WHAT’S GOING ON?
To make a long and painful story shorter, my second sit, 10 full days after my original observations, was bitterly disappointing. I saw nothing more than a couple of does and young bucks. Obviously, it was merely an off night. I had seen several shooter bucks, and there was simply too much sign in the area to make me think otherwise. On the bright side, because I knew I hadn’t tipped off any deer, I rationalized that I only had to give the area two days’ rest before returning.

My fourth sit was also bitterly disappointing. The same proved true for my fifth and sixth, and every other trip to that stand. And even though I knew that the lack of fresh buck sign meant it was time to move on, that one magical afternoon kept bringing me back well after all hope was gone.

As I look back on that lost season that I experienced so many years ago, the obvious question that comes to mind is: What did I do wrong? For years after that, I stood firmly by the belief that a cruel twist of fate prevented me from tagging one of those great bucks. Knowing what I know today, however, I now believe that the blame lies elsewhere.

SHATTERING A SACRED RULE
For as long as I can remember, the “experts” have drilled one thing into my thick head: Don’t over-hunt your stands! Aside from staying upwind of deer, I can’t think of another golden rule that has been more loudly proclaimed.

However, as the years passed and as more and more experiences similar to this one took place, I’ve become thoroughly convinced that there are many situations where giving stands a break is a horrible mistake. For what it’s worth, I don’t hunt the wind like most “experts” do either, but that’s another story.

Before you slam this magazine down in disgust, please indulge me by hearing my case. The first factor to consider is that both the deer and the habitat they live in go through some dynamic changes over the course of the fall. Prime food sources are appearing and disappearing, leaf drop occurs, weather changes, bachelor groups disband, and does begin to come into estrus. Those are just some of the highlights. So it stands to reason that deer patterns, particularly those of mature bucks, can change significantly over a bow season.

Due to one or more of these changes that are constantly taking place, I believe that mature bucks often experience numerous shifts in patterns over the course of a season. For argument’s sake, let’s say that we spot a bruiser buck feeding in a soybean field in late August and we see him on a regular basis through mid-September. However, as the plants begin to turn brown and die, he shifts most of his feeding to a nearby alfalfa field. Not long after this, a couple of old apple trees start dropping their fruit. And even before all the apples are cleaned up, the oak ridge begins raining acorns.

Let’s say that in mid-October a couple of mature does enter estrus early and a brief flurry of rutting activity takes place. After that, our bruiser returns to the oak ridge, but by now he is also entering the peak scrape phase and all the extracurricular activities that this entails. I could carry this fictitious example out further, but I suspect you get the point.

COPING WITH CHANGE
In this oversimplified yet not so uncommon scenario, our buck’s patterns are changing almost every week. Tom Indrebo, a good friend and the owner of Bluff Country Outfitters in Buffalo County, Wisconsin, agrees. “I see it every year,” Tom told me. “During one stretch, the deer are just pounding the apples, and then it’s like a mass switch to some other crop. Without warning, they’re back on the apples. During early and late season, it’s very common for them to act like a school of fish -- here today, there tomorrow and back here again a couple of weeks later.”

As the more formidable years of my bowhunting career began passing by, I began believing that, outside of the peak breeding phase, hunting pressure was the primary factor in altering a buck’s patterns. Though I still believe that significant hunting pressure can and will limit daylight activities and patterns, I now feel strongly that many times travel patterns change because of changing food sources and rutting opportunities.

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