Are most of the bucks just passing through?

[archerjg]

The deer are there. They are just hiding until they feel safe. I went down to my Grandfathers to cleanup around the buildings(part of father's day) and there are hay fields all around. Well across the road on his hay field there were four standing there on the field next thing My dad and I look and there are deer just streaming from the woods. Counted 30 and 3/4 were does and the rest were fawns. They are always there on the farm. Even when there is no hay they are there. The big bucks that are there stayyear round too. I think that they just hide and when they feel safe they come out and play/eat.

Archerjg

[buckee]

I think it depends on what time of the year it is and the type of country you are located in, whether the deer are passing through or homesteaders. I think this time of the year, you can safely say that all the deer you see in any one spot are locals or homesteaders.
In the winter (depending on your location) the year come from miles away in search of winter grazing. This is even more evident in moutainous regions where the deer will migrate down into the valleys and travel for very long distances to find food. The same deer will slowly migrate back to their stomping grounds come spring.
When it comes to a bucks territory, I believe that basically they have 1 square mile or so of territory that they patrol and live in. This varies from place to place and species to species.
I know the blacktails around here (in the valley) stay within 1 or 2 square miles of their range all year round, but the high mountain blacktails here, migrate down into the valley in search of winter food. They basically follow the snow line down and then return to the mountains as the snowline receeds.
I've always wondered about the numbers of dominant bucks in any given area too.
It's hard to say how many are there, since their territories overlap with each other.
|-------------|
|-------|-| B |
| |--|-|------ |---|-------|
| | B|-|-B----|B- | |
|----|----| | |
| |-----------|
|------------|

As you can see from this poor rendition of a
bucks territory it would be possible to see 4 or more dominate bucks within 1 square mile of their territory and yet all within the same square mile at any given time.

Don't try this at home....LOL [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

(this is not what I drew before I posted this...LMBO)

[size="1"][ 06-18-2002, 10:33 PM: Message edited by: buckee ][/size]

[bulldawg]

The bucks are in thier bachelor groups right now. There could be anywhere's from 2 to 15 or more bucks hanging around together at this time of year. Once the fall starts to close in, they will spread out according to dominance. A big buck may run smaller bucks off into different areas, so you might not see the same bucks in a certain area after pre-rut kicks in. They may still pass through trying to challenge him, or to check out a hot doe, but if you are setting up for a certain buck, and you don't see him around now, chances are that he has moved from the area because he is not the so-called king of the hill. But, when the start of the rut kicks in, I have seen bucks 5 miles from where I had seen them at the start of bow season.

[Okbwhtr]

Most deer live and die in 5 mile radius. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[sureshot]

I live in flat farmland and 5 years ago I had my buck all figured out he was staying in a gravelpit 13 miles from town. I watched him everyday and a week before season he vanished. 3 days later I seen him a mile from town with a heard of does that summer there. I watched him for 4 days till opening day when I got him. I am sure this is the same deer and he traveled at least 12 miles in serch of does. I also know every deer on the inlaws farm and in the area, In the fall you never know what you will see, I found one that scored 170 dead and noone ever seen him awound there. They seem to travel lots when rutting finding the does in heat. They do this in the flat farmland not sure of the bush!

[nhbowhunter]

All depends on what is causing them to move.

We can generally look at 4 general categories of movement in deer (especially bucks). These are 1, Dispersal (the movement from an existing home range to establish a new home range). 2, movements within an established home range. 3, Migrations. 4, movement brought on by the desire and drive to reproduce.

Dispersal movements can be variable. What is interesting is which deer are dispersing. Studies indicate (although the numbers do vary slightly) that as many as 80% of yearly and subordinate bucks will disperse from their home ranges. This is due in large part by social pressure not resource limits and is supported by the fact that roughly only 10% of mature bucks will actually disperse from their home range. Studies have shown a wide variety of distances covered by dispersing yearling bucks. Deer can cover anywhere from 2 to 100 miles. Although the research indicates that the 100-mile "trekkers" are few and far between. Normal dispersion distances usually range from 2 - 10 miles.

Home range. During the non-breeding season an adult buck will (depending on herd density and the availability of adequate resources) occupy a home range from approximately 200 - 900 acres. Movement within this range is rather unrestricted and usually centers on daily feeding patterns. It is interesting to note that terrain directly effects home range size. Rough and densely vegetated areas tend to result in smaller home range sizes when compared to prairies or farmland.

migrations are usually the most drastic and fluctuate depending on sex, age, and weather conditions. Migrations are greatly influenced by climate and resource availability. These movements differ greatly across the country but have been documents from at a low of 6 miles up to a high of 34 miles.

Reproduction. During the rut bucks will have a tendency, when space is available, to expand their home ranges. In some cases (again when the terrain permits) bucks have quadrupled the size of their home ranges. However the larger the initial home range the less a buck will expand its borders during the rut. This undoubtedly can lead to an over lap in ranges and often accounts for the sighting of more than one dominant buck in a particular area. In some cases (usually the southern Midwest) bucks may abandon their home ranges altogether in search of does.

Without knowing the details of your area I would imagine that a good number of the bucks you see are a result of dispersal as well as bucks expanding their home ranges once the breeding season begins.

[size="1"][ 06-20-2002, 09:11 AM: Message edited by: nhbowhunter ][/size]

[Tominator]

i think they generally stick around the same area. i jumped one out of my field on November 5th then saw him again in the exact same spot on march 20th (still had his antlers!). i think they will wander a little farther and wider when the rut comes around, especially if they can't find any ready love.