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Post by ozark on Oct 21, 2009 16:09:10 GMT -5
Over many years in the outdoors here in Arkansas I have seen little sign of bucks fighting. In Texas I seen plenty of evidence of fighting bucks. I am curious as to reasons. Is it a smaller or larger buck doe ratio or a genetic thing? In Texas (Ft. Hood reservation) I noticed many areas where the ground was really disturbed by bucks pushing each other around. These were obviously serious encounters as several chunks of hair was seen. Anyone else noticed fighting being more in one section of the country than others?
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Post by whyohe on Oct 21, 2009 16:36:34 GMT -5
I think there are severals reasons, the one big thing is how many bucks you have in a given area. the more bucks the more they will fight for their area. some is genetics. i have seen 6 point bucks go after bigger, more mature 8 point bucks and woop his BUT. so the younger was more dominant and persistant. some might be the type of ground in your area. if you have rocky soil it might not show up as easy as a soft soil. Example. last week end i saw a scrape on the ground in an area that was strip mines and was very rocky. the reason i noticed it was it was fresh that morning and no leaves where in it and the soil/rocks where losened on the top and no rain had yet packed it down. but in an area on a gas line near a farm field ( years ago) I saw a scrape that was 2 inches deep!! you coild pick it up easy!! even if not fresh. well that is just my opinion.
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Post by westernmdhunter on Oct 21, 2009 20:03:10 GMT -5
I have spent many, many, many hours in the stand and where I hunt I have never witnessed bucks fighting. The buck to doe ratio is way out of whack. I can stay in my stand from before daylight to after dark and see does come through at different intervals throughout the day and never see a buck for days. Don't get me wrong they are there(my trailcam shows them traveling at nighttime throughout bow and muzzleloader season) but they have no problem finding does during the rut. I have witnessed two bucks together chasing does during the rut, they just don't seem to battle each other for the rights to an estrous doe here, when you see one doe there will more than likely be at least one other doe, usually more like four or five traveling together where I hunt. The bucks are rubbing the heck out of trees right now and a few small srapes have appeared already. I have used a grunt tube along with an estrous bleat to try and lure bucks in with no luck in the past, ratlled antlers together with no luck, but if I just use the estrous bleat sometimes a nosey little buck will come along to see whats going on. Now about 10 miles away from where I hunt is a golf course(no hunting allowed) and you can drive through there and see bucks sparring on the green. There is a hiking trail that runs through the state park and along the golf course and I have rattled antlers and blowed on a grunt tube on the outskirts of the golf course for a few minutes on several occasions just to see if they worked and had bucks come running.
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Post by ozark on Oct 21, 2009 20:28:53 GMT -5
Where I have scouted in this area of Arkansas there seems to be many does and few bucks. So ratio may be the reason that I never see evidence of fighting bucks. Hopefully there will be more imput on this thread.
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