Mature buck movements

I've been in discussion with some friends about the lack of mature buck movement we are seeing bowhunting in Nov

Clearly by us we believe the sweet spot for the rut is 11/2-11/10. That hasn't changed

What has is cameras are showing daylight movement of the dandies before Halloween!! After is mainly night time

One buddy is taking his rut week this year the week of Oct 23rd based on movement last year. A couple others are going to go Halloween week

Anyone else seeing patterns changing for the big boys?

No doubt daytime buck movement for me is still the first three weeks of Nov. But with that said, it is a different ball game than 20 yrs ago. They are much more skiddish as are the does. Several things. One, by end Oct, we have had 5 wks bow season, 2 early doe seasons, various bear seasons for 8 wks not counting the allowed training month of Aug for bear dogs, plus early squirrel, and an influx of now legal crossbows numbers . My point, by what used to be the first couple weeks of hunting by late Oct, the deer, including the does have been harassed for almost 2 months now and they are on high alert especially for those of us that hunt high pressure areas.
I hunt very limited early season allowing my neighbors to drive deer on to my property by end of Oct. Seems to work most years for me.

In my area, I've seen great movement the first two weeks of November over the last 10+ years. That said, my neighbors have been killing their big deer during the last weekend in October the last two years. I haven't even been in the woods those weekends so I couldn't say if the activity was better then or in early November.


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Daylight movement remains pretty much Nov. 1 til start of gun season about 2 weeks later. On my place.
But i am watching the plot primarily. Buck activity after dark increases 3 fold there the last week of October.

Here is how I break it down. If I l know via cameras/scouting I have a target buck living working my property I would prefer to hunt Oct. 25 to November 5th. He will be up and checking for that first doe in estrous in his neck of the woods. If my property is not home to a target buck then I would want to hunt November 6th. to November 16th. At this time the "roamers/trespass bucks" will be intersecting the property looking for does.

My guess would be the reason you are seeing more bucks early in rut instead of at peak rut is due to pressure. More people are in the woods during peak rut pushing the big boys to become nocturnal. I don't know what the pressure is like in the surrounding area but I would assume that is the problem. More than likely if looked at whole picture I would guess the daylight movement for the doe has slowed as well. I could be wrong but if I saw this on one of my farms I would just guess we over hunted the farm.

I came to the conclusion I need to reset my expectations for the rut. Magazines, tv shows, etc. lead us to believe that bucks are going to go crazy during the rut and that just is not the case. There seems to be more years where there isn't a lot of "cruising", chasing and rut activity DURING DAYLIGHT than there are years with it, even with seemingly good weather. Even on the "good rut action" years there are not many days that have featured hard cruising over the course of the breeding cycle in my experience.

Blizzard Ridge said:

My guess would be the reason you are seeing more bucks early in rut instead of at peak rut is due to pressure. More people are in the woods during peak rut pushing the big boys to become nocturnal. I don't know what the pressure is like in the surrounding area but I would assume that is the problem. More than likely if looked at whole picture I would guess the daylight movement for the doe has slowed as well. I could be wrong but if I saw this on one of my farms I would just guess we over hunted the farm.

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We have extreme pressure in our county. In 2015 I heard my first 100 shots opening morning in the first 27 minutes of the hunt. 2016 was so windy it was hard to hear opening day but the second day I heard 100 shots in 35 minutes from the start

A handful of 3 1/2 year old bucks are killed annually around Oct. 27/28 in fields in the evening feeding out in the open and then they are not seen again until rut time a week and to a week 1/2 later. I can't imagine hearing even 50 shots even over the four weeks of prime season anymore let alone a hundred in just the beginning of opening morning.There are very few shots on opening day of rifle (Oct 20th or so). Though seemingly everyone in this area hunts, the long gun seasons take away the urgency to be out there before prime time for most.

There are lots of monsters killed in october and the one thing in common is most were killed during a cold front when the temp drops 10-20 degrees.Then the chase phase when you see all the 2.5 and 3.5 with that big one popping up once in a while.But like a couple of you said I get alot of mature bucks at 10am after all the does have bedded because they are tired of being chased all night.Then thanksgiving.I have seen more big buck fights and mature bucks chasing on that single day than any rest of season

Our season goes like this: First week of October sees the most daylight movement in the plots (coincides with opening of bow season). At this point the deer seem to transition away from daylight use of the plots to acorns where they're much harder to pattern in daylight. Around Halloween, we start picking up random cruising daylight photos. Still hard to predict. Cameras on active scrapes see 8-10 visitors but at night. Most of our daylight photos of mature bucks were between the 10-15th of November (just before rifle season opens) but in transition areas and frequently down wind of plots or bedding areas. During the next two weeks, there is lots of young buck daylight action but the big boys seemed to be locked down. Last week of November, the rut seems to wane and the big boys are in the plots again coming in at dusk. This continues through our MZ season which wraps up just before Christmas. As real cold weather sets in, they'll start showing up as early as 3pm. I think for killing our biggest deer, the first week of bow season and MZ season(2nd and 3rd week of December) provide by far and away the best bet. I've learned our plots are great spots to see does and young bucks during the rifle season, but not the big boys.

Bullwinkle said:

We have extreme pressure in our county. In 2015 I heard my first 100 shots opening morning in the first 27 minutes of the hunt. 2016 was so windy it was hard to hear opening day but the second day I heard 100 shots in 35 minutes from the start

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LOL I didn't hear that many shots combined in all of our gun seasons. That will have a serious affect on big deer activity I am sure.

I agree with Elkaddict. My favorite time to hunt big deer is early and late season when they are on somewhat of a feeding pattern. Big old bucks would never have a true pattern IMO but they will be a little more consistent in their movements when food is the #1 priority. During the rut anything can happen at anytime. The problem is you can't even really pattern the doe because they are being ran in every direction. I truly believe during peak rut harvesting big mature bucks is more luck getting on them than early and late season. I know that most big mature bucks are killed during the rut but this is a combination of two things. The obvious is a bucks need to breed but the second reason is there are just more hunter's in the woods at this time of the year. You put that combo together and it equals more bucks being killed. I still like to take my chances early season, late pre-rut just before they explode and late season. The big bucks are just not as skittish during theses times and are on natural travel routes, to me just easier to target specific deer which is how I hunt. Usually by August I have picked my target buck or bucks for the year and it is one of those deer or nothing for me.

Sounds like a real high deer population for that many shots...I suspect several were multiples at the same animal...

There is no doubt we have very high pressure. One one 40 next to me the neighbor stations 9 guys with rifles opening day - no kidding

I think blizzard is seeing what we are. The rut is still crazy - with 1-3 year olds all over the place - but the mature bucks are a night. In the circles I run it is amazing how many studs everyone had on camera but never seen last year.

I think hunters are changing too - no more drives, high powered rifles, passing bucks but sitting more hours in a tree - less bumping deer

I see more shootable bucks consistently on camera August through mid/late October then its hit and miss with alot of new bucks cruising through during the rut. I have killed the majority of my bucks in October during pre-rut and then a few in early-mid December when the rut is beginning to spin down. I think hunting the rut isn't what the guys on TV make it out to be.

We have been lucky enough in my area that there are less and less gun hunters around anymore. Like Bull said more guys are actually doing more hunting now a days and less shooting or just being deer killers. If hunting keeps expanding I believe the herd quality will continue to get better each year.

boot said:

I see more shootable bucks consistently on camera August through mid/late October then its hit and miss with alot of new bucks cruising through during the rut. I have killed the majority of my bucks in October during pre-rut and then a few in early-mid December when the rut is beginning to spin down. I think hunting the rut isn't what the guys on TV make it out to be.

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The difference with the TV boys talking up the rut and showing their kills is they can make a 120" 2 yr old look big if they need to for the pictures. Anyone can go out and kill a 120-130" 2 or 3 yr old during the rut in the parts of the country the big shots on TV are hunting. Especially during the rut when this age class buck is running everywhere.

I have to wait for the girls to bring the boys to me. This means I need to avoid pestering those girls and cater to them. If I can do that .....then I have a chance come November of getting a crack at a decent buck. Yes, I know that means other hunters get a crack at those bucks before I do. Not much I can do about that. The limitations of my place and situation is what it is. I have simply tried to adapt to those as best I can and use them to my advantage as much as possible. If you can't grow what your after.....you have to figure out how to make it come to you!

Blizzard Ridge said:

The difference with the TV boys talking up the rut and showing their kills is they can make a 120" 2 yr old look big if they need to for the pictures. Anyone can go out and kill a 120-130" 2 or 3 yr old during the rut in the parts of the country the big shots on TV are hunting. Especially during the rut when this age class buck is running everywhere.

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And not to mention a lot of times those guys go and hunt private, high dollar low pressure areas where they can shoot any size deer they please anytime