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Surprise bucks?

R

Rutty

Member
curious to see how many people actually encounter surprise bucks during the rut? I run about 6 cameras on my 80 acre farm mainly over scrapes. I consistently get the same bucks on camera. In my opinion a mature bucks core area is relatively small. You hear a lot of guys talk about how mature bucks will travel miles during the rut. That is something I Normally don’t see and end up killing bucks I have pictures of. How many of you who hunt smaller farms 40 to 100 acres actually see new deer show up during the rut that you don’t have pictures of or a buck that has lived on your farm that you never had a trail cam pic of. Once in a while I will get a new one in late November but rarely in the first half of November.
 
My son shot a "traveller" last year, aka, a "surprise buck", and that was the first one of those for us in several years. Probably 90% of the bucks that we see are ones that we can recognize, but there are a few sometimes that show up unexpectedly.
 
I'm pretty much counting on travelers, Big blocks of timber around me and always have new bucks move in and work scrape lines. We dont have any on cam I wanna shoot yet but I know whats in the neighborhood. This buck showed up two weeks ago on a annual scrape for the first time my sons been trying to catch up w him. The beauty of the rut, not knowing what just may step out!

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We pretty much get the same bucks on our 50 acres. Once in a while a stranger will show up usually mid day sometime in November. Late season is when we usually get 3 or 4 surprise bucks because we’re the only one within a few miles that leaves corn/beans standing and food plots
 
I don't run cams any more so they're all kind of a surprise. By the end of October I usually have a pretty good idea what running on the main piece of private I hunt, and it's usually not something I want to shoot. Come Thanks giving I start seeing new bucks and this piece has some of the best heavy thermal cover around and new deer move in as the weather gets worse in late season. I also spend a good amount of time hunting public and they're all a surprise there.
 
I hunt 80 acres located with large timber on two sides of me and AG on the other two sides. I keep trail cameras up year round and only get a few pictures of a couple does and a couple fawns all year until mid October. Then my green plots get hammered with dozens of new does and bucks when the neighboring ag fields are picked. Counted 9 different bucks of various ages in the last 3 weeks of pictures. I probably see 2-3 mature bucks every year that I din't see the previous year. Seems like more keep coming through late November then I get fewer pics. I only had 1 picture of a buck(young one) from May-October this year.

I think it travel patterns depend largely on the terrain, food and hunting pressure.
 
Since learning to become more proficient with trail cameras over the years, I rarely have a surprise buck. I think the last buck I killed that I didn't have pictures of was back in 2003.
They are on there feet a lot more in the rut , but I think the idea that they suddenly bust out of there core areas and travel for miles looking for does is a bit over blown.
 
Depends on the property for me. One of my main two properties that I hunt may have one or two random bucks show up in November, but for the most part, the bucks that summer there are the same ones throughout the fall. Another property about 2 miles away is mostly CRP with a small timber, creek line and maybe 30 acres of AG holds almost no bucks during the summer, but come November it's one of my favorite places to hunt. Typically bucks running all over the place out there.
 
I run cameras and usually get one or two surprise bucks on camera each year. Of course I don't see them in person, but still.

One of these days
 
Hardwood11 said:
I know some guys in MN that feel the same way as you.
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A good portion of the enjoyment I get from deer hunting is the surprise factor. That and the only time in my life a 150 class buck, on the hoof, didn't get me excited was when I was getting pics of a 170 classer at 3:30 AM, but never saw him in person. More power to ya if you run cameras. They're just not my thing.
 
I get on average one surprise trophy buck each year on cams. Usually a deer passing through.

I understand how some get burned out on the cams and how it ruins some of the fun. Someday it might be that way for me too. For now, I still appreciate the help they provide in field judging deer, and aging deer. I only want to shoot bucks that I'll shoulder mount (there are exceptions, such as a wounded deer). I have a bunch of deer on cams now, and I know I'd probably shoulder mount 4 or 5 of them. Before cams, I definitely shot a few deer that turned out disappointing me. Right or wrong, it's how I feel for now.
 
My son shot sort of a surprise buck last night. We have a good history with this buck, but last year as a 4 year old he was pretty much MIA. We got few, if any pictures of him last year. However, he was all over the place as a 3 year old. So what led to him "coming back" this year? I have no idea. But I suppose he is a "hybrid" surprise buck. :)
 
Daver said:
My son shot sort of a surprise buck last night. We have a good history with this buck, but last year as a 4 year old he was pretty much MIA. We got few, if any pictures of him last year. However, he was all over the place as a 3 year old. So what led to him "coming back" this year? I have no idea. But I suppose he is a "hybrid" surprise buck. :)
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Another tidbit on the buck that Mark shot...as I said, he was a regular 2 years ago as a 3 year old and we thought he was going to be a real giant in the future. Mark picked up both sheds from him that year, about 20 months ago now. He just scored the now nearly 2 year old sheds(from when he was a 3 year old)...giving him an 18" spread credit, those sheds scored 142". Since he was missing as a 4 year old, we don't know what his rack looked like, we assumed that he was a goner somewhere.

We rough scored him after he was taken as a 5 year old...148" and some change, with a respectable 21" actual spread. So he only bumped up about 6" in two years. Once again confirming for me that not every buck is destined to become a Booner...even if they show potential as a younger buck. Our practice is to hold off until they are 5 or older, then they are fair game no matter what they score...and you will get some "surprises" doing that in our experience. :)

Also, Mark shot him about 80-100 yards from where he found his sheds two years ago...and that is the area that he came from when Mark first saw him last night. Where was he last year? Who knows. But he was awful close to "home" last night.
 
I get surprised every year, seems like the few who stay local disappear mid October and then only surprise buck show up.
 
I don't use cameras, just not for me. I do get to know the "locals" pretty well throughout the course of the season, then the does come into heat and that changes everything. Since I hunt the south skunk river bottom, once the bucks start cruising, its really hard to say what might show up. The river is a huge travel corridor. Get some very nice "surprises" sometimes. Now, getting an arrow into one is another story :)
 
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