Bucks have disappeared

Been seeing so many good bucks both mule and whitetail but in the last 10 days they have vanished. Does come down to feed n the fields and see them all through the day most days. No bucks not even at dust and dawn.

What is up with it has anyone seen this before for this time of year.

Bucks live in bachelor groups throughout the year and once breading gets closer the disperse and split up. Also food sources change through the season and they change habits based on that too. Whitetail bucks anyway. Also hunting pressure, depending where you are, will change their patterns too.

I really only start seeing them more this time of year. Harvest, cooler weather, start of rut, they really start showing up. Had does and fawns in my yard all summer. I’m now starting to get more and more bucks, different ones showing up all the time.
Jim

Just unusual how was seeing them often now the last 10 days things have changed for some reason. A lot of pressure around me may have an impact and weather has been warmer during this time also...

They might still be around. Just more at night. Got any cameras?

A couple security cameras at ranch. We can't use cameras for hunting purposes here n Montana. There is so much cover here and still a lot of corn still standing. A lot of cover is a normal thing here so nothing changed that way.

They do that around here too especially the bigger bucks

They disappear here too, I think they find an alternative food source they like, also, dumb as they might act at times, have guys crawling around the woods puts them in nocturnal mode almost instantly

Yeah, these were pretty good bucks. I could glass the hills up till lately and see them almost every time I was there.

YEP. I'm in SW WI and I see this every year. Depending on buck/doe ratio can be more distinct. My theory for the last 40 years is it is the "calming" or a rest period as bucks have a rush of testosterone as the early part of rut begins. We just had a two week low of pics on the cameras, my water tanks (50 gallon) were lasting 2-3 weeks, and no mature bucks in most of my plots. Then flip the switch and its pics dang near 24/7, water tanks are only lasting 4ish days, and bucks are showing up day and night - plus different bucks I haven't seen.

I wouldn't worry at all about it and know its time for rut activity to begin

I agree with some of the comments I’ve seen them become quite the night owls. Some pics I have are one and two in the morning then none in early to full daylight.
Jim

My theory is the mature bucks know where the doe family groups are and they begin visiting them....several different groups in a 24hr period and several miles apart.

This behavior causes them to leave/change their previously routine activity. It is the prelude to peak breeding activity.

Those same mature bucks will come and go thruout the fall and early winter but will not settle back down until late winter after breeding subsides.

There is no "rest" period in the whitetail world during this time of year.

And BTW....the October lull is a myth. The bucks are not seen because they are travelling to parts of their range they only use this time of year. Its like they have vanished. That's why new bucks tend to show up while others seem to have left.

They stop showing up on a hunter's cameras and the hunter don't go hunting....the October lull is in the hunter's mind only.

We go through disappearing bucks for about 2 weeks. The bucks here are just starting to cruise so it should get better. Would say 2 - 3 weeks before the heavy rut begins.

Yep that is about right for here too. Just been interesting how nothing no sightings now for over a week.

Most of the bucks we are seeing move at night seen some dinks and one good buck moving in the daytime along thick cover. As they pressure each other for the rut they disperse like turkeys do over territory pressuring. Once in full rut the IQ factor drops it seems.

I’ve been surprised to see deer during rifle season that show up that were never seen in that area before in the previous months.

The buck movement is interesting. Years ago had a fiend showed me some trail cam pictures of a weird antlered buck from the previous fall. I laughed when I saw the pictures. I then showed him the sheds from that buck I found in the spring. This was 2.5 miles apart.

He’s on his way to my stand.



I won’t be able to see him until 6:50. lol

Seen 16 does and fawns last evening when I left the ranch not one dink buck.

Around here 2.5 miles isnt very far. Had a big buck we where hunting a few years ago that was covering 7 miles as the crow flies weekly. Big buck my boy shot spent summer and fall about 4 miles west of where we hunt and wouldn't show up in our areea until late November then would winter there until he shed his antlers. Know of a 200+ inch buck shot last year in our county that was killed 17 miles as the crow flies from where it had been photographed several times in September.

Very interesting Yes sir!!

Bucks come and go. Some stay in one somewhat small home range, some have big home ranges, some seasonally change their home range. Biggest shift I see around here in mature bucks home range is middle to end of November. Habitat and food change as vegetation changes, hunting pressure (both direct and general seasonal), breeding season pressures and just learned behaviors can effect movement. Probably other influences we dont know about. And every buck is an individual too. Run cameras year around over a big enough area and network with neighbors over several years and you learn a lot. I think the so called "nocturnal" bucks really has to do more with being too far from their day time Habitat and them not getting to ur stand or camera until dark than them not moving at all during daylight. Big bucks learn where safe areas are and where danger is during daylight. Sometimes by direct experience from hunting pressures and just previously learn seasonal experiences.

Cameras have really opened my eyes to some intresting things. We like to put animals in a box and say this is why they do it and sometimes those generalities are fundamentally sound but for the most part with mature bucks in my area its hard to put them in too tight a box.

Our deer in NC are feeder on acorns and don’t even come to corn piles.

This^^^^

Yep!