misperception on mature bucks and rut

[kblackman2019]

They move at night is code for ”im probably not doing something right”. Science doesn’t back up that fact and it doesn’t back up the fact that the older the buck the more he moves at night. Every deer is different and has different personalities with regard to movement. But one thing science does back up is deer are never exclusively nocturnal.

dan infalt disagress with you and i would imagine his wall is much more impressive than yours. mature bucks move most every day during the daylight, i am not arguing that. but that daylight movement may only be limited to a couple hundred yards

 

[kblackman2019]

Jim, i think you are confusing what is the highest percentage time when a buck will get killed by anyone, with what is the highest percentage time the a specific hunter will kill a specific mature buck. if you are hoping to get lucky, yes hunting between doe bedding areas during the rut is your best chance. however luck isnt going to consistantly put mature bucks on the wall.

if i could pick one day, it would be the first day of bow season, if i had the time to really pattern a buck.

again, how do mature bucks make it through a season if they are running around rut crazed during daylight hours for days on end for a 7-10 day period. they would get killed, bottom line. again most probably do this for a day or two, but listening to those that have the proof on the wall, this is the concusion i have come to

 

[howboutthemdawgs]

dan infalt disagress with you and i would imagine his wall is much more impressive than yours. mature bucks move most every day during the daylight, i am not arguing that. but that daylight movement may only be limited to a couple hundred yards

Steve dimarias, Bronson Strickland, Lindsey Thomas, qdma and a whole host of others academics agree with me...well more accurately I should say I agree with them. Dan Infalt is a dude who lives in southeast Wisconsin. I’m sure his wall is a lot more impressive than mine but let’s trade places...
I’m not necessarily disagreeing with you, I’m just saying science doesn’t back up that deer ever go completely nocturnal. And I would venture to guess they are way more apt to be seen during the daylight during the rut when they throw caution to the wind.

 

[kblackman2019]

Steve dimarias, Bronson Strickland, Lindsey Thomas, qdma and a whole host of others academics agree with me...well more accurately I should say I agree with them. Dan Infalt is a dude who lives in southeast Wisconsin. I’m sure his wall is a lot more impressive than mine but let’s trade places...
I’m not necessarily disagreeing with you, I’m just saying science doesn’t back up that deer ever go completely nocturnal. And I would venture to guess they are way more apt to be seen during the daylight during the rut when they throw caution to the wind.

where did i ever say bucks go completely nocturnal. you are arguing against a point that is not even trying to be made

 

[kblackman2019]

KB, I don’t think I am confusing anything.

First day of bow, the crepuscular pattern is even more in effect then.

If you can’t catch him at or close to food in early season, he is uber hard to kill.

In the rut, he can be killed from daylight to dark.

Believe what you will, sir, and hunt how you will.

If you choose believe your process is best, I am 100% all for you and will be rooting you along the way.

i dont believe my process is the best, that is why i am continously trying to improve upon it. i think that is a big difference with myself and some others, i am confidant enough in my own abilites to be humble enough to not be set in my ways and always trying to learn more from others. i had too many unsuccessful hunts relying on the theory that mature bucks for days on end are running around in daylight hours during the rut. yes they do do this, but in my opinion only for a day or two each year, and yes he can be killed on those days.

 

[spurrs and racks]

for the record, we hunt exactly the same. If I have a large buck that will add to the wall, I keep some ladies in his address unmolested by myself. I don't go in until it's time to kill him and the wind has to be exactly right.

Good luck this year. Myself, I'm getting too old to fool with them, I can't get them out of the woods any longer. So, If I pull the trigger in my club, everybody is getting down to see what I have done. And some young buck will be beating the road down on a 4-wheeler to help me. (big smile)

 

[Bowcephus]

I think most people vastly underestimate how much time a mature buck spends in daylight. They just aren’t in the right area

 

[spurrs and racks]

"but in my opinion only for a day or two each year, and yes he can be killed on those days. "

Every deer on your property is related. I all likely hood your rut will come and go in about 24 - 48 hours. The plus is the bucks get ready before the rut and he stays ready afterwards. The really big old smart ones, use their nose to determine when he walks. He ain't gonna get fooled much.

IMHO if he makes it old enough to see a 4th hunting season your chances of seeing him in the daylight are slim and none and none has left the building.

given for nothing.....value of zero

 

[howboutthemdawgs]

where did i ever say bucks go completely nocturnal. you are arguing against a point that is not even trying to be made

Sorry a lot of points argued, I must have gotten yours confused with another

 

[kblackman2019]

I think most people vastly underestimate how much time a mature buck spends in daylight. They just aren’t in the right area

how much ground do you think he is covering an what do you think he is doing while up on his feet

 

[spurrs and racks]

brothers in Christ my friend

 

[Nicodemus]

These ain`t trail camera pictures.

http://forum.gon.com/threads/rut-is-firing-up-in-lee-county.930705/

http://forum.gon.com/threads/secondary-rut-is-on-fire-in-lee-county.932002/

http://forum.gon.com/threads/cold-wet-afternoon-hot-bucks.932430/

 

[Dean]

I think we must be very careful to attribute 'general' buck behavior to all bucks because of an experience we have had with one specific buck. In other words, I have almost 20 years of hunting on a relatively low pressure and high acre property. Every year, we kill bucks multiple 4.5 - 6.5+ year old's based on jawbone guestimates corresponding to history of trail camera pictures. We have daylight pics of mature (4.5 or older) bucks in which the buck traveled 3 or more miles as the crow flies. We also have literally hundreds of nighttime pics of a 6.5+ year old buck last season - all at night over the course of a month, same camera spot on same tree. Zero hunter sightings from the stand during that time. That buck was killed during our 'peak rut' mid morning - the only daylight sighting we knew of about 1,000 yards from his home range. My point being, some bucks hang tight to a core home range, some travel far and wide. As others posted, a lot of factors play into mature buck movement - pressure, weather, terrain, does, food and probably the most important is (IMHO) is buck personality based on "his' life experiences and personality DNA. Some mature bucks we see very regularly in daylight hours -and some on the same property with the same environmental factors noted above prefer to move under cover of darkness. Each mature buck is different, just find it difficult to generalize and issue a blanket statement regarding daylight movement of mature bucks - either pre-rut, rut or post rut for that matter.

 

[Bowcephus]

how much ground do you think he is covering an what do you think he is doing while up on his feet

It varies a lot based on pressure, time of year, conditions, the individual deer, and the lay of the land. He’s not covering a whole lot of ground. Just browsing, and staging up to leave his safe zone after dark
I had a stud 16 point that primarily lived in a 5-10 acre block this past year and would get daylight pictures constantly. He knew he was safe there because it was very difficult to sneak in on him. Big bucks have a tendency to find those types of places.

 

[Mexican Squealer]

Discounting the daytime movement of mature bucks during the pre rut and rut results from either lack of time in the woods (during that time) or hunting poor land.

 

[Mr Bya Lungshot]

It varies a lot based on pressure, time of year, conditions, the individual deer, and the lay of the land. He’s not covering a whole lot of ground. Just browsing, and staging up to leave his safe zone after dark
I had a stud 16 point that primarily lived in a 5-10 acre block this past year and would get daylight pictures constantly. He knew he was safe there because it was very difficult to sneak in on him. Big bucks have a tendency to find those types of places.

They sure do. I had one I was tempted to name him Magic.
He’d be gone the minute before we appeared.

Either way you look at it a mostly nocturnal buck on your land is going to have his greater chances to grow much longer in the tooth than the daytime wandering bucks. The older they get the more nocturnal they were to begin with.
It’s not that they went nocturnal per say. It is that they we’re of a nocturnal personality to begin with.
The real old ones are night creatures of habit with limited daytime movements.
Show me one person who let’s a wild 190” buck walk in Georgia.
That buck is a nocturnal buck.
Why? He just is due to his age allowance.
Otherwise he woulda been shot years ago at 145”
To help explain this a deer farm can grow the daytime bucks too.
Thus disproving the myth of nocturnal bucks right? Wrong.
Not in the wild where all the hunters are roaming during each day of season shooting daytime wandering bucks and occasionally spooking up a monster or catching him during the rut.
Us hunters are typically in a campbed come middark.

That monster gets up and roams at night and back to his safe spot before daylight period. The one’s that don’t do this get shot from the herd earlier in life.

No such thing as a daytime wandering 200” buck.
He got spooked up or in rut.
That’s why big bucks are nocturnal. Humans shooting the wandering daytime bucks.
Another location location location answer.

 

[meatseeker]

Here’s my humble opinion. Define “moving in daylight “. That’s the real question. Yes they move year round. During the Rut longer distances and more open areas. Think of it this way. Young bucks are like exercise junkies. They are out and about always in the go. Old buck is like a couch potato. He’s gonna rest a lot but he’s gonna get up to eat and drink.but be assured if he thinks there’s a naked lady in his yard he’ll walk outside his comfort level to have a peak. He may not go as far but he’s going. Here’s my biggest theory as to how some stay hid so well even in the rut. People don’t give the does credit where credit is due. A mature doe is every bit as smart as a buck. After all she must keep herself safe as well as her fawns. Now these old ladies are hiding in the same safe pockets as the old bucks. So when she’s ready he doesn’t have to leave the house for love. This is just my observation and thoughts on where I hunt which is most often thick areas and laurel thickets. There are tiny pockets of woods everywhere that no one goes on. This is where they are. It’s often very close to you, that hill that’s a little to steep to go up, that little briar thicket that’s just to hard to see in and that spot that doesn’t look “good “

 

[kblackman2019]

here is the quote from a very successful hunter that got me thinking more on this train of thought

"if your goal is to kill big bucks, you need to be aggressive in every hunt. Hunting passively and killing big old bucks really dont go hand in hand. Despite waht people are lead to believe its rare that mature bucks wander far in daylight or expose themselves to danger. Killing them is not like killing 1.5 or 2 year olds. bottom line is the more you do right, the luckier you will get. most guys shoot 2 or 3 mature bucks in a lifetime and it either cause there on cushy land thats full of them, or they accidentally set up unknowingly within the movement window.

A lot of people think that 5 or 6 year old bucks run around crazy during the rut and its just a matter of sitting in funnel or over a food source but the truth is there may only be a day or two a season a big buck on pressured land lets his guard down an wanders in daylight. what are the odds thats the day your in the funnell? how many people do you know that hunt funnells, food, trails, or sign? how many of those guys have walls full of big buck racks?

keep hunting like everyone else, and you will continue to get results like everyone else."

 

[livetohunt]

here is the quote from a very successful hunter that got me thinking more on this train of thought

"if your goal is to kill big bucks, you need to be aggressive in every hunt. Hunting passively and killing big old bucks really dont go hand in hand. Despite waht people are lead to believe its rare that mature bucks wander far in daylight or expose themselves to danger. Killing them is not like killing 1.5 or 2 year olds. bottom line is the more you do right, the luckier you will get. most guys shoot 2 or 3 mature bucks in a lifetime and it either cause there on cushy land thats full of them, or they accidentally set up unknowingly within the movement window.

A lot of people think that 5 or 6 year old bucks run around crazy during the rut and its just a matter of sitting in funnel or over a food source but the truth is there may only be a day or two a season a big buck on pressured land lets his guard down an wanders in daylight. what are the odds thats the day your in the funnell? how many people do you know that hunt funnells, food, trails, or sign? how many of those guys have walls full of big buck racks?

keep hunting like everyone else, and you will continue to get results like everyone else."

Hunting aggressive only alerts the deer to your presence and lowers your odds of being successful in my opinion.

 

[spurrs and racks]

These ain`t trail camera pictures.


you hunt'n in a zoo my friend.........