Do bucks “Hide” in October? Is This Why Deer Disappear?

It was a warm afternoon late in October when I witnessed something I had never seen before. After hunting all these years with my bow, I thought I had seen it all. I was mistaken.

The hunting had been pretty uneventful and I found myself sitting in a hedgerow between two fields that deer liked to frequent. I was comfortable and thought to myself that although the deer seem to have disappeared for the moment, I was absolutely sure I would not see any whitetails in my living room and so I was enjoying the warm afternoon sunshine when it all happened.

I was looking in the direction of a silo located not far from me when all of a sudden, a nice big doe stood up from her bedding place. She had been lying in a little thicket that didn’t look like it would hold any deer at all. Then, as she decided she wanted to go for a bite to eat, a huge, and I do mean huge buck, stood up and immediately went over in her direction. She bedded right back down and, to my surprise, the big boy went right back to where he was bedded down earlier and laid there. Incredibly, the two whitetails were about 70 yards from me when they totally disappeared back into the thicket. I knew they were there, but for the life of me I could not see them at all.

This whitetail game of cat and mouse went on for some time and I could not help but have a huge smile on my face as I watched the events unfold. Every single time the doe stood up, the buck immediately pursued her. And every time he headed in her direction she would have nothing to do with him and just laid back down in the thicket.

As I sat there, I watched a beautiful 8 pointer walk within 15 yards of me totally unaware of my presence. He had smelled the doe in heat and was looking for her. That was the one and only time I saw the big buck leave his girl and that was only for a few minutes.

I could have easily harvested that 8 pointer, but the other buck might have been a new state record. He was an absolute monster, the buck of my dreams.

I simply thought I could wait him out as I let the eight pointer walk. When he saw the big boy coming towards him with his ears back he decided that he would have nothing to do with that doe and he moved on and offered another 20 yard quartering away shot. I passed.

Finally, after an hour or so, the doe relented and let the big buck mount her. It was over in seconds and then she was allowed to graze in peace. Of course he decided to walk in a direction that offered no shot for me and I just sat there with my jaw in the mud as I watched that magnificent creature stroll away. He had no idea at all that he came so close to having a bad day.

I went to school that day. I had just witnessed the so-called “October Lull”.

(Read the full story in the Oct. 2016 edition of Texas Fish and Game)

Story by Lou Marullo