GMMAT

I keep a pretty detailed log of my hunts.

In '06.....I saw 16 DIFFERENT 1.5 yr olds and 1 ea 2.5 yr old that I elected not to try and harvest.

In '07.....I saw exactly ZERO of these deer from stand.

What do you think contributes to this lack of subsequent sightings?

peakrut

Pressure , same thing happened to me in 07 in and out checking cam's. Shooting a doe first day then tracking the small tract looking for her. All amounts so much pressure they wont stand for it.

Schultzy

Alot of these younger bucks take to new areas the following year I believe.

GR8atta2d

Overhunting of the area, educating and possibly relocating the deer.

Sooner State Hunter

a. they are still there but somthing caused them to be nocturnal
b. they left the property due to pressure, food sources, logging, poaching, etc.
c. grass was greener on the other side of the (high) fence? j/k

TexasBowHunter

Pressure, other dominant bucks. I have the same ordeal on our ranch but at my house I have been watching the same buck since he was 1 1/2, he was 3 1/2 this last year (the buck in my avatar). They are never hunted or pressured around my house, this buck did go missing for the latter part of deer season this last year (I thought he had got shot on the public land). Then he showed up again after season. I think maybe a few of the deer you saw could have gotten harvested but some just might have moved on and the others just might have gone nocturnal.

GMMAT

I agree that a lot of these little guys have ever expanding home ranges.....but it would make sense if they were replaced with other deer of the same age structure,........wouldn't it?

If this is the case (they disperse and have larger ranges than their older counterparts).....doesn't it make passing on them futile? I mean....I have no desire to kill these juveniles.....but I can see where people might take a different approach if they thought they were going to disperse from their properties, anyways.

Interesting.....ya gotta admit.....to not even see ONE of them.

RockinChair

Schultzy makes a great point.

GMMAT- you're right its deffintely weird to have not even seen one of them, especially out of 16 bucks. I think pressure (as everyone has said) may have played an active role, but not the extent that 16 bucks should disperse. If there were 16 bucks all in the 1.5-2.5 year old age range, then it would be common for many of the bucks to relocate their home ranges. Still, out of 16, one buck should have emerged as the dominant and declrared that territory as his and you should have atleast seen him.

It would make sense for other bucks to have replaced them in the age classes. Did you see a greater or lesser amounts of 1.5-2.5 year old bucks during the 07 season?

What is your property makeup? How many acres do you have? Do the neighboring landowners pass on younger bucks as well?

Sorry for asking so may questons, this really struck the weird button for me.

Sooner State Hunter

did you notice a decline in doe sightings as well?

RockinChair

Ahh, good question. Where the does go- the bucks go. I THINK i vaugely remember in another post that you harvested a healthy number of does (please correct me if I am wrong). Maybe you harvested too many does? I want to get to the bottom of this! [:@]