Yager Ridge

Check out this Monster Whitetail Buck...

🦌 Private or Public Land? Let me know what you think in the comments below ⬇️

These are the best times to catch a monster whitetail buck on the move.

Before I share these times, I must preface that this was taken from a study done by Dr. Hellickson who was a chief wildlife biologist in Texas.

He used GPS collars on 43 collared deer over a 2 year period.

From October-January, daily buck movements peaked at 7-9 am, 6-7 pm, with a slight peak again around midnight.

The lowest hourly movements were between 5-6 am, 3-4 pm, and 10-11pm. This pattern was relatively consistent during October-January each year, regardless of moon phase.

This was a small study of only 43 deer. What have you observed while hunting or scouting for deer? Let me know in the comments.

Do bucks move more or less in the rain?

This is a common question I am asked and a controversial one just like the last video about deer moving in the wind.

In my personal experience, I have seen more movement in light rain, but was curious about heavier rain and how that impacts buck movement. Especially hunting on public land where most hunters are not willing to go sit in heavier rain, is it even worth it?

So what does the research show?

Some research suggests that light rain can increase deer movement, while heavier rain decreases movement slightly. But more than the actual amount of rain is the temperature plays the biggest factor in regards to precipitation.

Deer will move more when they are trying to stay warm, so heavier rain or snow in colder regions may lead to deer picking up their movement for the day and spending less time bedded.

Deer also rely greatly on their gut microbes and the microbes can only live so long without food, so regardless of the amount of precipitation, deer will have eat one way or the other.

Deer will also need to eat to maintain energy to stay warm, which also requires movement.

One specific study in oklahoma was conducted, and they concluded rain had little to no effect on deer movement.

Scientific results on this topic are inconclusive. And sometimes it is hard to conduct your own research on deer movement during terrential downpours, because we are comfort creatures and it is hard to sit and stay patient in pouring rain for hours on end when there is a nice warm truck waiting for us.

But one thing is true, ***Deer live outside all the time and are constantly needing to balance nutritional needs, predator avoidance, and survival. Since there is little they can do about rain, it's not likely a deer is terribly affected by it.***

What have you experienced with deer movement and rain? Let me know in the comments.

How can you tell a buck’s age just by their appearance? Part 3. In this video, I am going to cover the difference between 5.5-6.5 yr old bucks and why it matters.

Just to review here’s 3 reasons why you should know how to age bucks by their body and at the end of the video I will explain how.

Number 3: Allowing bucks to age gives them time to spread their genetics. Obvious one right. If you kill it before it breeds, you won’t have good antler diversity.

Number 2: A balanced age structure improves the overall deer herd.

Number 1: Not shooting younger bucks and taking the correct number of does helps balance the buck to doe deer population ratio.

So how can you tell a bucks age?

5.5 year old buck.

Antlers are 90-95% of potential. At this age, antlers are displaying incredible mass, beam length, and tine length

The head looks shorter and thicker than before.

The back shows a slight sway when walking.

Neck is very muscular and appears to be swelling.

Legs appear too short for the body.

6.5 year old buck.

Antlers are 100% of potential. Antlers are staggering size and we have hit max development in most cases. however In some places around the country, a buck can meet its largest rack at 7.5-8.5 yrs old.

Head appears very short and very thick.

The bucks front is much heavier than the rear

The back and belly are both sagging significantly.

Neck is extremely muscular showing extreme swelling.

Legs appear too short for it’s body.

The biggest noticeable difference between a 5.5 to 6.5 yr old buck is the sagging of the back and belly as well as the length of legs relative to the body.

It can be impossible to tell the exact age, but these are good rules to live by.

If you want to read an article that goes further in depth, go to deerlab.com

How can you tell a buck’s age just by their appearance? Part 2. In this video, I am going to cover the difference between 3.5-4.5 yr old bucks and why it matters.

Just to review here’s 3 reasons why you should know how to age bucks by their body and at the end of the video I will explain how.

Number 3: Allowing bucks to age gives them time to spread their genetics. Obvious one right. If you kill it before it breeds, you won’t have good antler diversity.

Number 2: A balanced age structure improves the overall deer herd.

Number 1: Not shooting younger bucks and taking the correct number of does helps balance the buck to doe deer population ratio.

So how can you tell a bucks age?

3.5 year old buck.

Antlers are 70-80% of potential. Spread is outside of the ears and above 8 points with much more mass than a 2.5 year old.

Head is starting to carry more thickness on the top.

The back is sloping downward from back to front.

Tight belly line from front legs to back legs.

Neck will start to become much more muscular.

Legs are now proportionate to the body.

4.5 year old buck.

Antlers are 80-90% of potential. much wider than the ears. Antlers range around 10 points plus and this is an impressive buck at this point and it takes discipline to pass this buck up.

Head has a blocky appearance.

The back is straight from back to front.

The belly is a straight line.

Neck is extremely muscular.

Legs are muscular and proportionate to the body.

Some hunters say it is very hard to tell the difference between a 3.5 and 4.5 yr old buck. The main things to look for is the blockier head coupled with the back in a straight line. It can be hard to tell without watching these bucks from season to season on trail cameras. Follow for part 3 where I cover the difference between 5.5 and 6.5 yr old bucks.

How can you tell a buck’s age just by their appearance? Part 1. In this video, I am going to cover the difference between 1.5-2.5 yr old bucks and why it matters.

Here’s 3 reasons why you should know how to age bucks by their body and at the end of the video I will explain how.

Number 3: Allowing bucks to age gives them time to spread their genetics. Obvious one right. If you kill it before it breeds, you won’t have good antler diversity.

Number 2: A balanced age structure improves the overall deer herd.

Number 1: Not shooting younger bucks and taking the correct number of does helps balance the buck to doe deer population ratio.

So how can you tell a bucks age?

1.5 year old buck.

Antlers are 20-30% of potential, just inside the ears. Likely a spike, four pointer, or small six-eight pointer

Head is long and slender

Belly does not sag

Very long legs compared to the torso

2.5 year old buck.

Antlers are 50-60% of potential. Near the width of the ears. Antlers range around 8 points but do not carry mass.

Head is still long and slender

No sagging of belly or back

Long legs compared to torso but start to even out.

The main difference between 1.5 and 2.5 yrs old is the width of the antlers relative to the ears.

Some people will say, I already know this, or, it doesn’t matter, I just hunt for meat. That’s great. I am invested in becoming a better hunter and sharing information that some may find interesting. So follow for part 2 where I break down the difference between 3.5-6.5 yr old bucks.

Do whitetail bucks increase movement in the wind?

According to a Penn State study, 1600 hunters were surveyed and 90% of them believe deer move less on windier days.

To understand this study, to see if this is the truth, we need to first answer how deer use wind for their defense.

Deer use and trust thier nose even more than their sight or hearing. Because of this, wind influences everything about deer movement, bedding, and where they graze.

The biggest myth to bust is that deer do not always move with wind in their face. But they do almost always bed with the wind at their back.

Deer spend about 70% of their time bedded, and they only increase their survivability by bedding with other deer. They prefer to cover downwind and crosswinds with their eyes and upwind with their nose when bedded.

So back to the study.

Penn state captured data on 1700 whitetail deer with the use of gps collars. They found that deer move farther when winds blew 1-3 mph than when winds were less than 1 mph. And deer movement remained around the same distance when winds were up to 10 mph.

But how do higher wind speeds affect buck movement?

Penn state dug deeper into the study in 2016. They found that the bucks that were studied travelled 100 feet per hour with less than 1 mph winds, 115 ft per hour with 1-15 mph winds, and 213 ft per hour with 16-27 mph winds.

Another study showed that wind speeds affected does movement more than bucks during the night.

Many hunters and researchers still disagree with the results of the study done by penn state based on their own field experience.

So I want to hear from you in the comments. What have you seen in the field? Are deer that you hunt relatively affected by higher wind speeds?