Heat = Small Bucks Only?

We don't put our game cams out until the first week in September so only have a month and a half of history but rather dissapointed in what we have seen so far. We have got plenty of deer with majority being nocturnal or showing up first thing in the morning. However, they are all small younger bucks. I have heard people say that when we finally start getting some cooler weather the big boys will start showing up. Why is that small bucks are moving now but big ones are not? I would think that if there were mature older bucks in the area I would at least have some on camera at night. Should I be panicking yet? In previous years we generally already have a few on the hit list by this point.

It's the same at our west Texas lease, but we know big boys are there. Cameras just capture a narrow little field of view. Not to worry.

Mature bucks will generally have a smaller core area in the warmer months. With the range conditions this year they hardly have to move. Groceries have been plentiful this year!

Probably the same reasons that teenagers and young folks can't stay home on a Friday night. They've got to be going. Then by 40 we're content to sit home and relax. That's how I see it anyway.

In my experience, the big boys aren't going to crowd around the feeders like the youngsters do. The rut and cooler weather will get them up on their feet and moving. The fact that there are bucks showing is a good sign in my opinion.

I am seeing plenty of mature bucks on my TC at night and into the very early or late daylight hours. Last Friday I had a mature buck in front of me with 15 minutes of shooting light left and this morning had another mature buck in front of me for over 30 minutes.
My question would be have you hunted this lease in the past or have any info on the past years hunting? If there are mature bucks that live on the place or traveling in under darkness they would be showing up once in a while on TC at night. Extreme heat of summer keeps bucks nocturnal and we have had a very warm early fall. Have you moved your TC around to acorn trees, scrapes, trails in travel corridors or water holes?

I'm sure you can ask a hundred hunters and get a hundred different answers but I know it's the truth. I hunt in the pan handle and its like someone flips a switch every year about the second week of November. This is not from game cams this is from being out in the stands from day one of bow season. We all laugh and say we only go out there to make sure the feeders are working. No one has even seen a shooter buck before the week of thanksgiving at our place. That being said there are tons of does and I'm sure it is just a function of the rut kicking off and they come around for a little loving.

That's a real good way to put that! Mature deer think a lot like cranky old farts(like me!). I'm a whole lot less likely to put everything on the line a piece of tail. I enjoy the confines of my den more than I used to, and I'm a lot less likely to go out in the heat.

Like others have said to see mature bucks they have to be there. If you don't know what the history is like for the place/surrounding properties you may have few to no mature deer.

We see a lot more mature bucks during the rut at feeders. Occasionally we have the mature deer that will camp out at feeders all year, but they are more of the exception than the rule for us. We spread cammeras out throughout the year, dump 50 lbs of corn on a trail or random spot and put a cam on it. Try it, you will find deer you never knew you had. We routinely get pictures of deer doing this that we have never seen and never see at the blind/feeders.

Thanks for all the replies. It's family land and have hunted it seriously for about 10 years. Trail Cams are situated around feeders. Generally don't move them to trails till late in the season once deer have grown wary of feeders. This is unusal for my place. Normally have good bucks showing up before the season and then dissappear when opening day arrives. Maybe this year the exact opposite will happen