what it takes to find a mature buck

Written By PHA Official .

We are about more than half way through the year and just about in the peak of summer scouting. As temperatures rise and the miles pile on, some of us can find our selves more lost or don’t know where to go next if you haven’t found a mature buck, or bachelor groups, hell even some does would nice sometimes when you have found yourself in a rut. I gathered a few ideas I like to use that help clear up some muck and get me pointed back in the right direction again. One key thing I want everyone who reads this to keep in mind is that, a mature mule deer buck's summer range is often the least important place to hunt him in the fall.

To start off I have provided some biology backed data on what deer do. Some of the collared data is extremely interesting.

What GPS Collar Studies Have Shown

Researchers in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and Idaho have found that mature mule deer often have:

  • A summer range

  • A transitional range

  • A migration route

  • A winter range

The giant buck you're getting pictures of in July may be 5, 10, or even 30+ miles away by rifle season depending on the unit.

That's why so many hunters get trail camera photos of a 190" buck in August and never see him during the season.

Summer Scouting vs Fall Hunting

There are a few key rules to keep in mind here, many hunters spend all summer trying to inventory bucks.

A lot of the big Buck killers we know now like, Robby Denning, Travis Hobbs, Ryan Lampers, The Eastmans, and more. Most of them spend their summer trying to answer:

Where is this buck going?

Not:

Where is he today?

The most prominent Mule Deer migration studies, that is on going today, is The Wyoming Migration Initiative. This study has documented mule deer using the same migration routes year after year and passing through the same stopover habitat almost like clockwork.

For a mature buck, migration can be more predictable than his daily summer movement.

Where Should Cameras Go?

A lot of times where I like to start out on

  • Water, you need to think where water will remain all summer. A seep, cool spots. I prefer standing water, even an elk wallow is nice.

  • Feed, this is such a broad term. The cliche “food, water, cover” is everywhere. I want to quote the National Forest, Mountain mule deer are primarily browsers rather than grazers. Their diet consists of the leaves, tender shoots, and twigs of woody shrubs and trees, as well as protein-rich flowering plants (forbs). Grasses make up only a small percentage of their diet.”

  • Mineral sites (where legal), in Colorado, where it is illegal to put out salt/mineral for wild game, a good place to look is a national forest cattle mineral site. You are you most definitely going to get a lot of cow pictures and have your camera messed with maybe, but anything to a giant.

This gets you started in the right direction this will start to tell you a or bachelor bucks exist. A few tips I want to throw out for placing cameras, is that you need to face the camera north, remove all vegetation that will trigger the camera, try to plagce it off trail some feet, bears tend to pay mind to cameras right on the trail. Or as you will find out, anywhere you tend to place a camera.

Now that we have an idea of some bucks, it doesn't mean you know how to kill him or where to find him during season.

Let’s start to have a better idea of where to find a buck in season or where to place more cameras.

1. Alpine Exit Routes

If you're hunting high-country deer.

Find:

  • Saddles

  • Benches

  • Timber fingers

between feeding basins.

These are often better than the feeding basin itself.

2. Transition Habitat

The biggest bucks often spend daylight hours in:

  • Sparse timber

  • Broken mahogany

  • Oakbrush pockets

  • North-facing timbered slopes

while feeding somewhere completely different.

3. Migration Funnels

This is where science really helps hunters.

Look for:

  • Narrow drainages

  • River crossings

  • Saddles

  • Ridge necks

GPS data repeatedly shows mule deer concentrate through these features.

What Mature Bucks Actually Need

Every mature mule deer buck is balancing:

Food

Security

Thermal Protection

The biggest mistake hunters make is scouting for food only. Mature bucks survive because they prioritize security first. A bachelor group buck might feed in the open all summer. An old 6- or 7-year-old buck often feeds where he can reach cover in seconds.

The Most Important Summer Scouting Question

Instead of:

"Where is the buck feeding?"

Ask:

"Where does the buck feel safe at 2 PM on a sunny August day?"

That's usually:

  • North slopes

  • Timber pockets

  • Broken cliffs

  • Mahogany patches

  • Dark timber islands

Those locations repeatedly show up in western mule deer habitat-selection studies.

PHA Official .
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