By David Draper

One of the aspects of whitetail hunting that doesn't get discussed enough are the cases of the disappearing bucks. You hear reports every year of guys who get great bucks on camera in late summer, only to have them disappear for a month or more before they show back (hopefully) in season. The conspiracy theorist in me wants to think there’s some country-wide strategy session where all the big bucks gather to pre-game and share survival tips for the coming season.

In reality, a number of factors contribute to missing-buck syndrome, including changing food sources, shedding of velvet, and pressure from people who head into the woods to scout and hang stands. After the disappearing act, bucks will normally return to their core territory and, if a hunter is lucky, reappear under a treestand come deer season. 
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By Jeff Holmes

Chad Ward of Missoula, Montana, may have missed a complete photo of this 130-class whitetail by a nose, but he drilled it at 180 yards with a Federal Premium 200-grain Nosler Partition bullet fired his Remington Model 700 .300 Rem Ultra Mag north of Great Falls last weekend--the first weekend of his season. 

“It’s more gun than needed, but I love it and it is great for longer distance shooting that I was expecting might happen in this area,” says Ward, who is the fourth generation president of Montana’s sporting goods stores Bob Ward and Sons.

After talking with a contact at Custom Bird Works and the Big Game Connection in Missoula, I learned about very few whitetails being brought in so far, except for Ward’s.

“I was hunting alone in a river bottom area in Region 4 of Montana, northwest of Great Falls,” recounts Ward. “I snuck down onto a small bluff overlooking the river bottom before daylight. There was just enough light starting so that I immediately saw the buck even though it was almost a half hour before shooting time. The buck was about 400 to 500 yards up river standing right on the bank having a drink. 
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By Scott Bestul

Some very nice bucks have been shot in the region this week. But as good as things have been, they could get exponentially better in the next five days. While a warm, low-pressure system full of rain and humidity has blanketed the upper Midwest recently, that’s going to change dramatically Thursday night, into Friday. By this weekend, hard frost will be the norm at night, and daytime highs will peak in the mid-40s. Anyone who can bowhunt this weekend should spend as much time in the woods as possible.

Signs of impending pandemonium are everywhere, and this trail cam photo is Exhibit A. This buck was working a scrape a full hour before dusk, and when I see pics like this, I know that bucks are primed to start seeking does, and they’ll be on those search missions throughout the day. The only thing that I’ve seen that will stop them is weather: either a significant storm or hot and sticky weather that makes travel uncomfortable. If the predicted cold front materializes, there will be no barriers to deer travel.
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By Brandon Ray

Overall Activity Status: Most reports from bowhunters sitting blinds near corn feeders tell of fewer than normal sightings. I sat near a feeder on the morning of October 20, and had four bucks come to the feeder in shooting light, so I can‘t complain. Due to excessive heat across the region, 80-plus degrees in many areas, morning hunts represent better odds of seeing a nice buck in daylight. In the evening, oppressive heat means most older bucks are waiting until dark to move.

Fighting: Bowhunter Eric Boley watched two bucks fight for 20 minutes on his lease in Central Texas. No broken tines, but one of the buck’s necks was already swollen up like it was late November. Boley later shot a fine 135-class Pope & Young buck near a corn feeder.
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By Eric Bruce

Overall Activity Status: In South Carolina, Arkansas, Georgia, and parts of Louisiana, we have entered the pre-rut stage. Reports are pouring in of woods dotted with rubs and scrapes, increased buck movement, and scattered accounts of bucks after does. With the rut becoming closer in these states, bucks are moving more and laying down sign. Most buck activity is from young and intermediate aged bucks that are eager for action. Mature bucks are, for the most part, still waiting on the does to actually come into heat.

Fighting: Pre-rut states are seeing bucks becoming more testy are they begin to search for early does. The stage of light sparring is past and more intense fighting will become more common. The states of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and parts of Louisiana are still weeks away from pre-rut and bucks are still feeding and only sparring lightly.
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By Brandon Ray

Where I live in the Texas Panhandle, mule deer and whitetails share similar habitat. That means I have to split my time, scouting and hunting whitetails some evenings and mule deer on others.

I have lots of history with the buck in the photo above. I’ve seen him off and on for three seasons now. Last year, his rack shrunk noticeably in the drought. So even though I figured he was mature, I decided to gamble and hope I’d see him again in 2012, with bigger antlers of course.

I found one of his sheds this spring. Then I started seeing him in rough canyon breaks country in August and early September. He seemed to have a home range of about 1 ½ miles. He went missing for about one month, then I saw him once in late September and again on October 5. That evening, he was feeding in a wide-open CRP field with a smaller buck at sunset. Both bucks’ racks were still in full velvet.
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