ORIGINAL: JoeRE
ORIGINAL: GregH
I have found that there are two distinct time periods for a flurry of big buck activity. The first one is around Oct. 27th through Nov. 4th. and the second one is from Nov. 7th through Nov. 12th. Plenty of bucks are taken on the 5th and 6th but in recent years I have seen the most action around Nov. 2nd and again around Nov. 11th.
A great bit of info once again, but this part really stuck with me. Looking back, this pretty much is exactly what I have noticed the last few years.
Any theories why? My initial thought is perhaps the first 'early' round is triggered by the very first few mature does that come round in any area (with the bulk coming round later), but I am not sure.
My theory is exactly what yours is. I saw evidence that supports it last season.
Some of the oldest does seems to come into estrus first. And it will attract the bucks like flys on........ you know. Well, when a dominant buck takes that doe for himself, it really incites a riot with the younger bucks, especially the 3 1/2s. That is when you see the first seeking frenzy.
This happened to me last season when I took the buck pictured in this thread. An old doe in one of the bedding areas on my hunting spot was in estrus. It was Oct 28th. During 2 hunts earlier in the week I only saw a couple of does and fawns on the north side of my spot. On the evening of the 28th, the wind had switched allowing me to hunt the south end of my spot for the first time of the season. To make a long story short, I saw a massive non-typical dogging a doe (the old one), 25 yards from my stand. No shot. [:@]She took him straight away from me. Not 30 minutes later, an ancient, down hill 11 pointer with an enormous body came by with a 1 1/2 4 pt in tow. The big guy let out the loudest, deepest grunt I'd ever heard then made a scrape at 23 yards, in my shooting lane. He had great mass and a wide spread, but his longest tines were only 4-5 inches and wouldn't make P&Y. It was easy to pass because I wanted the NT. It was the first NT I'd ever seen from a stand.The 11 pt and the 4 pt bedded down at 5 and 18 yards from my stand, pinning against my tree, standing, for 45 minutes. They finally got up and moved off in the direction from which they had come. Ten minutes after that I hadtwo 3 1/2s come by from the direction the NT and the doe had went. It was quite action packed! At dark I snuck out of there. The next day I couldn't hunt there because of the wind but I saw the two 3 1/2 8 pts from one of my other stands. They came from the direction of the stand with all the action. Finally, the wind switched again and I was able to hunt the stand where I'd seen all the action. The stand is located in thick cover between two doe bedding areas. I got there 10 minutes before light and had action immediately. First the 11 pt and the 4 pt came by, then the two 3 1/2s, a button buck ran by, a 1 1/2 7 pt walked by and finally the buck I ended up shooting! Wow! [:-][:-]
I believe that it was the old doe that brought all the bucks to that spot. After that, the action died down for a bit, as my friend hunts there also. He ended up shooting on on the 12th of Nov.
During the second flurry of activity I start seeing a lot of the 3 1/2s and some 4 1/2s all busted up from fighting.
Another theory I have is that some of the largest bucks I see during the season arn't seen until around Thanksgiving through Dec 10th. It almost seems like they let the younger, aggressive bucks blow off steam and wear themselves out before they come out and easily take does away from them. I've seen this happen more than once.