You have scouted/hunted (Trailcam use included) your area that you hunt for 4 seasons.
Do you believe you have an inventory of the bucks that will be there this season?
LT
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"The Whitetail Deer". Call them dumb, call them curious, call them whatever you want, but one day, the biggest one you ever saw will turn you into a babbling fool.
No.. I do not. (an idea though.. but not an inventory).
Again this one depends on so many factors.. available food sources.. competition for does.. preferred bedding areas.. it really is different from one piece of land to the next.
Younger bucks that of 1.5 - 2.5 yrs. have much larger home ranges generally and may be there on your trailcam one year and gone the next.. dispersing several miles sometimes. The older bucks (3.5 or older) tend to have smaller home ranges and are more likely to stick around.. so to speak. But again this is greatly effected by many other factors.
I see this very thing every year while shed hunting. Certain bucks (usually of the 3.5 class or above) seem to really find an area they prefer (and although smaller.. still kinda large in size) while I get the sheds off of almost an entirely different group of 1.5 and 2.5 yr. old bucks every year. The 1.5 and 2.5 almost disappear for me from one year to the next.
Not to mention the rut.. when deer do travel when searching for companionship. Many factors play huge roles in how you want to look at this all.
I can say this that these camera's do not pick up every buck in the woods. The 140 incher I shot this last fall was never on camera, we had them out for 2 months previous to me shooting him. I'm pretty sure our 130 acres he calls home to. It just goes to show you never ever really know exactly what you got in your woods, one would be surprised if they really knew!
There arethose that I've seen the last few years in a row, but there are several that fade in and out. There is conservation ground on two sides, so pressure in those areas pushes deer in that we see occasionally.
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same here, my area is huge, there is no way i could even get close to an inventory. I also find sheds of bucks that i have never seen or got cam pics of.
Quote:
ORIGINAL: buckeye
Every year I see numerous bucks on the properties I hunt that I never got any game cam pics of or saw during numerous summer glassing sessions.
During the rut there's always the bucks that just appear out of nowhere because they're traveling long distancesin search of does or chasing a particular doe.
Outside the rut I would say at least 80% or so.
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