Bachelor Groups, Northern NH

[dpep]

Bachelor Groups, Northern NH TAGGED OUT

Hello all,

I have stumbled onto a nice bachelor group of 3-4 shooters at ~3 1/2 to 4 1/2 years of age plus a yearling tag along.

I've always known these groups existed (more so in real deer states) but seem much less common around my area as its mostly a meat hunting state where bucks are hard pressed to mature. That being said, I'm getting excited at the prospect of sticking one of these deer for my first archery buck come mid Sept.

My question is, whats next? What happens when the honeymoon is over for these boys? What can I expect when mid Sept hits and these bucks are about to or already have disbanded? Does the alpha of the group hang around? Do any of them stay in the area or is everyone gone? Haven't seen many doe in the area at all.

Any insight would be helpful, I have 3 cams out to watch it all unfold, I'm just anxious and nervous. Worried I'm getting excited for nothing.

Thanks in advance!

 

[steinea286]

I live in eastern NY and don't see many bachelor groups either. I was raised in western NY and saw bachelor groups all the time though and form what I have noticed, once they lose their velvet (mid September) and their testosterone increases, they tend to become more unpredictable. Some people can pattern those bucks all the way until the season opens and sometimes they disappear, but you never know.

From what I have read and heard, the best thing to do is try and locate the bedding. Sometimes those mature deer will only move 100 yards before the cover of darkness allows them move around more safely. If you can find where he beds, and knows where he feed, you might be able to kill him so long as you play the wind and have the right conditions!

Best of luck killing a mature buck like that in NH! I know its not easy as I am practically doing the same thing in the northern portion of the Catskills!

 

[Trial153]

Well you hit it on it early. It takes some age for bucks to start grouping up into Bachelor groups, usally they are at least 2.5. So in places like new England and eastern ny they are hard to come by as most bucks get killed as yearlings.

I would start looking for rub lines in sept near the closest good beding you can find...points and ridges near by. Look for north slopes with conifers, ledges about 2/3 of the way up..

 

[OleWI21]

I don't know when your season opens but you potentially have yourself a chance to fill a tag early. If you can pattern them before they break up and find out what they are feeding on it will be easy to ambush them between bedding and feed.

There are so many variables that play into when and how these groups break up. In general, once the velvet comes off and their testosterone increases they become less tolerant of other bucks. No doubt one buck has already established dominance but that doesn't mean he will stick to the same schedule. Once they break up you basically are starting from scratch trying to re-pattern each individual. In my experience they usually stay relatively close to their summer haunts and by close I mean 1-5miles. The overall health of the herd, buck to doe ratio and available food can all affect how the disperse though.

 

[WJS23]

Those bigger bucks will usually loose their velvet the end of August beginning of September. I shot a spike in velvet the first week of archery a few years ago but only seen a hand full of bucks in velvet during the archery season

 

[dpep]

These are great replies guys, thanks a lot for all the input. Checked the cams today and things have really slowed down this week. Last pictures of a buck were from Fri-Sat on two different cams. Same buck alone this time, who is really filling out his body nicely. Have pics of him and another bedding down in front of a cam early last week.

This peak I'm hunting is probably around 2500ft and I have cams between 2000 and 1600ft I would guess. The main food source up on this ridge seems to be raspberries. It's a mix of open-ish meadows and real thick conifers and birch, what you would expect at this elevation.

Our archery season opens Sep. 15th, last pics of the 8 pointer he was still full velvet. I also have pics of him from last week challenging and chasing off the spike thats been hanging with them. Really thick stuff that and I think bedding will be tough to locate but its not far from the general area I feel. I hope to do some early morning and late afternoon glassing to better locate these bedding areas and routes.

Which is a better time early season? I've been shooting bows for a long time but this will only be my second archery season. Is t worth hunting from a climber all day this early in the season? I'm used to putting a lot of miles on rifle hunting, is this a successful method of bow hunting? (I think I know the answer to this question, but as many times as I've seen these bucks up close without spooking them this summer, curious how much their behavior will change.)

Thanks again boys.

 

[tyeager2964]

If they are unpressured they may be daylight active the first week or two of the season but once they get a little pressure a mature deer typically becomes nocturnal only moving very little right at dawn or dusk.

Every deer really is an individual and needs to be hunted that way.

Likely early your best bet is an hour after sunrise and an hour before sunset to dark. There are times I will sit for 4 hours just to get in or out of a stand without spooking the targeted deer but rarely all day. If it is extremely hot with limited water that can pay off if you sit water early afternoon evening as well

 

[WJS23]

Did you end up getting on that buck? We had a good cold front move in this weekend

 

[dpep]

I did finally catch up with him after hunting hard since the opener on Sept. 15th. I had not seen him or gotten a picture in about a month and I was beginning to think I had missed my window or spooked him off. The afternoon of the 7th I decided to check my camera that was on a mock scrape I had made in a previously very lucrative area (picture wise). This revealed a decent buck I hadn't seen before investigating the scrape 10 mins before legal light that same morning. It didn't take me long to decided where to hoist the climber.

Sitting in the stand Sunday evening watching a doe and two skippers feed up from about 80 yards right into 35 thinking this is a pretty good night in the woods. Then this guy came stomping in from behind me and stopped almost directly under the stand. I was frozen for what felt like 10 minutes but it was probably more like 20 seconds. Heart beating out of my chest, too scared to look toward him in fear he was staring right up at me. But he was much more interested in that doe, never becoming aware of my presence. He continued on his mission to her, giving me the opportunity to stand and draw my bow. They met about 25 yards out when he turned broadside but blocked by a tree while giving her a sniff. She gave him the cold shoulder and he turned quartering away stepping out from the tree. I wasted no time loosing a through arrow, harvesting my first archery buck. He did not go but 70 yards. He dressed at 230 lbs after hanging over night.

I was both surprised and excited to see this kind of action this early. 10 mins prior to first spotting the doe and fawns I had done a bleat grunt sequence. I could barely make them out and I watched them start to go back the way they came. I let another soft grunt and that's when they started back in on me. 5-10 mins later he had to see what all the ruckus was.

 

[dpep]

 

[dpep]

 

[WJS23]

That’s an awesome buck man don’t for get to get your patch for that tank. Know one will understand what we are talking about if they arnt from around here!