82 PETERSEN’S BOWHUNTING 09 • 2019
Despite the assertion by researchers that there is no
October lull, my cameras show otherwise. Most of the
bucks I track on my farm through September either
drop off the map in October or stop moving in day-
light. It has nothing to do with hunting pressure, be-
cause I haven’t even started hunting by that time. It’s
something physiological that bucks go through each
year as their testosterone levels rise, leading them to
become hermits.
That’s not to say all bucks do this, but on my place,
at least, most of them do. Those that are still moving
in daylight are few and far between, which is why you
shouldn’t just dive right in on your best spots, or your
best bucks, without a very clear green light indicating
that the time is right.
Here is the typical timeline of buck behavior that I’ve
seen on my farm since I started running trail cameras
back in 2008.
Early September: Bucks are very daylight-active in
late summer and easy to find where they feed in open
fields. They stay that way until about Sept. 5-7, roughly
when they start the transition into their fall ranges.
Mid-September: Bucks have lost their velvet and bro-
ken up their bachelor groups by now and are dispersing
into their fall ranges. Fall ranges are usually different
from summer ranges, so your trail cameras have to grow
legs to find the bucks again. Bucks are still reasonably
daylight-active, but most of them have moved.
Late September: Bucks are now more or less settled
into their fall ranges and moving noticeably less dur-
ing the day. Possibly (probably) they are moving deeper
into the timber as they feed more aggressively on acorns
at this time,butI neverrunmycamerasintheseplac-
es (too much risk of bumping the bucks), so I’m only
guessing.
Early October: I almost never get a daylight photo
of a buck during this time period. When I do, they’re
infrequent and sporadic — one here and maybe anoth-
er a quarter-mile away on a different camera three or
four days later. It’s nothing I can count on for a pattern.
Very rarely do I find a mature buck in one place mov-
ing in daylight frequently enough to make me want to
risk pushing in and hunting him. I’m guessing that I’ve
found the right buck in the right situation in early Octo-
ber only three or four times in the past 11 years.
Mid-October: Things are really dead on my farm by
this point. I’ve only shot one mature buck during the
middle of October during the past 30-plus years. I keep
monitoring the cameras just to be sure, but the informa-
tion is almost useless in real-time. It does serve to tell me
where bucks are moving at night, though, and that will
be useful when the next green light flickers on.
Late October: This is when I start to see a real ramp-
up in mature buck activity on my cameras, even dur-
ing daylight. It’s especially noticeable when a cold front
is passing through; I might get five or six good bucks
on camera one afternoon, all in daylight. After the front
passes, though, the bucks go right back to their noctur-
nal behavior.
That’s the backdrop for our October hunting deci-
sions, the downside, what we are up against. You can
see that from a mature buck standpoint, October is gen-
erally not super accommodating. However, there’s more
to this month than just shooting a big buck.
Spending time behind good glass will help
you pattern deer, but you can’t be in a tree
around the clock. That’s when trail cameras
come into play — especially with bucks
becoming increasingly nocturnal as
September turns into October.
