During those hot summer months some hunters ask: “Where Are The Bucks?”.  Other Hunters Know Where They Are.

Once the tail end of spring hits and the choice food sources are bountiful mature bucks can relocate to a new area with a prime food source. Soy Beans are first choice in Ohio! Mature bucks, along with some younger bucks that have been kicked out of the doe and yearling buck groups have a tendency to relocate up to several miles away to the nearest soy bean field and form bachelor groups. Here they will establish a pecking order and pound the protein all summer long, fattening up and developing the headgear that will serve them during the rut.

How many times have you or someone you know, targeted and meticulously pattern certain bucks all summer long, learning their daily schedule, have hundreds of trail cam photos only to be disappointed when he disappears late summer.  When the rut starts and those first mature does are in heat, all bets are off related to your buck’s regular bedding and feeding pattern. He will go off his rocker like he has a personality disorder and eating and sleeping will take backseat priorities to what his genetics and testosterone have him programmed to pursue. We have watched mature bucks all summer long sticking to a schedule like on a daily timer, day in and day out, until one day, in late September, he disappears.

This is the point when a lot of hunters throw up their hands and say, “Where are the Bucks!?”

A lot of our properties tend to be great doe spots. We routinely pull the trail camera cards and have thousands of photos of does, with yearlings and that occasional mature buck. But it’s the does that we like to see! We understand that when the mature bucks disappear from those prime summer food sources, after they have fattened up and fully developed that All So Important Headgear they reappear with the doe groups!