Although the pics are very telling but can’t we all agree that 3 nice nice bucks such as these won’t be coming into bait piles together after shedding velvet,breaking away from bachelor groups and being hunted here in Ohio.
Baiting Mature Bucks.
- Thread starter Jackalope
- Start date
Although the pics are very telling but can’t we all agree that 3 nice nice bucks such as these won’t be coming into bait piles together after shedding velvet,breaking away from bachelor groups and being hunted here in Ohio.
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Perhaps not together but typically when the bigger one shows up the others run off to make way. He's still showing up every evening.
Iowa_Buckeye
Smartest person here
Here are my thoughts on this.
First of all, in order to 'bait' a 'mature buck', there actually has to be one living there. And if you do dump it in his core area, he is likely to visit it as they are just animals looking for an easy meal.
We 'bait' all summer across he farm. Certain feeders have several 'mature' deer visiting, and some have 0. All on the same farm. It has nothing to do with their intelligence as an older animal, but has everything to do with their current home range and taste palate.
As for daylight versus nocturnal, I don't feel it has much to do with intrusion/pressure. In my experience as soon as the velvet comes off, the deer go to a more nocturnal pattern (until the rut of course). I am basing this on the farm we hunt that has constant pressure/intrusion all year. We get tons of daylight pics in the summer, then they drop to next to nothing during September and October. It's just the way mother nature programmed them and has nothing to do with us visiting the property on a regular basis.
First of all, in order to 'bait' a 'mature buck', there actually has to be one living there. And if you do dump it in his core area, he is likely to visit it as they are just animals looking for an easy meal.
We 'bait' all summer across he farm. Certain feeders have several 'mature' deer visiting, and some have 0. All on the same farm. It has nothing to do with their intelligence as an older animal, but has everything to do with their current home range and taste palate.
As for daylight versus nocturnal, I don't feel it has much to do with intrusion/pressure. In my experience as soon as the velvet comes off, the deer go to a more nocturnal pattern (until the rut of course). I am basing this on the farm we hunt that has constant pressure/intrusion all year. We get tons of daylight pics in the summer, then they drop to next to nothing during September and October. It's just the way mother nature programmed them and has nothing to do with us visiting the property on a regular basis.
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That's a symptom of the constant pressure and intrusion that you mentioned. A buck that believes he is secure in his home range has no reason to go nocturnal. The trick is to make him believe he has you figured out and is therefore secure. Deer are not by species a nocturnal animal, they adapt to be that way due to safety concerns.
Now don't get me wrong they sometimes still do go nocturnal after peeling but if intrusion is kept to a minimum they sometimes pop right back into daylight activity within a couple weeks
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cspot
Member
Deer are actually crepuscular meaning they move and feed mostly at dusk and dawn. Most of the studies I have seen shown more nightime movement than daylight movement even during non pressure times of the year.
cspot
Member
I see this at home in PA. Our house sits on a hill where I can watch a bunch of hayfields from the house. From July thru about now you see buck out in daylight hours quite frequently. About the time they shed velvet you see them less and less in daylight hours. This isn't in a change of pressure as during the summer the neighbors groundhog hunt and there is quite a bit of human activity. Probably more in July and August than there is in September until bow season starts.
Now some of this I think can be attributed to other food sources becoming available, but trail cam pics usually show the same thing. We see the same thing year after year though.
Iowa_Buckeye
Smartest person here
What is a symptom of the constant pressure? Maybe you missed my point. They go mostly nocturnal this time a year with no change in our constant pressure. So no change in feeling secure.
We see this year after year after year so this is based on experience as opposed to something I have read.
They are just animals. Find out where they like to travel and hunt there with the correct wind during the rut. No need to overthink it.
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I disnt misunderstand bud, just have a different opinion. They go nocturnal because of the constant pressure, they simply understand that you are no danger to them this time of year then when you are, they change. The same as deer in a park understand that hikers and bicyclist are no danger standing 20 feet away just staring at them, but go in that park trying to hunt them and the behavior changes. Or at night coon hunting when I could have thrown a rock and hit numerous 160 class bucks feeding in a field and cared less that we were standing there at 2am.
As for having just read something, every single one of the deer pictured below died to the method I'm talking about, and all within the past 5 years.
I see the same thing every year. Less and less daylight movement as we get into August, and there's no pressure on these deer. They bed in standing corn right next to beans in the middle of the field. I glass them every year.
Iowa_Buckeye
Smartest person here
I'm not saying you can't kill a deer over a pile of bait... I just don't think you need to overthink it and wear the same coat and pair of undies every time you add to it (and of course at the same time of day and same day of the week since deer must understand the concept of a calendar too).
You are right though that we have different opinions. I don't think deer 'understand' that hunting season is coming and therefore go nocturnal. They are just dumb animals that due what mother nature tells them to do.
As for our constant pressure, it is actually very light pressure due to the size of the farm and our intrusion methods. I doubt any of them really know they are being hunted with a bow either.
Some nice deer in those pics!
You are right though that we have different opinions. I don't think deer 'understand' that hunting season is coming and therefore go nocturnal. They are just dumb animals that due what mother nature tells them to do.
As for our constant pressure, it is actually very light pressure due to the size of the farm and our intrusion methods. I doubt any of them really know they are being hunted with a bow either.
Some nice deer in those pics!
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You are correct in that they don't have calendars to know when season is coming. Yet deer are very in tune to changing seasons right down to the total amount of light in a day that triggers their estrus cycle, or their ability to feel that storms and weather fronts are approaching. They don't need a calendar as they are quite in tune to environmental factors that matter to them. And nothing matters more than their ability to remain safe. Deer absolutely know when things are about to get dangerous each year. Each deer is different and some will tolletate more than others, but one thing is for sure, mature bucks won't tolerate much. The intent with this method is to have them believe that they have you figured out, which they are extremely good at doing, and then throw them a curveball. It is quite literally a bait and switch.
Geez, at what point does he start saving money by just buying a hunt? 
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Geez, at what point does he start saving money by just buying a hunt?
Cheap when you buy it by the ton.
I think Larry’s first paragraph says a lot...
”has to be mature bucks in the area”
This is also what Kim was saying in his own way. I also believe that you will always get pics after dark if you aren’t in the deers bedroom. This is part of what I’ve learned and seems to be the same here. Adding food isn’t enough, just the icing on the cake, so much more is involved.
You can only “pull” an animal so far and each animal has its own limits on that. Area has a ton to do with that too. A mature deer isn’t going to travel across an open 300’ field in NW Ohio during daylight for some corn. But in a SE Ohio thicket, he just might. My point being, how close it too close and you bump him out? I think this is where there deer training comes into play and every deer will react different.
Do I have thing straight? Going off my personal experience and what I’ve read here and in this thread. Trying to recap all this great info in my crazy brain.
”has to be mature bucks in the area”
This is also what Kim was saying in his own way. I also believe that you will always get pics after dark if you aren’t in the deers bedroom. This is part of what I’ve learned and seems to be the same here. Adding food isn’t enough, just the icing on the cake, so much more is involved.
You can only “pull” an animal so far and each animal has its own limits on that. Area has a ton to do with that too. A mature deer isn’t going to travel across an open 300’ field in NW Ohio during daylight for some corn. But in a SE Ohio thicket, he just might. My point being, how close it too close and you bump him out? I think this is where there deer training comes into play and every deer will react different.
Do I have thing straight? Going off my personal experience and what I’ve read here and in this thread. Trying to recap all this great info in my crazy brain.
The biggest reason why MOST of my pictures of good bucks are during the night, until they start seeking. Once they go in search mode, they scent check my plots and piles during daylight. When they do, they usually stop for a quick bite and a picture. I just need to be out there when they do.I think Larry’s first paragraph says a lot...
”has to be mature bucks in the area”
This is also what Kim was saying in his own way. I also believe that you will always get pics after dark if you aren’t in the deers bedroom. This is part of what I’ve learned and seems to be the same here. Adding food isn’t enough, just the icing on the cake, so much more is involved.
You can only “pull” an animal so far and each animal has its own limits on that. Area has a ton to do with that too. A mature deer isn’t going to travel across an open 300’ field in NW Ohio during daylight for some corn. But in a SE Ohio thicket, he just might. My point being, how close it too close and you bump him out? I think this is where there deer training comes into play and every deer will react different.
Do I have thing straight? Going off my personal experience and what I’ve read here and in this thread. Trying to recap all this great info in my crazy brain.
And I think you are pretty much screwed for the deer training program. Those mature bucks are bedding in areas you just can’t get close to. Tree lines, super small thickets, low spots in a field...spots you just can’t get up to and bait. Just put him over on the next mile.
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From what I have seen if you are very close to his bedding area you will start to see him in the morning and the evening with regularity. Presumably the first and last thing he does before heading to his bed close by. He will feel safe enough to visit before dark and stop in before heading to his bed in the morning.
This morning.
This evening
Yesterday morning
Yesterday evening.