Several major changes will happen within all bucks before summer ends. Their behavior will change along with their feeding and bedding patterns.

The biggest reason you’ll see bucks basically become new creatures as we go into fall is the increase of testosterone flowing through their bodies. By the end of July, most bucks will start to feel the effects of testosterone beginning to trickle through them. This causes them to be more territorial and aggressive toward other bucks.

I’ve always noticed that when most bucks shed their velvet, you likely see major developments taking place within their behavior. It is not uncommon for some bucks to shift many miles from where they spent the entire summer to new breeding grounds far away, once they become hard antlered. This is why it can be frustrating scouting bucks all summer, then to see them suddenly vanish before hunting season arrives. When the velvet peels off the antlers, this is a sign that bucks have enough testosterone flowing through their bodies to feel the desire to breed. Although most breeding doesn’t take place until late October and November, bucks start to show signs of breeding behavior late in the summer.

It’s not uncommon to see fresh rubs and scrapes later in August or early September. Bucks start rubbing immediately upon shedding their velvet. They will also spar with other bucks when their antlers harden. A group of bucks will hang together all summer long, as if they were best friends for life, then like someone flipped a switch they suddenly become instant enemies.

Since the invention of trail cameras, hunters love to use cams during summer months to take inventory of bucks. The biggest challenge deer hunters face is trying to stay on or relocate bucks that have shifted or changed their patterns from summer to hunting season. Outside of breeding behavior, one of the other factors contributing to a change in patterns is the development of fall food sources. Fully developed acorns and other hard and soft mast will start falling to the ground by the end of summer. The new availability of quality food sources often changes where and when a buck will feed. Sometimes the only reason why bucks disappear from summer areas is due to the abundance of mast crops becoming available.

All deer, in general, seek out food sources with higher fat content going into the fall and winter. Although deer love luscious green browse, they prefer fattier foods rich with carbohydrates to build fat reserves for the cold fall and winter months. A lot of hunters are misled when bucks vacate the views of their trail cameras all summer thinking that they relocated somewhere miles away. Most often, bucks are still within the same areas they spent the summertime, but they have shifted to where better food is now available. I always put it this way, they still live in the same town, but the grocery store relocated.

Bedding patterns also change by late summer and early fall. When bucks split up from summer bachelor groups, they tend to seek out denser, thicker bedding cover. When they go solo, they no longer have the protection of other bucks to watch out for danger. Survival is now entirely on them, which keeps them hiding more inside thick cover throughout most of the daytime hours.

As we get closer to fall, leaf cover, grasses and underbrush will slowly start to diminish as daylight decreases. This is also another cause for changes in buck behavior. As the woods start to open up, bucks feel less secure and will change bedding areas if cover is decreasing. Leaf cover plays a huge role in how secure a buck feels in his bedding area. You rarely ever see bucks bedding in wide open fields. When they rest, they don’t want to be seen.

All in all, there’s no other time throughout the year when buck behavior will change as drastically as in late summer. Both mentally and physically, a buck is a completely different animal once the summer ends.

(Steve Sherk Jr. is an outdoor writing contributor to the Olean Times Herald and The Bradford Era.)