The Velvet Shed
Written By: Ryan Reading, Fall Obsession Field Staff
No, we’re not referring to a shed lined in velvet, but better yet, what bucks do after they shed their velvet from their antlers. Every year bucks go through many transitional phases and shedding their velvet happened to be one of the most important.
All summer you glass fields and received trail cam photos of those larger-than-life shooter bucks on your hit list. Then around September it seems these bucks disburse to their little hidey holes. With hormones running low the bucks begin rubbing their racks on trees all around their territory to remove the velvet from those horns. Sometimes you’ll be lucky enough to catch them on video removing their velvet or having velvet hanging off their heads.
This all happens by design. It’s part of mother nature’s way of changing the buck’s hormones and after the velvet is shed little by little their testosterone builds higher and higher until that magical time we call rut.
What we really want to focus on is that period before the rut and after the bucks shed their velvet. This is a crucial time for bucks. Many bucks are weary of what’s taking place in their bodies but almost like clockwork, they go from bedding to feeding consistently. This is a perfect time to tag out while they are focused on nutrients for that long rut period ahead.
The October lull, to me, is a myth. It’s just a name given for seeing less bucks on their feet. The only thing that seems to happen is bucks go to their sanctuary areas to rest and eat without traveling very far at all, a few hundred yards at most usually. You can still intercept these deer feeding on that lone acorn tree 100 yards from their beds, you just have to know where to look.
Using your Tactacam Reveal cameras, as we are, you will learn these late September / October patterns and the information you receive will help you predict where those bucks may be holding up.
Once Halloween rolls around all bets are off. Those big bucks you have watched all season in the bean fields and food plots have disappeared seeking out the girls. Entering November, the rut chasing seems to be in full swing, usually through the third week of November in the Northeast.
What can we take away from the yearly process? That is the magical question. The bucks process happens the same time every year. The hunter is the one that overcomplicates it. If you don’t want to be that hunter year after year not seeing big bucks or filling your tags you have to change the game. Learning the early season tactics of these large bucks is key. The early season, after velvet drop is one of the most lucrative times if you know where they bed and feed. That will allow you to set up between the two points using the wind in your favor and possibly tag your target buck, rather than guessing where he may pop up during the rut when the woods is over pressured.
The key is to understand the buck phases as they go through them and when. Keep it simple and use your Tactacam Reveals to recon the deer movement so you can set your ambush location with none the wiser. Continue to learn and implement every year and never think you have all the answers, just use what information the deer give you to your advantage.