How long?

[Deerbuster]

About how long after shedding velvet do bucks break away from their summer range. If its even the reason they leave. Last couple of years the Bucks we get on camera all summer leave and new bucks come in. Their is plenty of food/does in the area so what factors could it be?
Thanks

[7mminatree]

I rarely get a pic of a mature buck during late summer back in the area of CNF that I hunt. I do see a number of mature bucks in the adjacent farm at the foot of the mountain, which is no more than a mile away at best. I just kinda play the odds that a big boy will be cruzing for girls and if I can be there at the "Golden" time it'll pay off. Not an exact science, but more intuitive type of hunting.

[BSK]

Antler velvet shedding and summer social group break-up go hand-in-hand because they are both caused by the same process--increases in testosterone production. It is believed the rising testosterone (and other hormones) play a role in the hardening of the arteries that feed the velvet, causing the velvet to die. These increases in male hormones appear to be the trigger that causes bucks to shift to their fall range (if that range is different than their summer range, which isn't the case for all bucks).

Every location is unique when it comes to differences between summer and fall range. Some locations, especially locations with very homogenous (the same) habitat over wide areas, see very little shifting of range from summer to fall. However, areas with very diverse habitat--lots of blocks of timber, pasture, and agriculture--often see extreme levels of seasonal range-shifting. I've worked in such areas where particular properties experience 100% turnover in the bucks using the properties from summer to fall. In those types of situations, a summer photo census is pointless, as none of the bucks picked up on a summer-time census will be there during hunting season. That's why I'm such a strong advocate for season-long unbaited camera censuses. For some locations, that's the only data which will tell you what you have to hunt/manage each year.

On my own property, which is a mile north-south by 3/4 of a mile east-west, the bucks we pick up in summer only comprise about 1/3 of the bucks we will have to hunt during the season. Generally, about another 1/3 move in after velvet shedding, and the final 1/3 only appear during the rut. Without running a season-long census, we would never document 2/3 of the bucks we have to hunt/manage.

[Beefydeer]

Great info BSK. How far away do the bucks go from summer to winter?

[BSK]

Those seasonal shifts can be just a few hundred yards to several miles.

[BSK]

And then bucks can greatly expand their range (usually to at least double it's size) during the rut, or actually pick and up temporarily relocate to a completely new location just for the rut. These breeding season range shifts and expansions usually last 4-6 weeks.

[Beefydeer]

Will they usually come back to their original summer range if they move that far?

[BSK]

In fact, it is these fall range shifts occurring near antler velvet shedding that lend hunters to think deer can read hunting calendars. Every year I hear from hunters (usually in agricultural regions) who have been watching a big buck feeding in a particular bean field every day during the summer. Yet just before bow-season opens, that buck suddenly vanishes, not to be seen again until the next summer. The hunters believe the buck knows hunting season is opening. In reality, the buck just shifts his range in mid-September every year to a different location for the fall and winter months, and that range shift just happens to occur a week before bow season each year. The buck disappearing is just a misinterpreted coincidence.

[BSK]

Will they usually come back to their original summer range if they move that far?

Yup, in fact some bucks have VERY traditional ranges for each season. I will see them suddenly appear on a given property on almost the same date each year.

[Deerbuster]

Every location is unique when it comes to differences between summer and fall range. Some locations, especially locations with very homogenous (the same) habitat over wide areas, see very little shifting of range from summer to fall. However, areas with very diverse habitat--lots of blocks of timber, pasture, and agriculture--often see extreme levels of seasonal range-shifting. I've worked in such areas where particular properties experience 100% turnover in the bucks using the properties from summer to fall. In those types of situations, a summer photo census is pointless, as none of the bucks picked up on a summer-time census will be there during hunting season. That's why I'm such a strong advocate for season-long unbaited camera censuses. For some locations, that's the only data which will tell you what you have to hunt/manage each year.

.

Thanks for the info BSK, this sounds like what might be happening, only once have I harvested a buck that I had a velvet picture of later on during the fall but, I can say it's about a 85% change or so from summer to winter.

[Phil1979]

Good info BSK. Thanks.

[BSK]

Every location is unique when it comes to differences between summer and fall range. Some locations, especially locations with very homogenous (the same) habitat over wide areas, see very little shifting of range from summer to fall. However, areas with very diverse habitat--lots of blocks of timber, pasture, and agriculture--often see extreme levels of seasonal range-shifting. I've worked in such areas where particular properties experience 100% turnover in the bucks using the properties from summer to fall. In those types of situations, a summer photo census is pointless, as none of the bucks picked up on a summer-time census will be there during hunting season. That's why I'm such a strong advocate for season-long unbaited camera censuses. For some locations, that's the only data which will tell you what you have to hunt/manage each year.

.

Thanks for the info BSK, this sounds like what might be happening, only once have I harvested a buck that I had a velvet picture of later on during the fall but, I can say it's about a 85% change or so from summer to winter.

Not at all uncommon. In fact, way too many hunters think the photo-census process doesn't work because they kill so many bucks during the season they did not get pictures of during their summer photo census. In reality, most of those bucks they are killing during the season probably didn't live on the property in summer.