Buck Versus Buck

The natural behavior for all Whitetail Bucks is to establish a hierarchy in dominance as soon as they can. The younger bucks begin to learn survival behaviors early in life (within two years) that will set the future stage for being a dominant breeder or not.

When Do Bucks Begin To Fight

Buck sparring starts as soon as the antlers have shed their velvet and become hard. However most fighting/sparring before rut is each buck testing one another and sharpening their fighting skills in preparation for the fight for dominance. If a younger or smaller buck is beaten in a battle then he will most likely not become a dominant buck for another year or two and possibly never. During this time he will move to areas avoiding conformations with the dominant buck.

Will a Dominant Buck Fight More Than Once A Night

There are many areas where the local bucks are trying to establish a dominance and in some case a smaller buck may be the dominant buck until a larger much older buck shows up. Bucks will also fight more than one battle a night as you will be able to see in this series of clips. You will also see the results of the first fight of both bucks and see one did not fare to well.