Relocating "Lost" Deer
You've probably heard this story a thousand times, "I had all kinds of pictures of this one buck and all of a sudden he was gone. I stopped getting pictures of him." All too often this seems to happen and almost any hunter you talk to has had some type of similar experience. So that leads us to the question, where did the buck go? Although it may seem like a challenging task to figure out, keep in mind what deer are feeding on and what stage of the fall it is in. Often times it is just a case of deer switching food sources. If it is early fall, keep in mind acorns are starting to fall and your buck is most likely just focusing on acorns as his main food source. Often during this time of the year deer move to find apple and other fruit trees that have just started to drop their fruit. Deer can travel several miles to find a known fruit tree(s). Obviously, bucks will travel further in the rut so you have little control over keeping a buck on your farm during the rut. Let alone knowing where he is at. Late in the year when temperatures drop and the rut is over, bucks will focus all their attention back on food. By this time of the year bucks know where the best food source is in the area surrounding them so they will most likely move around to find the best/easiest food source. So next season when your hit list buck vanishes, keep in mind what's on the bucks mind that time of year and use your best judgement to try and relocate him. Once you have a good idea about where a buck could have moved to, go ahead and try and set up some cameras to see if your suspicion is correct. If you keep these things in mind, you will have a better chance of finding him.
