Crazy Florida Deer

[flydown]

Funny you ask this James. I just read a study recently (see if I can find it again) that showed the break-out of a mature buck population in a given area and what percentages stayed within 2 miles of their home range and which ones ranged in excess of 13 miles during the rut activity. Apparently there is no rhyme or reason to why certain bucks are more apt to roam as the numbers I recall showed no pattern. Neither age, not terrain of home range made any difference. As for duration, it was usually the primary estrous cycle. After that, most bucks went back to their core areas although a few hung around longer. Probably because there were less bucks in those locations and more does that still needed breading.

I guess some deer are marathoners, while others are sprinters.
Me? I'm a hobbler!

[cypress]

I've killed a buck opening day chasing a doe, and killed one in january chasing a doe....it's all about having a doe in heat.

[nativecracker]

location, luck, and a hot doe. That's all you need to have a great deer season. It's justthat easy

[james 14]

Funny you ask this James. I just read a study recently (see if I can find it again) that showed the break-out of a mature buck population in a given area and what percentages stayed within 2 miles of their home range and which ones ranged in excess of 13 miles during the rut activity. Apparently there is no rhyme or reason to why certain bucks are more apt to roam as the numbers I recall showed no pattern. Neither age, not terrain of home range made any difference. As for duration, it was usually the primary estrous cycle. After that, most bucks went back to their core areas although a few hung around longer. Probably because there were less bucks in those locations and more does that still needed breading.

So you're saying terrain had nothing to do with the increase in distance roamed during the rut? Usually open terrain will also correlate with increased home ranges so one would assume that would account for an increase in distance traveled during the rut as well.

I'm also curious what the differences in roaming would be compared to the differences in buck/doe ratio.

This reminds me of a buck I shot on the last day of the season about 9 or 10 years ago. The evening before I watched a 6pt chase a doe across the road in my headlights. He was on her and had ZERO concern that I stopped the truck and had the headlights on him. The next day I shot a 6pt hard on a doe that looked exactly like the buck I saw on the highway the evening before about 5 miles away. No way to know if it was the same deer as I've seen other 6's in that WMA that looked similar BUT it was curious indeed.

[swampwalker]

Fun learning it, isn't it? Ask any Florida native and they'll tell you the same thing, if you can hunt deer in FL successfully, you can hunt them anywhere. Good luck this weekend.

You're right on Chuck! You gotta love the Florida challenge! A buck in Florida may experience a doe in estrus pretty much at any time of the year. Our long peninsula with the wide variation of Lat./Long. does play a part in all of this. Most of us - have experienced each and every anecdotal rut happening posted on this thread. Pretty cool alright.

[huntmstr]

James, terrain might play some role, but how significant remains to be seen. As far as Florida is concerned, there is not so much difference in terrain that it makes a significant difference from region to region. Perhaps deer down south on ranch land will range more than deer in the big woods of north Florida as a rule, but noting definitive has been offered as proof. From my personal experience, one of the properties I used to hunt in the 90's and early 2000's was about 7,200 acres and bisected by a housing development with only a long and narrow strip of woods connecting the two parcels. We had bucks on camera that never left their home block of woods and others that roamed from one side to the other as the rut got closer. One of the guys that normally hunted the northwest side of the property ended up shooting a buck that we had on film on the southeast side of the property (about 7 miles away). I had patterned another buck that made a big circuitous loop around the property that took him 3 days to complete. Each buck does what he does because that's just him. Didn't matter if it was open pasture, heavy cypress swamp, palmetto flats, or hardwood hammocks. Some bucks stayed home and some ranged all over the place.

[gator4ever]

If you notice the areas in Florida with an early rut they are usually in low lying areas. UF states that this is mother natures way of getting the fawns on their feet way ahead of Hurricane Season.

I do know that the further south you go the earlier the rut happens. And in the Big Bend area low lying they also rut earlier.

Dont know about the areas along the st johns??