Originally Posted by booner
We run a lot of cameras. A LOT. That being said, I can usually walk up to a camera and look at the total picture count and tell whether or not there's going to be a good one on it . Other than one or two occurrences I have never had a true mature buck in an area with a bunch of does.

Growing up, I learned to pay no attention to those heavily used trails and places with a lot of tracks and to seek out that one lone track or those trails that you can barely see. Preferably going and coming from an area but most times they seem to make a loop and that's a whole other conversation in itself. I will say, I have never killed a mature deer out of a stand that I see lots of activity. My theory is if you're seeing a bunch of does and young 1-2yr olds then he isn't going to be there. Time to move.


I agree with you with the exception of a 15-20 day time period during the rut. During this time this high populated areas are exactly where you want to be in my opinion. I stockpile does in here on my small property and as a result I often times will not see ANY bucks at all until Jan....That all changes around Jan 7-10.....Around that time I have bucks suddenly ly start showing up and hanging out with the does. What's interesting to me is that they show up ahead of the rut.....How do they know that the does are about to go in to estrous....does the length of daylight hours trigger something in them as well letting them know???....Do the does begin putting out some type of smell abesd of going into estrous??? How do the bucks know to change their patterns and that it's time to move in a week or two ahead of time???

Last edited by CNC; 05/17/20 11:27 AM.
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