The takeaway: As summer winds down, bucks are still in predictable patterns as they move from bedding areas to feeding areas. This is one of the best times to inventory and pattern them before they shift into fall mode.

As summer begins to wind down, bucks are still in predictable patterns, moving from bedding areas to feeding areas. This late summer pattern period is one of the best times for hunters to inventory and pattern mature bucks before they shift into fall mode. 

Understanding how to trace their steps from bed to feed can inform your hunt once the season opens. Cellular trail cams like the REVEAL mean you don’t have to rely on in-person scouting and can instead let your cameras do the heavy lifting. Let’s see how.

 

Understanding the Late-Season Deer Pattern

During late summer, bucks travel in bachelor groups and bed in shaded, secure areas that are close to food. In the evenings, they tend to feed in ag fields, food plots, or mast-producing trees.

Bucks tend to shift when velvet starts to shed. As their hormones elevate when the seasons change from late summer to fall, they tend to break out of their bachelor groups and move for fall cover. If your season opens early enough, you may be able to capitalize on a summer bed-to-food pattern. If your season starts later, anticipate the shift by placing your cameras where you expect bucks to be in the fall. Once the shift occurs, see if you can reestablish buck patterns.

 

How to Identify Bedding and Feeding Areas

Scouting during the late season is a great way to understand how many bucks your area has and their movements. Start this inventory by locating primary food sources. This can be ag fields with unharvested crops (especially soy beans), mast-producing trees, or other food plots. Once you’ve identified the food, you can work backwards to discover the bedding areas.

Deer love green food sources in the summer and early fall. For example, soybean fields that haven’t started to brown are hot spots. Try to identify bean fields that were planted late in the spring–those will stay green longer into the fall.

Look for:

  • North- or east-facing slopes

  • Thick cover, tall grass, or overgrown clear cuts

  • Cool, shaded areas

Keep in mind that deer will often bed with the wind to their back and a view of their exit routes. Just like you would do, they like to bed in spots where they can monitor danger while staying hidden.

 

Use Trail Cams to Gain Valuable Insight

Cellular game cams like those from REVEAL make patterning a much easier and simpler process. Instead of days and weeks in the field, well-placed cameras can provide much of this information, greatly expanding your surveillance footprint.

How REVEAL helps:

  • Instant intel thanks to motion activation and cellular data transmission

  • Low human presence impact since cameras can be set and left for weeks

  • Wide coverage if you use multiple cameras

  • Time-stamped movement patterns that tell you when a buck hits a spot, which direction he comes from, and when he’s most active

How to place your cameras for maximum patterning intel:

  • Cover the edges of fields to capture feeding

  • Monitor staging areas where bucks will wait before stepping out into ag fields or food plots

  • Capture movement at trail intersections between bedding and feeding zones

  • Consider a mock scrape on an active deer trail to get deer to stop right in front of your camera

 

Study Trail Cam Data to Gain Late-Season Movement Insight

With your cameras set up and positioned correctly, you should soon have a wealth of incoming imagery. Here’s how you can use it:

  • In your REVEAL app, open the Hit List. This gallery feature lets you use a simple swipe to add bucks and sort them as active or inactive, MIA or harvested.

  • Using timestamp data, look for consistent entry and exit times.

  • Note wind direction and weather conditions.

  • Identify patterns–activity at certain times of day or wind and weather conditions

  • Cumulatively, this will build a data base for each buck that can inform your fall hunt.

 

REVEAL cameras and accessories can provide you with valuable insight that informs your hunt all season long. Learn more here.