Author Topic: Do button bucks travel alone by late November? (Read 706 times)

brownsfan · « **on:** November 29, 2003, 02:56:43 PM »

I repeatedly see this one specific deer, but I am never able to get a real good close look at his head.
His body is fairly large, but I've never seen much of any horns.

He always travels alone and heads out for his nightly cruising with about 5 minutes of legal shooting time left.

Is it possible that this is this year's button buck who has already taken up the life of a young bachelor?

Or is he some young buck that must be at least 18 months old?

huntsman · « **Reply #1 on:** November 29, 2003, 04:03:59 PM »

Could be either a button buck or a short spike, most likely the latter. 1 1/2 year-old bucks generally "cruise", or migrate, from their home turf where they were raised to a new territory where they will establish a home range. Sometimes these migrations can cover less than a mile, or sometimes they may cover many miles. This is the chief mechanism by which whitetail deer avoid inbreeding. These migrations usually occur anywhere from late summer to late winter in the buck's first full year (with hard antlers).

Button bucks (1/2 year old) are seldom hormonally ready for this transition, but it is possible a rare deer might do it, especially if its mother has been lost.

Either way, it sounds like your deer may either be "feeling out" a new home range, or may have already established it.

pa ridge-runner · « **Reply #2 on:** November 30, 2003, 07:55:58 AM »

Buttons on young bucks can only be seen when you are very close.If it is a yearling buck, it has been a loner since at least the spring.Sometimes yearling will only have short horns which can easily be hidden by thier large ears.If you cant get close enough to tell,then maybe its a young doe.Deer of any age can be loners and without knowing if its a buck or not, one cant tell. :?

BH · « **Reply #3 on:** November 30, 2003, 06:07:56 PM »

pa ... I don't usually see buttons traveling alone consistantly although they can get split up from a group during gun season. Also, here in Iowa we don't see a lot of "spikes" as they usually carry a small 4/6 point basket rack during their second year. If the body is fairly large as you say it could be a barren doe or a buck that has lost his antlers due to a trama. I've shot more than one really nice "doe" with testicles.

Bob

Frog123 · « **Reply #4 on:** December 01, 2003, 06:32:12 PM »

Here in Tennessee I start to gauge rut activity by the number of lone buttons and young does I see. Apparently the does run their yearling offspring away when they come into estrus. As the rut starts to peak I begin to notice all these little deer wondering around with that lost look on their faces. Then again it is very possible that it is indeed a button that is now orphaned. I harvested a doe with my bow that had a yearling with it. My brother and I continued to see the same button in the field and foodplot where the doe was harvested from all the way til the end of deer season, so for roughly four months the button hung out in the same general area.

freddogs · « **Reply #5 on:** December 02, 2003, 04:14:08 AM »

Here in WI you often see button bucks or nubbies as we call them by their self in November. You also see them with other deer too. I've seen them traveling with adult bucks and/or does. Maybe it depends when they where born since they vary a lot in size.