AND I just checked the calendar, and as I write this, there are 28 days until the 2024 Bowhunting Minnesota opener. Of course, there is always plenty to do in the coming weeks: Shoot the bowSet up some racks, gather clothing and equipment for the opener, and so on.
But an often overlooked – and significant – exercise is locating and studying stag groups. This has long been one of my favorite things to do on summer evenings, and it will start in July.
My friends and I enjoyed driving the country roads in the area, keeping an eye on the alfalfa and soybean fields to feed the velvet bucks. Even if I’m not going to hunt the properties we’re glassing, it’s always fun to watch Bucks Feed and interact with each other.
Aside from being simply entertaining (who doesn’t love watching Whopper Bucks, even from a distance?), we can learn a lot about white troops from observing them during this special time of year.
Here are eight things to know about stag groups.
More hunting features from outdoor news:
Three food sources for whitetail bowhunters should be looking for now in preparation for the September opener
A quick chat with Bowhunting Great Andy May about early season tactics
Video: Breakdown of the Early Season Archery Setup for Whitetails
Groups form early
While stag groups are usually associated with velvet tills in the summer, many of these groups form immediately after the rut and in the first weeks of winter.
I watched as the Bucks bonded and started running together in the immediate rut and stayed together for the months to come.
Sure, there can be, and often are, other Bucks joining in as the year progresses, but it’s not unusual for Bucks to seek out each other not long after the main breeding peak has passed.
Survival strategy?
Of course, there is speculation as to why bachelor groups form. While no one seems to know for sure, one likely explanation is that the group of bucks simply have more eyes, ears, and noses to detect danger.
This seems to make perfect sense, as black and whites are usually pretty social creatures, and of course there is strength in numbers when it comes to detecting (and possibly distracting) predators.
They are quite predictable
One of the things we learn about stag groups while riding is that they tend to stick to a relatively miniature area, usually associated with a primary food source such as soybeans or alfalfa.
This observation lines up nicely with science that has shown that, across all phases of the year, the whitetail’s home range is smallest in summer.
Hierarchy of dominance
Of course, summer bucks are fully velvety and protective of their fast-growing – but dainty – antlers. So they don’t engage in sparring or velvet fighting, but they do have other ways of asserting power over another deer.
I observed the Bucks stance, Body-Bump and throw to myself, especially as the jockey into position in the food sources.
All of these aggressive maneuvers result in a greater – or at least more aggressive – attempt to say “I’m the boss” to other deer.
It should be noted that bachelor groups often remain unaffected for the time after the velvet shed, and bucks will often willingly spar and/or fight as soon as the antlers harden – perhaps as a chance to finally settle things after a summer of less “fighting” occurs.
Indeed, several veteran hunters I know believe that some of the heaviest fighting of the season occurs in early fall, and their theory is that frustrated bucks may now utilize their headgear, not to mention that a buck changing his area after the velvet shed can meet Strange buck and decide on it.
They reveal great early season hunting spots
It is quite well known that soon after a velvet shed, stag groups can break up and some of the deer disperse.
This fact causes some people to dismiss the importance of diergli summer stag groups under the belief that any information they gather from these gatherings will be useless during the hunting season. This is partially true, but not entirely, and here’s why.
Most of the dispersal that occurs after the velvet shed is done by yearling bucks, which usually decide to move to areas where they don’t have to mess with mature bucks. Meanwhile, the older deer that made up the stimulating element of the bachelor group tend to hang on, especially if the slow summer/early fall food source remains profitable.
Sometimes these mature bucks will maintain the very perceptible feeding routines they put on in slow summer. But even if they don’t, most of them won’t be far. Follow-up scouting cameras and trails may reveal your fresh encounters.
Not every deer participates
Another rather well-accepted fact about Whitetail Bucks is that they are not all cut from the same cloth. While most deer welcome the company of other buddies, there will always be a loner or two that wants nothing to do with another deer.
In my experience, this is most likely to occur with older bucks – animals that have lived long enough to develop a unique personality.
The biggest buck I ever marked was a perfect example. While our cameras captured photos of several different stag groups on this farm, my hunting buddy and I noticed that every photo of this 170-class buck was a solo shot.
He just seemed to prefer his own company, and the night he shot him (the first week of early archery season in Minnesota), he ignored the presence of four teenage bucks in a nearby plot and headed toward the empty plot where I was waiting.
This buck doesn’t seem to be an outlier. Over the years I have noticed several older bucks that seem to prefer the solitary life. This is significant information; If you observe bachelor groups and they don’t include any Whoppers, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a posh living nearby.
They are slothful
Telemetry has determined that Bucks (and other deer) have the smallest home ranges in the summer. I’ll go a step further and say that they will sleep closer to eating than at any other time of the season except post-rut.
In slow season Bucks bed close to food to conserve energy, but in summer they do essentially the same thing but for different reasons.
In the country where I hunt, I am convinced that at least part of that strategy is to avoid insects. When mosquitoes, gnats and other nasties become bulky, it is quite common to see white coals (including nice bucks) feeding in open fields at midday.
While hunger is an obvious factor, I believe they also need a break from insect bites, so bedding on an effortless walk to a field or opening makes sense.
Whitetails, especially mature bucks, are essentially slothful creatures and rarely travel further than they need to for food and cover. And since summer bucks consume a huge number of calories, why burn a bundle of energy walking out of bed to eat if you don’t have to?
Veteran Kentucky Guide Mark Clifford believes that early fallers may sleep less than 50 yards from their preferred food source. That’s one of the reasons he never lets his clients hunt in the mornings, because it’s almost impossible to get the buck back to the bedroom.
Hunt them carefully
It’s no secret that whitetails, especially mature ones, react quickly when they sense hunting pressure. Telemetry studies showed that deer that once used the field and food plots during the summer stopped visiting those places when the sun was up and hunting season was up.
While it only took me a few days during this study to respond to the influx of hunters in the woods, you can buy yourself more time if you are careful with stand placement, entry/exit, and not overhunting an area.
Still, once you start attacking a buck’s cheerful spots, the clock is ticking on how long he stays comfortable there. And if you’re dealing with a multiple bachelor party, consider this hummingbird clock even faster.
