Suburban Bucks and Home Ranges

[NYSKIER]

Hi all,

Question for any suburban whitetail hunters out there. I live in a pretty suburban area (tracts of property 3-4 acres large with some bigger ones here and there) with good woodlots used as travel routes as the deer as they head to feed in some yards for the night. We do have some public tracts near by but they are probably 5+ miles away.

My question is we've been here for 4 years now and every year I see a few good young bucks at the start of the year that I will pass on 1-2 year olds probably. They are all over my 3.5 acres (+the other 3 my neighbor lets me hunt and I can see another 10-20 acres from my stands) one year and then the next I don't see them. There has only been one maybe two bucks confirmed that I've seen year over year. I don't believe it's hunting pressure because we don't have that much but any reason why I never seem to see these young bucks in the following years? Dispersal of home range? We have ton's of does year over year so my hunting is best in late Mid to Late November.

 

[Dead eye BT]

Other hunters are whacking them and/or they’re getting hit by vehicles. There are probably way more people archery hunting those small tracts than you think there are.

If other hunters weren’t the cause, you should be seeing pretty even numbers of bucks and does in your local deer herd.

 

[Macintosh]

Not sure where exactly you are, but many states with lower deer density and lots of hunters/acre manage for a much higher doe:buck ratio than midwesterner's are used to, so regardless of the combination of reasons it does not necessarily seem odd to me to only have a couple bucks around in a sea of does.
Probably you have good food around, but not really advantageous bedding, so you see does that do security via numbers and young bucks. Once the bucks get big enough to kick another deer out of a good home range they are elsewhere much of the time.

 

[NYSKIER]

Not sure where exactly you are, but many states with lower deer density and lots of hunters/acre manage for a much higher doe:buck ratio than midwesterner's are used to, so regardless of the combination of reasons it does not necessarily seem odd to me to only have a couple bucks around in a sea of does.
Probably you have good food around, but not really advantageous bedding, so you see does that do security via numbers and young bucks. Once the bucks get big enough to kick another deer out of a good home range they are elsewhere much of the time.

I'm in southern new york and we have high deer density. I'm thinking that they are getting kicked out which is unfortunate. Will just have to rely on them coming back through in the rut. The woodlots around me are great rut funnels you never know what is going to be walking through

 

[WCB]

Probably hunting, cars, or they just plain and simply left. Guys think of all these "home range" scenarios and are to cut and dry with them. I've seen the same buck almost every night on a trail camera for most of the summer and into fall for a couple years....Then he disappeared for a year. I started hunting 3 or 4 miles away the next year I got him on trail camera all summer and fall one year and the next all summer until he was killed by another bow hunter.

Putting the pieces together he obviously moved 3-4 miles and stayed there.

 

[NEWHunter]

I hunt suburban whitetails quite a bit. The big guys might be bedding a ways away and only come through your area at night or during the rut. Do you have any cameras out? If there are decent numbers of 2.5 year olds, most are probably getting shot or hit by vehicles before they get to 3.5. The very few older bucks around will then have their pick of the best available habitats.

And here in WI anyway bucks seem to make a quantum leap in difficulty from 2.5 to 3.5 years old. Partly due to fewer of that age class in the population and partly due to intelligence. I pass on 2.5 year olds every year, even with my semi-marginal hunting spots. I rarely see 3.5 year olds over the course of the season, let alone have an opportunity.

 

[Hunt260]

I’ve hunted urban and suburban bucks and can tell you now, there’s no way to consistently kill mature bucks in residential areas without a cornpile. Put one out and be there opening day of archery season. That’s the way to do it. Every once in a while you’ll get lucky and find one without baiting, but it’s infrequent

 

[NYSKIER]

I’ve hunted urban and suburban bucks and can tell you now, there’s no way to consistently kill mature bucks in residential areas without a cornpile. Put one out and be there opening day of archery season. That’s the way to do it. Every once in a while you’ll get lucky and find one without baiting, but it’s infrequent

No bait in NY, have had luck with small waterholes I put in and small plots. We were in a small drought so I was going to put out another watering hole however we are now getting pounded with rain

 

[NYSKIER]

I hunt suburban whitetails quite a bit. The big guys might be bedding a ways away and only come through your area at night or during the rut. Do you have any cameras out? If there are decent numbers of 2.5 year olds, most are probably getting shot or hit by vehicles before they get to 3.5. The very few older bucks around will then have their pick of the best available habitats.

And here in WI anyway bucks seem to make a quantum leap in difficulty from 2.5 to 3.5 years old. Partly due to fewer of that age class in the population and partly due to intelligence. I pass on 2.5 year olds every year, even with my semi-marginal hunting spots. I rarely see 3.5 year olds over the course of the season, let alone have an opportunity.

No cameras out right now, I don't bother they don't follow trails they just roam as they please. Best scouting is done from my office window as I now the funnel routes they take. I'm guessing they roam far and get shot or hit by a car since we don't have great bedding for bucks but the does bed here due to safety in numbers

 

[blacklab1]

I live and hunt in a suburban area. A lot of the younger bucks in my area get hit by cars or taken by other hunters. The ones that make it past a few years get extremely smart. There’s a nice buck every year that beds down right up against dad’s barn before light and doesn’t leave until after dark every fall. Other one’s bed down in small patches of brush that you wouldn’t think could hide a rabbit. They don’t get old by being dumb, there there you just don’t see them.

 

[FLATHEAD]

Interesting post. I've often wondered the same as I live in a semi - rural/ag area.
On a side note I have a uniquely colored fox squirrel in my back yard every 3 months or so and I've seen it over a mile away as the crow flies. I had no idea
squirrels roamed so far.