hunt once I do draw a tag.

Not only did a couple bulls show up, I was getting several pics of a group of bucks and does, moving thru and drinking from the wallow. I only left the cam there that year for the month of September and hadn't seen the scrape only 50 yards away! I just knew I needed to do more scouting in here before next season.

2015 I got the first pics and a couple video's of the buck that became my #2 target for 2017. The last two seasons I have left a trailcam over the scrape near the wallow, and checked it each time I came to hunt from a blind I made 15yrds from the scrape. This buck doesn't come to the scrape very often, but he has showed up the last two years in a row on Nov 9th!

I was sitting a stand on the 9th just up the ridge when he showed up at the scrape! I don't know if I believe he will show again at the Elk Wallow scrape this season on the 9th, but I plan on being there if the wind is right!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6aQky2_fXA

[bh bowhunter]

Here is the video of the same buck from last season, same date! I also had him here on Thanksgiving Day and Dec 5,2017 I think it was. I missed by one day, I hunted the wallow Friday the day after and had a younger buck come cruising by. Been doing a ton more scouting in the surrounding area and may have found one of his bedding spots.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06g8B6DHdUw

[bh bowhunter]

This is the first video I got of this buck back in 2015. I was studying my pics and vids and can identify him because of the kicker points on his G-2's. That season again I only had the cam there for a short time. There has been some logging in the area, but the hunting pressure is low in this spot, as I have only ever had 1 pic of a guy in April last year, He was probably shed hunting.

[bh bowhunter]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmWuRYeCTj4

[perchsoup]

I don’t have quite the detailed data on this but I believe it to be true also.

Few trends in my area; on or around 10/25 a big buck will run across a open field in the middle of the day on my way out to a certain spot. Have seen this 3 of the last 4 years.

A little ag field will be packed with does and all the other fields empty the first evening after the first wind storm/cold front in October. Regardless of what is planted there. Even when it’s left for hay it happens here.

A certain bedding area on private lights up the week around 10/10 and then goes ice cold by the middle of the month.

I really have to pay closer attention to trends in my area and capitalize....

[Lockdown]

I also believe it to be fact. My 2016 buck was a no show all summer during the 2015 and 2016 seasons. I know the neighbors and nobody ever saw him once that I know of. And I had one cam pic of a big velvet buck but I don't know if it was him. Only report was the Culligan man saw a big one I'm betting his summer range was a few miles away or more. He showed up on camera in Oscar's October 22nd 2015, and Oct 24th 2016. And he'd stay after that.