ORIGINAL: kickin_buck
ORIGINAL: GMMAT
To eat something else....somewhere else?
I think (Emphasis on "think") that they have multiple cores within their home range. What you're seeing is what I see here every year. Their summer core is different when the food source changes. I'm seeing it change, here, right now. they're getting off the beans and onto the mast crops....although the beans are greener than ever and plentiful. The acorns are falling, though. I heard them hitting all around me, last night.
I've said it before.....wher emy bucks, here, "summer" .....is different from where they "winter". It's a simple way of stating what I did before.
Find his next preferred food source....and you'll find his next core.
It's also getting time for them to think about splitting up.....so your chances of spotting him will go down...if he's a lone buck (in lieu of several).
Three seasons and this is my "theory". Take it with a grain of salt.
I think GMMAT is pretty dead on. I know here in Illinois you can watch groups of bucks all summer feeding in beans, but once the beans start to dry up they move onto the next preferred food source.Also, once the velvet comes off and the bachelor groups break up, the bucks put a little space between themselves, so I guess you can say the core area expands at that point. We all know how far a buck will travel during the rut,so it only makes sense that the bucks will start expanding that area as soon as the bachelor groups break up. I am going thru this right now, I have been watching a group of six really good bucks all summer, but have not seen them with my eye are camera in the last two weeks.
I agree GMMAT hit this dead on. You have to remember too, that by the end of summer most natural browse (grasses and what not) are dry, coarse and have lost virtually all nutritional value.
It's like GMMAT said, they have multiple ranges in their core area. We hardly ever see mature bucks on property during the summer (with the exception of this summer, we got some good pics)because the majority of our property is on a south facing ridge and its simply too hott for a lot of deer during the summer. And this usedtoworrymebefore we decided that the inactivity, if you will, was due to the facing of our slope. We were always seeing nice bucks during the hunting season, but never during the springand summer. However, as it begins to cool, the acorns start to fall and the days shorten, the bucks gravitate their way back to our property.