Anyone ever wonder where deer disappear to?

[Axe Man]

My kids named 2 on our camera Big Boy and Droppy. They disappeared a month or so ago. Cousin had them on his camera recently and is close to 2 miles away. Probably one of the 9 shots I heard at daylight Sunday ended their run I would imagine.

[Greenheadless]

I am convinced deer (especially bucks) have summer ranges, rut areas, and then winter ranges.

I have bucks I see until the rut hits, I have a whole new set of bucks I start seeing during the rut, then in Jan/Feb, I will get deer that i do not see all year that show up all of a sudden for about a month or two until the first green up.

[jshouse]

I have 2 spots about 15 miles from each other, on one we get buck pics all spring and summer long and we will hardly even get a pic of them from October to March. On the other place it's the opposite, we don't see a single buck from March to Halloween, and then they start flooding in. It's crazy.

[Aggiehunter08]

I think it's a pretty simple answer and this is based on similar experience. I've seen tracts that bucks would bachelor up on ever spring/summer. As fall approached most of them would leave that place. Definitely an issue on smaller tracts.

[PYBUCK]

Around central Texas they are eating acorns right now. No need for corn until the acorns are all gone, then the rut starts and they will be chasing does and only coming by feeders to check for does. After the rut they will finally return to the feeders mid
December.

[Radar]

Their hooves are swollen?

Just they bellies, I seen some does this morning hanging around some Jack oaks eating acorns. Plenty of corn under feeder waiting for the coons and squirrels.

Last night around 8 most of them were in their same bedding areas. They are around, just need to have a blind or stand set up near a trail close to oaks or water.

[Throwin Darts]

I have bucks on camera eating protein all off season long that I'll never see again once I switch over to corn.

Then in October, I'll have bucks that I don't often see at feeders that are browsing on acorns.

Then in November, most of the bucks move off of my feeders all together and I suspect are camped out in the area wheat fields.

I have one buck that I've been trying to kill all year that I keep track of where I get pics of him on an Excel spreadsheet. For the life of me, I can't pattern this deer. He is here, then there, then no where for days at a time.

If you really want to drive yourself crazy, switch over to cell cameras and you'll be trying to figure out where these deer are all day every day.

[unclefish]

Its one of the great mysteries and why most of us love to hunt. Wild animals are just awesome.

[mikemorvan]

I've learned to get nervous when i get a bunch of tc pics of really nice deer during antler growing and early season. Those animals invariably disappear when hunting season begins. Wanderlust.

Over the past few years we've had a few bucks we had on camera early on, killed in Oklahoma just across the river. We had pics of a triple beam deer that was probably a 190" deer at my little protein feeder all summer and early season. The next pic we saw of him was an ldp from across the Red. Such is life. At a certain point it's all about luck and being in the right place at the right time. Just gotta put in the hours and hope for the best.

[Snowflake Killa]

It's the way mother nature intended. They go a couple of miles away to someone else's area and they shoot them. And in return you get there crappy deer to look at.

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[mrc]

My cousin has a big 9 that lives on his feeder until the 3rd week of September, for 3 years in a row he disappears on almost the same day only to reappear in early spring. On my place I have 4 feeders and after they loose their velvet they walks circles to the feeders any buck may be at any feeder on any day, sometimes you will see them on all 4 on the same day.

[Hornfan]

In Collin county, I’m convinced they have a bunker in the nearby forest they hide for months at a time.

[Drycreek3189]

Summer ranges and winter ranges are not always the same, especially if you have good summer food. They may overlap, but on small properties the deer may simply move off your place for the fall. I’ve had them do this and then show back up in December or January. Other bucks are doing the same though, that’s why you can never tell what you might see during the chase or rut. That keeps it interesting !

[Apodz]

I bet we wold be surprised of how many of these bucks that “disappear” are probable at times within 50-100 yards of us and we never know.

Bucks absolutely have summer and winter ranges. I deal with it every year.

I posted something about this the other day sort of. It would be kinda cool to have a map that showed me with red dots on it exactly where every buck was during that particular time. Not for any other reason than just wanting to know. And for my sanity lol.

[Qban]

Where do they go?







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Brutal!