Big Bucks and The Enigma of Pattern Changes

Many of us are looking at our trail camera pictures this late September and early October and scratching our heads. What’s with all the abrupt big buck pattern changes? The big bucks we thought we knew and the bucks we didn’t know are doing everything we never expected. For the most part, hunters across the whole country are experiencing this. This time of year sees the biology of the rut forcing a drastic change in the psychological behavior of big bucks.

I find it kind of funny when I hear about people getting a head start on their season by doing things like tracking bucks in late summer. Of course, finding new areas and setting stands is a good summer project. But when we track bucks in the summer, what we’re essentially doing is gathering false intelligence. Summer patterns are not the same as early fall patterns. We’re going to take a major blow to our confidence when we experience the big buck breakup.

The bachelor groups of big bucks will break up to spread over a wide area in order to stake claims to rutting launch grounds. I call them launch grounds, because there is only a small window of opportunity before these claimed grounds are abandoned again in the frenzy of a full blown rut. Grounds only become as relevant as the doe that is in heat on them.

The best thing to do is relax, because we’ve done this before. Look for a pattern to start forming. Recognize that territorial dominance for the rut and changes in available food sources like acorns can influence these abrupt changes. For this reason, October can be a very successful month in hunting mature whitetails. Now is the time more than ever for us who have been lazy to kick our cans into motion.

The Window of Opportunity

Trail cameras are among the most effective tools everyday hunters can use to manage their time. It’s an investment that makes good use of the limited time we have as those with full time jobs. Hunters generations before us could only dream of such a tool. It allows us to peer into the calm before the storm. Once the rut does kick off, we can be sure that chaos is just about the only pattern we’ll find.

When we find a pattern in the big bucks we plan to target, we must hunt and not wait. The window of opportunity will probably be gone around the middle of November. In some cases, it could be sooner. Identify a pattern. Hunt.

Parting Shots

I know some of you will say, “I have had plenty of bucks stick to an area all summer and fall.” It might be true. The fact is that, like humans, whitetails have a wide array of personalities. Some can be severe creatures of habit, which is something I discuss in a section of The Urban Deer Complex. Nevertheless, the majority of bucks will still have a personality consonant with the enigma of big buck breakups.

When you keep in mind that whitetails have different personalities, we relieve a bit of the confusion we face in big buck breakups. As a final piece of advice, I encourage all of us to find order in the pattern changes this fall by learning the individual personalities of whitetail. We will only struggle to find order if we lump them all into one group with the same simple cut-and-dry behaviors.