Buck activity, same time frame year to year

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Brickhouse
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Buck activity, same time frame year to year

Unread postby Brickhouse » Fri Feb 16, 2018 3:18 pm

So, I think we all know to watch for certain tendencies of a particular buck. Maybe he beds at a specific location on a specific wind. Or maybe he seems to be more daylight active when there is a light rain. There's a million different possibilities here. It's been touched on here before when a buck does nearly the same thing within a few days from one year to the next. What I'm talking about is say a buck shows up in a particular location 1 year on Nov 1st with a sudden temp drop. Then the next year the same buck shows up at the same spot within a couple days of Nov 1st with a corresponding temp drop. Again, it could be any type of pattern. The temp drop situation was used just for the sake of an example.

Why does this happen? Is it just coincidence? Or are they there for a specific reason within that time frame every year? Could it be both? Maybe there's an apple tree that drops apples within that time frame year to year. Or a group of does on an oak ridge the first week of november that the buck is coming to check. Or maybe some occasions are pure coincidence. Obviously they aren't following the calender, but maybe through a series of natural occurances at specific time frames throughout the year they become unknowingly "wired" a certain way and is something we can capitalize on.

I'm curious to see what everyone has to say as well as any specific experiences you might have seen here. I know many have already capitalized on this with historical data and I'd love to hear stories on how it went down.


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ghoasthunter
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Re: Buck activity, same time frame year to year

Unread postby ghoasthunter » Fri Feb 16, 2018 4:04 pm

that's something that I see running mineral sites in summer often its like they have a built in clock also I find scrapes and rubs show up at same time frames. this year I hunted a scrape that's near doe bedding and Shure enough it was on fire those couple days.
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Boogieman1
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Re: Buck activity, same time frame year to year

Unread postby Boogieman1 » Fri Feb 16, 2018 4:39 pm

Think we as hunters often complicate things by over thinking situations. My opinion on why bucks return to the same places within days apart each year is pretty basic. In the case of the apple tree example, whatever the buck was feeding b4 the apple tree will dry up about the same time every year so he just goes to the next food source. Same with doe groups or whatever, the reason he was there last year at whatever time will be the same every year cause it's controlled by Mother Nature. And deer are creatures of habit. Considering nothing changes!

Leaves fall about the same time every year, crops are harvested the same time every year, hunting season starts the same time every year, increased daylight same time every year etc.... All these play into deers lives
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Re: Buck activity, same time frame year to year

Unread postby brancher147 » Fri Feb 16, 2018 11:46 pm

They show up same place same time different year because they have learned how not to die, and are creatures of habit, especially when those habits keep them alive.

Here is a public land buck I hunted for a few years. I left this cam up all summer and fall and these are the first 2 pics I got of him 2 years in a row. 1 day apart. Never got a daytime pic, never saw the buck. Although I never hunted him much because it was so rough to get into and 3 mile walk and I had a bad knee for a couple years. He got killed in 2015.

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Re: Buck activity, same time frame year to year

Unread postby Rob loper » Fri Feb 16, 2018 11:53 pm

Boogieman1 wrote:Think we as hunters often complicate things by over thinking situations. My opinion on why bucks return to the same places within days apart each year is pretty basic. In the case of the apple tree example, whatever the buck was feeding b4 the apple tree will dry up about the same time every year so he just goes to the next food source. Same with doe groups or whatever, the reason he was there last year at whatever time will be the same every year cause it's controlled by Mother Nature. And deer are creatures of habit. Considering nothing changes!

Leaves fall about the same time every year, crops are harvested the same time every year, hunting season starts the same time every year, increased daylight same time every year etc.... All these play into deers lives


I agree 100%. I know im a newbie but i feel deer revolve their lives around. Food and bedding and it changes with the availability of each. Foods change so the deer changes travel patterns so the bedding changes. I have caught myself over thinking alot of things over the years. And sometimes you gotta just step back and rethink the area and whats availabe they are just really instinctively smart animals but we are smarter and more intelligent then them. Even though sometimes i think some people arent lol
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Re: Buck activity, same time frame year to year

Unread postby sgspencer » Sat Feb 17, 2018 12:42 am

I believe animals are hard wired genetically with a built in calendar and gps. They do things based on genetic programming and possibly certain environmental conditions such as temp, amount of daylight, etc.
I have a large purple martin colony at my place. The martins show up every year at the same time, almost to the exact date on the calendar. Think about that... this little bird with a birdbrain flies around 3000 miles from South America finds my back yard in Texas at the same date every year. No calendar, no compass, no gps.
I feel bucks are somewhat similar. When the genetic "switch" is tripped they will follow annual patterns.
The key is to figure out a specific buck's pattern and key in on that for the kill.
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Re: Buck activity, same time frame year to year

Unread postby SplitG2 » Sat Feb 17, 2018 1:21 am

Boogieman1 wrote:Think we as hunters often complicate things by over thinking situations. My opinion on why bucks return to the same places within days apart each year is pretty basic. In the case of the apple tree example, whatever the buck was feeding b4 the apple tree will dry up about the same time every year so he just goes to the next food source. Same with doe groups or whatever, the reason he was there last year at whatever time will be the same every year cause it's controlled by Mother Nature. And deer are creatures of habit. Considering nothing changes!

Leaves fall about the same time every year, crops are harvested the same time every year, hunting season starts the same time every year, increased daylight same time every year etc.... All these play into deers lives


Agree with this 100%. I think we overthink some thngs with whitetail deer because we're not survivors. We dont live our day to day lives as if we're trying to just make it til tomorrow and theyre in suvival mode pribably on an almost daily badis.

Outside of hunting pressure and predation, IMO, there's no reason for a buck to do anything any different from year to year. Once he's been alive for 2-3 years, learns the layout of the land over X amount of square miles, knows where food is at what time and when, knows where does are in heat and when, knows where and when a specific location is safe and knows when and what he can and can't get away with in a specific area, his life cycle and how he lives his life is set. He's figured all this out and he's survived and in order to survive he knows he better not make the mistake of living off that cycle.
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Wannabelikedan
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Re: Buck activity, same time frame year to year

Unread postby Wannabelikedan » Sat Feb 17, 2018 7:49 am

Photoperiod is what dictates the major biological responses in deer. Hunters and predators can dictate where they are on a small scale, but photoperiod drives their behavior seasonally. Currently, the days are getting longer. Testosterone is nearing it’s lowest levels in bucks and they’re shedding. Spring forage will soon be growing. Does will be foraging in regards to raising fawns. Bucks will be recovering from winter losses and putting nutrition towards growing body mass and antlers.

Fastfoward to late summer. Days are getting noticeable shorter. Testosterone is building in bucks triggering them to shed velvet and establish the pecking order. Forage and cover are beginning to drastically decrease. Fawns are near to getting the boot from Mom. Not much later, photoperiod triggers the estrogen cycle in does. Breeding occurs near the shortest days of the year and soon after we are back at square one.

All this will occur as long as the earth continues it’s annual rotation around the sun. This is the large scale of things. There are small things that also have to remain fairly constant in order to see those “deja vu” moments. Food sources, constant hunter pressure or lack of in certain areas, natural or unnatural changes in the landscape, etc. As long as the small scale factors remain the same, I think one would be surprised how consistent those patterns can be.

For example, a buck establishes a core area with an adequate number of bedding areas that have been constant for at least a decade. 4 years in a row, a food source is available in late September to early October time frame. Let’s say it’s an ag region with a good crop of oaks dropping acorns also. With the seasonal winds, comes a SW wind that so happens to get scent from an adjacent doe bedding blowing in. This doe group has one older doe that comes into heat roughly from the 24-30 of October. Remember that’s a fairly tight target considering photoperiod is very consistent. If seasonal Southerly winds remain consistent around that last week of October for those 4 years and that buck and doe remain alive and living in that area, IMO you should be able to observe strikingly similar feeding and rut-based activity/from that buck in that area during that time frame. Being in the right spot at the right time and not having any human intrusion beforehand weighing heavily too.

IMO this type of scenario happens or can happen more often than we think. The kicker is we can’t control all the small things that would otherwise allow this observation or we disrupt the process ourselves before the time is right. Also you have to account for bucks reaching a certain age and dominance level. I can’t recall ever seeing a young, subdominant buck holding such a pattern.
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Re: Buck activity, same time frame year to year

Unread postby Brickhouse » Sat Feb 17, 2018 8:29 am

Absolutely agree with everything said here. Thanks for everyone's input! I like the point on photoperiod. It totally drives much of the deer's behavior throughout the year.

I think I stole this from Jesse Coots on the most recent w2h podcast. Deer are not smart. They are survivors with keen senses that they use constantly to keep them alive and go about their daily business. Us hunters are smart. We have the ability to think and break down a situation based on things that we see or know.
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Re: Buck activity, same time frame year to year

Unread postby DaveT1963 » Sat Feb 17, 2018 8:56 am

The one factor that can throw a wrench into anything is an estrous doe. But personally, I think bucks repeat fall patterns pretty consistently because of the does. i.e. the does tend to cycle the same each year, and for some reason I have observed that doe family groups seem to cycle pretty close (i.e. the come in the same time)? Anyway, I think the bucks that have been around are fully alert to when does in their areas come in so yes anytime from mid Oct to Dec I believe bucks repeat some yearly habits/locations due to local doe populations. If all the does in a buck's core area come in and are bred in Oct/Nov (happens where buck to doe ratios are closer to 1:1) that explains why you see more dominate non local cruiser bucks show up late Nov early Dec as 3rd rut come in (I believe their is a weak but very present first rut in mid Oct).
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Re: Buck activity, same time frame year to year

Unread postby Stanley » Sat Feb 17, 2018 10:16 am

Boogieman1 wrote:Think we as hunters often complicate things by over thinking situations. My opinion on why bucks return to the same places within days apart each year is pretty basic. In the case of the apple tree example, whatever the buck was feeding b4 the apple tree will dry up about the same time every year so he just goes to the next food source. Same with doe groups or whatever, the reason he was there last year at whatever time will be the same every year cause it's controlled by Mother Nature. And deer are creatures of habit. Considering nothing changes!

Leaves fall about the same time every year, crops are harvested the same time every year, hunting season starts the same time every year, increased daylight same time every year etc.... All these play into deers lives

I agree.
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: Buck activity, same time frame year to year

Unread postby ghoasthunter » Sat Feb 17, 2018 11:52 am

Brickhouse wrote:Absolutely agree with everything said here. Thanks for everyone's input! I like the point on photoperiod. It totally drives much of the deer's behavior throughout the year.

I think I stole this from Jesse Coots on the most recent w2h podcast. Deer are not smart. They are survivors with keen senses that they use constantly to keep them alive and go about their daily business. Us hunters are smart. We have the ability to think and break down a situation based on things that we see or know.
i agree 100% deer do things the way they do till there time comes and hunters that capitalize on that and get out of the normal routine are the real killers
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ghoasthunter
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Re: Buck activity, same time frame year to year

Unread postby ghoasthunter » Sat Feb 17, 2018 11:59 am

ill say this log in all this data you find in a journal and use it as a reference every year and keep at it. its priceless information.
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