Reprinted from my November 2007 Know Whitetails column in Whitetail Journal
He was feeding in the clover, about 100 yards from my tree stand. I made no effort to call because this was a small buck, and the rut was just getting started. Five does in the field paid no heed to this guy, nor did they respond when another small buck entered the field.
However, things were about to change and just before dark, Big Daddy arrived. He moved toward the does and the two small bucks quickly moved out of the way, pretending to eat, but constantly on guard to make sure they were "out of range." It’s a common scenario. Small bucks deferring to big bucks during the rut.
However, new DNA research done at the King Ranch in Texas shows that even when you have a lot of older bucks in an area, some young bucks mate does. In that study, yearling bucks sired 14 percent of the does, 2.5-year-old bucks sired 21 percent, and mature bucks sired 65 percent. This leads to the question, are some yearlings tough guys that dominate some older bucks and thus get a chance to service does?
Some say yes, some say no. Let’s look at the data. Biologists conducting the Texas research found that the 2.5-year-olds and the mature older bucks mated does throughout the breeding season, while yearlings only mated does during the peak rut. The suggestion is that older bucks assert their dominance during the breeding season, but because of a higher number of receptive does during the peak rut, some yearlings are able to sneak in and breed some does. These researchers concluded that even though there are a lot of older bucks around, they don’t prevent young bucks from breeding.
However, I would add here that maybe they are busy chasing does, and at the peak of the rut they just can’t cover them all, so the young guys are able to breed some does. The question remains, is Big Daddy preventing mating, or is Big Daddy busy at peak rut, and the little guys get some action.
Before moving on, let me add another unrelated, but interesting, finding of this research. When I was young my dad taught me that a dominant buck would breed 8-10 does during one breeding season. Later I learned that the peak of the rut only lasts around a week, and individual does are only receptive for three days. I also came to know that a buck may stay with a hot doe for that entire three days. Knowing that I realized that it wasn’t possible for one buck to breed many does. This study confirmed those feelings, as they found that 47 bucks sired one litter, 8 bucks sired 2 litters, 1 buck sired three, and 1 buck sired 4. Clearly, most bucks only sire one doe a year. Interesting.
A second recent study looking at the possibility that old bucks prevent yearlings from mating was conducted at the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant in Oklahoma. They looked at buck movements before, during, and after the rut. The breeding season there went from October 1st to December 15th, and these wildlife biologists found that during this period, yearling buck straight line movements increased by 48 percent. During that same time period the straight line movements of bucks 3.5 and 4.5 years of age decreased by 35 percent, and the movements of bucks over 5.5 years decreased by 31 percent. Remember, these are linear movements, animals walking from point A straight to point B.
They also measured other movements. During the breeding season the maximum distance traveled increased 71 percent for the 5.5+ year-old bucks, 59 percent for the 3.5 and 4.5-year-olds, but only 27 percent for younger bucks. During the breeding season older bucks increasingly covered more ground and they did it faster than younger bucks. They didn’t walk in a straight line as the young bucks did, but rather they moved in a circular fashion, moved all over, and they did it fast. Young bucks covered greater straight-line distances, but their overall movements were much less than older bucks.
In summary, in the pre rut the maximum movement distance is high for yearling bucks and decreases thereafter, while the maximum movement distance is low in the pre rut for older bucks and increases thereafter.
These research biologists came to a different conclusion than those in the Texas study. These authors felt that the rut period movements of older bucks (circular, moving around, highly active, covering lots of ground) was a result of looking for does in "predictable" locations, while the rut period movements of younger bucks (slower moving, in straight lines, covering less distance) was caused by the presence of older males limiting their access to the females.
Now, let me throw in another factor that makes this all even more complex. The core home range of bucks (the area where bucks spend half their time ... bedding and feeding area) is smaller for older bucks than younger bucks. In fact, the older a buck gets, the smaller his core home range. So, even though the rut movements of old bucks is extensive, they still come home and spend half their time in 30-50 acres. Hmmm.
OK Dave, what does this all mean to me, the hunter? The most obvious thing is that during the peak rut, you need to be out there. That is when the big guys are covering the most ground, giving you the best chance for an encounter. That’s the good news. The bad news is that at peak rut, when these maximum movements are occurring, the big bucks are probably with does, making calling and rattling less likely to be successful.
The other things we learn here, we already knew. Right before the peak rut, the big guys don’t move quite as much, but they are looking for does, so rattling and calling has a better chance of leading to success. Also, since big bucks spend half of their time, even in the rut, in small areas, you need to scout before season and find bedding locations and set stands close enough that you can intercept them in early morning or late evening, but not so close that you move them out of that area.
Big bucks don’t come easy. Their movements and why they move where and when they do has tied up researchers for a long time. Unraveling that mystery is what we all do, learning more every time we hit the woods. It is something that hunters have done for hundreds of years. It’s all part of the challenge of hunting the greatest of all animals ... whitetails.
