RE: The Dominant buck....What happens?
 

Well Jeff, probably what will happen is not your place will be overrun by scrub bucks, cause now they will go and impregnate all the doe, and hopefully this guy got his seed out and hopefully it wasn't on a doe that you already shot.

Just joking jeff, in a healthy herd, someone else will move in. Bucks travel for miles for a hot doe.

RE: The Dominant buck....What happens?
 

From everything i have read it does not take long at all for the other deer to realize he is gone and a new one takes over quickly.

RE: The Dominant buck....What happens?
 

Wholeheartedly agree with Shed. Remember that in the rut and even post rut that sometimes we see bucks that don't frequent the area and that is part of the reason we never see such bucks at other times of the year. Thats why I love the rut, sometimes another dominant buck from another area shows up looking for "strange".;)

RE: The Dominant buck....What happens?
 

It's all about the herd dynamics in the surrounding lots.

If you have a neighboring parcel that has a stud buck locking down all the estrous does, the larger subdominants from that parcel will troll the neighboring lots for stragglers, because their efforts in their home range are being thwarted. I call these bucks "satellite bucks," because they startpatrolling a larger radiusoutside their home range once the breeding activitybegins. Generally speaking, they're big enough totangle with the big dogs, and may step up to challenge him, but usually they wind up being pushed around and ultimately jilted.

Thebig dogsalready know where they're going. They will not be displaced, and they have a big doe herd ready and waiting.

The satellites are the guys who are left traveling afar, looking for an available doe that isn't tied up by a bigger deer.

These satellite bucks willeventually invade your woodlot and quickly realize that the throne is empty - at which point they will make themselves readily available to any receptive doe.

To what extent they "stay" there to live out the end of their days... I don't know.

RE: The Dominant buck....What happens?
 

A buck will only be with one doe at a time, so it is not like this guy impregnated every doe in your area. Every buck is certain that he is the dominant buck until someone bigger shows up in his immediate vicinity. They are not like a pack of wolves where there is a prescribed pecking order. If a 1.5 year old buck is the most aggressive buck around at any given moment, then he will be the one chasing the hot doe.

In short, nothing is going to change. The deer won't really even know he is gone. They are going to just keep doing what they have been doing; trying to eat and breed. The only difference at all is that he will not be pushing a few smaller bucks off does throughout the year, but the dynamics of the woods will remain the same it has been forever.

RE: The Dominant buck....What happens?
 

I have a "sattelite" buck's dream come true in my woods, right now. It "should" be a treat to watch when Rob's here in a week.;) I haven't seen anything bigger than a 1.5 yr old, other than the buck I took.....and I don't have any reason to think all the younger bucks from last year aren't "around".

We could literally see "anything".:)

RE: The Dominant buck....What happens?
 

THAT right there is exactly right ...... there is your answer

RE: The Dominant buck....What happens?
 

PT...BC....I was more wondering if a "traveler" buck might take up residence with the herd, here....now that the "I'll kick you ass" buck isn't around?????

RE: The Dominant buck....What happens?
 

Generally the travelling bucks will just come in and hang out for a while, but for the most part they will return to their home range once they are done playing with the girls. Whatcould alsohappen is that the smaller bucks will continue to live there and develop into mature bucks in a few years. OR there is just another big john hanging around living on your ground they you have never witnessed. Point of this big long story is that there are so many scenarios that you will never really know whats going to happen untill it happens. Deer are deer, they will do what they want!

RE: The Dominant buck....What happens?
 

I am by no means an expert here, but I would imagine that he would tend too .... as long as the essentials were met ..... food,secure bedding areas .... etc. why would he move? Year after year those honey holes always seem to attract deer ...... we knowwhat areasto push when the hunting pressure gets heavy to get the deer moving ..... same with big bucks, it seems ..... rub lines being used by another buck .... scrape lines ..... etc