Mature deer relocating after a kill


hoosierhunter

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Something I've noticed after killing my last two bucks is that almost immediately a new mature deer would show up and stick around.

Last season I killed my buck on Oct 28th. He was 5.5 years old and definitely the dominate deer. On Nov 1st a very heavy 8 showed up on camera and I got 4 pics of him from Nov 1st til Nov 18th on different days. He was for sure 4.5 and probably closer to 5.5. His body was actually bigger than my buck and he dressed at 208lbs. This 8 was a new buck that was never on camera in the summer or fall until Nov 1st.

In 2008 I killed my buck on Nov. 4th and again another big deer we hadn't seen before showed up.

This leads me to believe that deer really can identify each individual deer in an area and they are very very active at marking their territory.

This also makes me think that if you can identify when a mature deer is killed in your area I would say that being on stand all long as possible for the next 7 days is a priority. Whatever deer moves into that area is going to be very active in claiming his new turf and probably should also respond extremely well to calls. Even if a "new" buck doesn't move in, the next in line should still be up and active establishing his new role as dominate buck.

I know a lot of guys get discouraged when a big deer falls but I'm starting to think that it might increase your odds in the very near future.

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Subordinates or peers who have been beaten in challenges get the chance to become the dominant animal when the dominant animal is removed, part of a natural pecking order and makes perfect sense. Depending on when it is in relation to the rut would stand to reason that you would see at least one new mature buck to move in to take over the removed buck does. Of course there has to be mature deer in the area in order for that to hold true.

Just my own trail cam and time in field observation here, have seen more deer "show up" after what we figured was the dominant buck was removed.

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  dbHunterNY said:
I have seen this before only the results here aren't as good as managed areas or say the midwest. Doe numbers are a bit high where I hunt and there are fewer mature bucks. I usually see the next in line that has still been on the property.

ive seen this happen once, we have good genetics on our lease, and around our area, and we killed a real big 8, with in a few days i seen a bigger deer in the area that i had no idea was around, i only seen him twice and that was just at dark, thinking he was nocturnal, but i can see where another deer would take over the doe herd

thanks for sharing that insight, never gave it much thought before

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