Opening weekend of rifle a few weeks ago I had 3-4 solid bucks that my son was trying to shoot daylighting on camera, and now they are all gone when I checked my card last night. I was hopeful they lived on the 80 acres I hunt, but they might have been just passing through for a week or so, or in a freezer by now.

My oddest thing is I have 4 does, that come to the feeder almost every day at 930-10am. I am not sure if they bed on my place or make the long journey each morning to eat corn and leave or what. Mom and fawn eat at 730, then 4 does come 2 hours later. A few spikes have shown up, but no solid bucks ever since the opener.

Anyone else seeing this? First year on the lease, so no food plot to hold them around, just corn this year. Hopefully food plot next year.

Bucks are on the move looking for doe's my guess. They might show back up before end of season to give your son a shot don't give up.

Home range of 3-4 bucks is considerably more than 80’acres I’d bet.

Until we get a hard freeze, they have an endless supply of food. They haven’t been moving as much because of this.

Spoon...If I counted right you are hosting a density of 8.9 acres to a deer ....which is a good amount .. so..if you are trying to hold this amount of deer you need to feed at least 13 lb.s per day of corn for just these animals. If it where me I would feed twice that amount divided up into 5 different areas around my blind in case you have hogs. If you have hogs you will need a pen as big as you can afford. I like a minimum of 60X80 ft. If that is too much then watch as you might need more corn in small areas. For each area I would put out only maybe a couple of pounds of corn. Don't pass up a chance to kill as many of hogs as you can. With a pen you can host many more deer.

Good Luck

^^^at least one answer. 80 acres is not much when deer roam all over a much greater area.

While bucks have their own core areas, they also have range areas where they can travel a mile or more in search of does during the rut, or to feed on seasonal food sources as they become available. Does, on the other hand, pretty much stay in much smaller core areas.

This is how big bucks use their home range

Agree.

Average buck range is usually around 400 acres and deer move within their range for various reasons at various times of the year. So they could very easily be alive and elsewhere. If you are in an area with other small parcels, I would think mortality is also a very good candidate, especially if their disappearance coincided with the bulk of the hunting public hitting the woods

We don't have any hogs thankfully, and feed 3 times a day on both feeders which is always cleaned up by either does, turkeys or birds. The 80 acres is heavily wooded, but more so cedars than oak trees. I'd prob say 65% cedars. I do agree with most of you guys that I bet the bucks for the most part have a wider range than I was thinking as they were never regulars on the cameras, even before opening season. I am hopeful we can carve out some smaller food plots early next year and maybe help keep the bucks around a few days longer so my young son can try and get one for the first time with his rifle.

For whatever the reason you haven't seen those bucks lately ...I hope they come back and ya get one of them. You mentioned turkeys. About 31 years ago I had a problem with turkeys. My feeder would go off and I was bombarded with about 50 turkeys. They would come in and clean up all pieces of corn ...even little chips. I finally had to just turn off my feeder for a week or so and that helped. I grew to hate turkeys and hogs..lol

i've noticed the same on similar acreage I hunt. there is a time when bucks that are on camera everyday...disappear. Most of the land around is 1-2 acre homes or small farms. We don't have any oaks, some water and one a doe or two. When December arrives, I start seeing new bucks, usually younger spikes and forks.

We had a good buck on camera. He had a distinct rack that made him easily spotted. He had points going everywhere and a 8 inch drop tine on his left side. He was killed 10 miles from where his picture was taken. Those girls made him travel a long way

Rutting is still going on , they have a steady food supply and if they don't get themselves shot somewhere else , they will be back .

Having the same issue spoon . Everything has just gone nocturnal the last month and nothing has changed on our end of the stick 🤷‍♂️

Had 3 decent bucks on camera that I have not seen for over a month. About that time is when I switched from protein to corn and the hogs showed and that was the last of those 3. Hoping they are chasing the girls and show back up. Put the protein back up for them, so maybe they get hungry and we are back in business. Seen some of the smaller bucks, but none of any account. It would help if we could get a hard freeze and the leaves would fall off of the mesquites. Bucks should hit the feed pretty hard once the rut winds down and get into more of a pattern or at least that is a hope or wish.

Our backs travel 1 to 2 miles everyday. Rarely see them at the same place once October hits. Everyone I have shot was seen miles away earlier in the season. 80 acres is small area where we hunt though. Its common to see one on camera in September and then appear on camera in January once.

Tx duck, where are you generally hunting that they travel a mile or two every day. I know they do that but you imply it’s more regular than I’m used to.

Stick it out.

Montague county. A mile is nothing there during the rut months. We only have thick woods along our creeks so thats their main travel paths, the edges. . It's open pasture elsewhere. Few wheat fields on near by properties. We don't see the same bucks ever consistently at any feeder no matter their age once October hits. We have just over 1,000 acres and know what the neighbor sees. We are at about 1 deer per 20 acres. A thicker place or one with crops they definitely don't travel as much. But basically the rut changes everything from what you were seeing Sept/Oct.