How to attract older bucks?

By Grant Woods,

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I belong to a hunt club that has 500 acres but my family and I are the only serious hunters. There has never been a 4 year old or older buck seen on the property. The oldest we have seen is a couple of 3 year olds. How do we attract and keep the older bucks?

Based on lots of data from GPS collars placed on mature bucks researchers have learned that they are unique individuals and have different habitats and home range sizes just like humans.  These data also show that the home range size of most mature bucks decreases as they mature.  

Based on these findings it is unlikely to “attract” mature bucks outside their home range. So the secrete to seeing more mature bucks on a given property is to reduce the harvest of immature bucks on the same property.  As long as the bucks are dying in a portion of their range that’s outside the property where you hunt, it only requires passing immature bucks to produce mature bucks.  

Hopefully you are part of or can form a neighborhood deer management coop and adjoining landowners will follow the same buck harvest guidelines!  This is a great way to increase the age structure of a local deer herd!