Anyone ever wonder where deer disappear to?

[Big pig]

Good topic.
It amazes me how the does are such homebodies you can count on them
Being close every day. But on our small lease I see the bucks on different cameras over a Mile apart all the time.

[JBJTX81]

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.

I've noticed a very similar pattern. I'll probably comment often in this thread. This is always a hot topic of discussion on my place and even more so recently. We are in what I would call the edge of NWT, its Kent County. We have 8800 acres. We know most of our neighbors. So we will call it a contiguous area 25-30K acres. It blows my mind. How our deer move with no real pattern to some of them and others are perfectly patternable. I wish we could RFDI chip all of them just to study their movement.

Here are some examples.

1. 2 Summers ago 2 buck good bucks show up on trail camera together at the stand that is most central to our very square shaped property. They were there for 1 day. Regardless of direction they entered from they had to walk past 1-2 other stand/feeders and 1.5 miles to get this location. We never saw either of them before or after that. No of our neighbors have ever seen the bucks either as we frequently share pictures. So in the last 5 years no one on 25K + acres with 35+ cameras and stands has ever seen these bucks except this 1 time.
2. We have a wide 10 that spends all summer at one stand location for the last 5 years. We suspect him to be 10 or 11 years old this year. He has been 150"+ 2 of the last 5 years. We was on camera at 1 location all summer and no where else. None of us nor any of our neighbors has ever seen him on camera except at this 1 location during the summer.
3. I had pictures of a stag (velvet horned no nuts) 4 years ago for 3-4 days in a row. I showed pictures to our neighbors. Our SE neighbors said their family members on a property beyond theirs and 6 miles from where I was had seen the deer very regularly for several seasons include that season. What the heck was he doing 6 miles from home in the middle of winter. He didn't have nuts so he certainly wasn't chasing does.

It is truly crazy how these deer move. Then you have the others that you see year in and year out for 5 years at the same 2-3 stands. You watch them grow into 140" mature 6 year old deer and they cross the fence and get shot by the neighbor opening weekend and your neighbor has 4 pictures of them ever over the previous 5 years!

[JBJTX81]

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.

Its not a simple answer and the size of the place has nothing to do with it. If you read my other post. I talk about seeing 2 bucks 1 time in the middle of a 25K acre area and never seeing them again before or after at any other spot.

[JBJTX81]

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.

Agree. I've really given up on the idea that we can grow our own deer and manage a place. Even on 8800 acres and with good neighbors on most sides encompassing roughly 25K+ acres. You just never know where the deer you've been seeing are going to move off to or whats going to start showing up out of the blue. Some days it gives me hope. Other days its very discouraging.

[JBJTX81]

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.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

I've felt this way many times!

[JBJTX81]

Yall are going to have ol' JSHOUSE having nightmares again with this topic.

It gives me nightmares!!!

[Skinny]

Anyone ever wonder where deer disappear to?

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.

This is what I’ve seen on our land. 60-400 acres tracts. They hammer the protein feeders all summer and then once hard horned most of them take off. We typically see new bucks during deer season. They might hang around a few days then they move on. Maybe we see a familiar buck or two as well. Come about mid February the usual suspects (or ones that survive) start filtering back in and the whole process repeats itself. Been that way for 20 years.

What’s confusing is that we have a lot of does...you’d think they’d be prone to stick around. Maybe they don’t want to breed aunt Karen. [emoji23]

[ClayW]

This is what I’ve seen on our land. 60-400 acres tracts. They hammer the protein feeders all summer and then once hard horned most of them take off. We typically see new bucks during deer season. They might hang around a few days then they move on. Maybe we see a familiar buck or two as well. Come about mid February the usual suspects (or ones that survive) start filtering back in and the whole process repeats itself. Been that way for 20 years.

What’s confusing is that we have a lot of does...you’d think they’d be prone to stick around. Maybe they don’t want to breed aunt Karen. [emoji23]

This is exactly what we experience here in Karnes County...If we don't get a shot in early October, then you probably won't see him again until February.

Whats puzzling to me is...With everyone hunting 1-200acre tracts, you'd think the older/bigger bucks would have to be at someone's feeder. I've known of several 140-160" deer that disappear and never seen again. If someone was killing them, word would get out.

[sharpstick35]

part of the problem is everyone hunting and putting cameras only at feeders. unless you have a HF they wont get noticeable racks by being dumb, and that's part of what makes them a trophy animal, you were able to outsmart him. good scouting in the off season may give up where they might be hanging out.

[TxAg]

I've noticed a very similar pattern. I'll probably comment often in this thread. This is always a hot topic of discussion on my place and even more so recently. We are in what I would call the edge of NWT, its Kent County. We have 8800 acres. We know most of our neighbors. So we will call it a contiguous area 25-30K acres. It blows my mind. How our deer move with no real pattern to some of them and others are perfectly patternable. I wish we could RFDI chip all of them just to study their movement.

Here are some examples.

1. 2 Summers ago 2 buck good bucks show up on trail camera together at the stand that is most central to our very square shaped property. They were there for 1 day. Regardless of direction they entered from they had to walk past 1-2 other stand/feeders and 1.5 miles to get this location. We never saw either of them before or after that. No of our neighbors have ever seen the bucks either as we frequently share pictures. So in the last 5 years no one on 25K + acres with 35+ cameras and stands has ever seen these bucks except this 1 time.
2. We have a wide 10 that spends all summer at one stand location for the last 5 years. We suspect him to be 10 or 11 years old this year. He has been 150"+ 2 of the last 5 years. We was on camera at 1 location all summer and no where else. None of us nor any of our neighbors has ever seen him on camera except at this 1 location during the summer.
3. I had pictures of a stag (velvet horned no nuts) 4 years ago for 3-4 days in a row. I showed pictures to our neighbors. Our SE neighbors said their family members on a property beyond theirs and 6 miles from where I was had seen the deer very regularly for several seasons include that season. What the heck was he doing 6 miles from home in the middle of winter. He didn't have nuts so he certainly wasn't chasing does.

It is truly crazy how these deer move. Then you have the others that you see year in and year out for 5 years at the same 2-3 stands. You watch them grow into 140" mature 6 year old deer and they cross the fence and get shot by the neighbor opening weekend and your neighbor has 4 pictures of them ever over the previous 5 years!

This sounds a lot like the radio collared deer in the podcast mentioned in post 9. It's worth an hour to listen to it. The biologist have exoerience in TX and MS

[jcamp]

I’ve experienced the same. Had a old 8 on camera all summer and a week before season he was no where to be found. Never seen him October- December.. went and hunted the last day of muzzle loader in January and he mosied out 65 yards from me like he owned the place. First time I’d seen him in 3 months. That experience and some research lead me to believe they have at least 2 “home ranges” if you will potentially.


On a diff note, buck i shot this year i had on cam for 3 months, and shot him where all my pics were.. never went far.

So does it differ from location to location? My experience is yes it does.... for whatever reason. It’s really intriguing!

[SwampBuck]

Glad I’m not the only one who deals with this sort of torture.

[BTLowry]

I have had several over the years

Some hung around all summer then one day just gone.

Some hung around a few years and then gone, maybe killed when they wandered but some were there at end of season and then vanished

Had one show up out of the blue but he stepped in front of a pickup on the highway 3 days later and was not anything even left of the rack after the following car ran over his head. ID'd him by wound on flank from fighting

I wish I could collar a few with trackers just so I could see where they go in a year