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Deer summer pattern vs fall pattern
- Thread starter sb1010
- Start date
Week before rifle season opens. ?
across the river
Senior Member
The "summer pattern" ends soon as the velvet comes of.
bluemarlin
Senior Member
Velvet, acorns dropping, and leaves falling off the trees are pattern changers.
slow motion
Senior Member
This. Food sources and hormones change how everything reacts.
slow motion
Senior Member
For me it seems to be around 2 weeks before. Last week of archery.
Geestring
Senior Member
Exactly what Across the River said. On our lease we get many daytime pics of mature bucks up until the scrapes and rubs start showing up in late August or early September. Once the velvet comes off they switch to more of a nocturnal pattern. Just like you flipped a light switch but it’s every year.
SRShunter
Senior Member
Without a doubt.!.! Everything is based on food. Bucks in velvet love open woods so they aren't banging their velvet on thick bushes, trees etc. Ag fields are the best food sources and they start to play out about the same time velvet is starting to come off. Then it's acorn season and they move to thicker cover and acorn flats. Bucks travel
Its fun watching guys follow the bucks all summer long and drooling over how they are gonna kill the buck of their dreams. they get into the stand on opening day and see nothing.
Happens across the country. The deer change their habits as soon as the velvet falls. And that's usually a week or so before the season opens. Coincidence?
Happens across the country. The deer change their habits as soon as the velvet falls. And that's usually a week or so before the season opens. Coincidence?
across the river
Senior Member
I used to hunt SC a lot in the blazing sun in august. It was pretty neat, because you could watch a field that would have numerous bucks coming to it almost to the clock, and of course the one you wanted to kill was always the last one to walk out in the evening, often after legal shooting light. You had to hope you got a chance to kill him that first week or two, or else he was often gone once the velvet came off. Pretty neat to be able to hunt though and see a bunch of bucks all out there feeding together while hunting.
IMO, to two easiest times to kill a mature buck are right before the velvet comes off, which does you no good in GA, and the last week or so of October, because you can pattern a mature deer pretty well those weeks. I've probably killed more mature deer in those two weeks than any other weeks combined.
It changes when the bucks start getting that urge to bulk up in anticipation of the coming rut. Once the mast starts falling is when they get serious.
Buckman18
Senior Member
Early to mid September in the areas I hunt.
I had a trail cam on a WMA last year before and during archery season. Before archery open on 9/12 I got pictures of deer in the daytime, just some does and younger bucks. After archery opening I did not get any pictures of daytime deer until 9/28. I continued to get night time pictures though.
I wasn't hunting then due to an injury, and it wasn't till much later I could access the trail camera.
I am thinking this was probably due to hunting pressure that decreased 2 weeks after the season started.
I wasn't hunting then due to an injury, and it wasn't till much later I could access the trail camera.
I am thinking this was probably due to hunting pressure that decreased 2 weeks after the season started.
Kris87
Senior Member
It's not the deer that change so much IMO, as much as the people getting into the woods not knowing how to kill a mature buck. You might get 1 or 2 good chances before they know you're around. I've killed the majority of my big bucks in GA in September, and none have been in velvet yet. I think they stay on a good pattern until the acorns start falling. Then it changes for me.
rstallings1979
Senior Member
I see bucks change course around mid to late Sept on our place.
Most of the deer i hunt are/were affected by the harvesting of crops - changes everything over night.
Most guys who are tracking deer all summer aren't gonna stay out of an area long enough to hunt it on the correct wind or weather pattern. They push it...
westcobbdog
Senior Member
More than a few pattern changes with pressure and change of food sources in the long season.
bullgator
Senior Member
My observation is the velvet coming off kick starts the hormones that lead up to the rut. They go from food first motivation to getting ready for the ladies motivation. This is also why the mature bucks leave the bachelor groups.
Kris87
Senior Member
I see them every year, hard horned, stay in bachelor groups up until the end of September.
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