Mid-late October buck behavior questions

[HighUintas]

I'm in Utah and hunting the Wasatch on an archery buck tag. There's some snow on the N slopes, but not a lot. Maybe a few inches deep at most. I know bucks disappear after velvet and reappear when they start looking for does. So...


1. When do bucks generally start moving out of wherever they hide to transition to looking for does?
2. Is it likely or unlikely that they're bedding on N slopes with snow? I don't know much about mule deer and my brain is always on elk. So I keep wanting to glass N facing snowy slopes.

 

[HighUintas]

Anyone?

 

[wytx]

We generally start seeing pre rut staging with doe groups by the last week in Oct. Mature bucks seem to show up out of no where and start hanging around the doe groups.
We have seen some sparring already this year, younger bucks but not yearlings.

 

[HighUintas]

We generally start seeing pre rut staging with doe groups by the last week in Oct. Mature bucks seem to show up out of no where and start hanging around the doe groups.
We have seen some sparring already this year, younger bucks but not yearlings.

Thank you! I'll just keep watching the doe groups I've already located.

 

[wytx]

Never hunted Utah so take that with a grain of salt, but it holds for our area of Wyoming.
Looking forward to our last week in Oct. and the cold weather coming in for it.
We've taken solitary mature bucks and bucks with doe groups but it seems to never fail , new bucks show up that last week into the rut if you have doe numbers.

Good luck and if you have a good buck patterned- go get him.

 

[HighUintas]

Never hunted Utah so take that with a grain of salt, but it holds for our area of Wyoming.
Looking forward to our last week in Oct. and the cold weather coming in for it.
We've taken solitary mature bucks and bucks with doe groups but it seems to never fail , new bucks show up that last week into the rut if you have doe numbers.

Good luck and if you have a good buck patterned- go get him.

I got out again this morning, mostly just to do a lap on the trail around the drainage. I hunt to see if there were any bucks populating the area yet.

There's lots of doe groups that feed in the open fields just a little way below the top of the ridge and make their way into the aspens mid morning but I didn't spot any bucks near those groups.

On my way back on the trail, I spotted a really nice buck, maybe 175 ish, around 10:15 or 10:30. He was with a couple does and I didn't expect there to be anything by the trail in that area So they happen to spot me and left into the pines before I could get a shot. Wind was good so they didn't smell me, and they didn't take off real hard. I don't think they went very far. I'm not sure where they came from, but I think they were heading downhill before they spotted me.

It struck me as a little odd, because that was at lower elevation than where all of the does were that I saw earlier. I had always thought the bucks generally hang out up in the highest thickest stuff until they start looking for does.

I I am thinking it might be worth heading to that same area, and going in below where I last saw them and hopefully they will pass through there again on their way to bed late morning tomorrow. What do you think?