Buckology: The New Science of Deer Hunting
Generation Wild | Features, articles
RUT MOVEMENT
The Old: There are practically as many theories about buck movement during the rut as there are hunters. Take your pick.
The New: Now we know why hunters hold such varying views—everybody’s wrong…and everybody’s right. There’s no such thing as a “typical” buck. Different bucks, even those of the same age in the same area, have widely varying patterns of movement during the rut.
“We found that some bucks have big home ranges and some have much smaller ones,” explains Texas A&M University-Kingsville biologist Randy DeYoung, who fitted 50 deer with GPS collars and
tracked their movements as often as every 15 minutes.
“Some bucks are quite active during the rut, while others move little. And we see no connection between range size and activity. You’ve got bucks with small ranges where they’re so active they’re practically doing laps. And you’ve got bucks with large ranges that move very little. What this suggests is that there is a variety of successful breeding strategies.”
What This Means for Hunters: If you are hunting a particular buck, and not simply setting up in an area you believe is attractive to deer, you’d better study his personality at every opportunity for clues about his movement behavior. Also, it’s now official that you are being lied to whenever someone begins a statement with: “Usually, a big buck will…”
I FOUND THIS ARTICLE TO BE VERY HELPFUL AND INFORMATIVE.THANKS AND KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!
July 18th, 2008 at 6:01 aminteresting
November 13th, 2008 at 8:33 amWell said, finally a good report on this stuff
March 18th, 2009 at 4:30 pmLike the article, It answered some questions Ive had.
August 10th, 2009 at 9:20 pmWow i never thought of it that way. its like when a bird hops through the bushes then when i look and the bird is still i cant quite see the bird instantly. haha that gives the bird time to pull the trigger!
December 4th, 2009 at 5:34 pmI bookmarked your site. Thanks for all the reading material. I enjoy reading here!
January 9th, 2010 at 1:54 amMe and my girlfriend come to your site often. We love reading your posts. Thank you!
January 9th, 2010 at 2:04 amThanks a bunch! This article confirms that many of my theories of deer behavior are true.
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:49 pm