I missed a big buck yesterday, I bet he won't back. I scared the crap out of him.

has he lived there his whole life?

I've seen Bucks leave the county and if they could swim very long distances they would leave the damn continent! And then I've seen Bucks that were hit with arrows or even firearms of various sorts and not even leave the 200 acre home turf! If it's a "home base" they will typically stick around but as Rock put it, they go nocturnal and as far as being able to hunt them, they may as well have left the area because you sure wont see them. Most seem to believe the rut makes a Buck 100% stupid. While yes they are definitely more aggressive and on the prowl in daylight more than they normally would be, they are still fairly alert and wary for the most part.

Being as the OP didn't actually hit the Buck, I highly doubt that it high tailed it out of the area. More than likely, since it was with archery equipment, it probably didn't give it a whole lot of thought at all. Bucks tend to leave an area more from a scent than from a noise.

That I don't know. Just started hunting there. This place is only 15-20 acres but it's very thick. Agriculture fields on all sides. I will run trail cameras out of there this spring and summer.

Don't get me wrong when I say he won't leave I mean he won't leave his home range not that he will continue the same pattern or stay in exactly the same spot.

I used to think they would leave if you pressured them but they just don't and actually the older and wiser they get the less likely they are to relocate.

For the most part the ones that don't show back up thats because they are dead.

If you are hunting 40 acres then sure he may stop using that part of his range but he didn't go far.

Outside traveling during the rut its very rare that I see new bucks or quit seeing local bucks on my camera.

The biggest smartest bucks on my properties get jumped and shot at but they ALWAYS come back.....ALWAYS

The number one hit list buck has lived in the exact same spot for years.....ive been putting hunters on him for years.

This is the only daylight picture of him all year


Another One of my oldest bucks finally fell last weekend. He has shown up every Oct for years. He is a mover and has always moved in the daylight but uses the wind brilliantly. He has winded hunters over and over again but last weekend he finally got caught.

From what little I can see of that deer, he looks a bit like the nasty old (around 10 years old) 9 pointer I smacked Friday Rock.

Yeah he was old. We didn't think he made it through the winter but sure enough he showed back up in Oct healthy as a horse.

The hunter really didn't know what he had.

I also put a Dr who owns some land I manage on a buck of a lifetime last weekend but he got busted.

Picture doesn't do him justice as its a picture of a video but he is a monster



All these bucks have been spooked and stayed around.

I know this is the bowhunting section of the forum but I missed with a shotgun.

With all the agricultural fields around there is only small partials of woods. I am going back out this Friday to see if he'll come back through. If not I will try and catch up with him in December. I believe this is or was his bedding area. Straight to the south is a small woods with a huge strip pit.

in my personal opinion, when an animal detects you it needs to satisfy 2 of 3 of its senses. so it needs to either see you, smell you or hear you in order for it to make the call to flee.
that being said, a gunshot might shake that up a little more and cause him to avoid that specific spot for a while too. set up your cam and see if you can spare the time.

That's why it's called hunting
 

You may never see that buck again this season. It might show up, the day you're absent. It might be following a doe, on someone else's property. Gets harvested there.

Where a deer goes is decided upon mainly by the deer. It lives in a area\ 24-7. It might move to an area not covered in your hunting. A deer doesn't care if its outside your coverage area.
It doesn't care if you never see the buck again. It never cares what you think of where the deer will be found.

That's why they call it hunting and not collection. The deer mainly decides where its going to go. And some hunters learn about hunting the hard way.
And there always is a little luck, mixed in with a little skill. Maybe you'll be a little lucky.
Harvest a great deer. You would probably say it was all skill.