Are The Deer Still There?

I’m sure that a lot of you take great delight at turning to the trail-cam section every month. The technology has increased so much over the last few years that the pictures are just incredible. Some of the photos coming in feature some really nice deer. Hunters are now using this technology as an aid to get an idea of the size of bucks on their hunting properties. The big question for many is, “Will the deer still be there during hunting season?” Here’s a general overview of their seasonal activity.

Let’s begin with the end of the last deer season. Deer stay well within a pretty defined area after the rut (mating season). They are worn out, and food is more scarce. In an effort to conserve energy, they will most likely pick a sheltered area near some source of food and water going in to the spring season.

After successful mating in the fall, does will usually drop their fawns around June and stay very close to them throughout the summer. Bucks will tend to stay together in bachelor groups in the late summer. So, does this pattern change during the fall?

I contacted former WRD wildlife biologist Kent Kammermeyer, who shared this information with me.

“Deer ranges expand, and movements increase greatly during the rut,” said Kent. “Annual deer home-range sizes vary from 150 acres to more than 1,200 acres with does having much smaller ranges than bucks. Smaller ranges also are found in higher deer populations and in better deer habitat. As most hunters are well aware, deer are most active around dawn and dusk. Consequently, deer herds are the result of a complex interaction of hunting pressure, food supply, population size, births, deaths, movements, weather and past history.”

Does may have a home range of less than a square mile, but bucks may move much farther during the rut. As the rut nears, bucks are very capable of leaving their core home ranges in search of does.

However, when the rut is over many bucks will go right back into their home ranges. So, just because you capture a picture of a buck on trail-cam in September doesn’t mean you’ll see him in the same area during the rut. However, you can expect new bucks to show up in your hunting area during the rut. I’ve heard countless stories about people killing a big buck that they’ve never even seen on their property.

When November rut kicks in, many hunters call it the “magical time” because buck activity and movement is more than any other time of year. Many hunters believe this is the best time of the year to take kill a good buck, and I couldn’t agree more.

This Month’s Quick Quiz:

Quick Quiz of the Month: What factors affect a deer’s home range? Or in other words, what may make a deer move out of its home range?

The winner will be picked at random from all correctly submitted answers and he or she will win a prize from our sponsor. We’ll print the answer next month. Good luck.

Last month’s Quick Quiz question: What two pieces of information will wildlife biologists get from a dove band?

The answer: Where the dove originated and the age of the dove.

This month’s winner is Cassidy Josey, of Columbus.