Have we been getting into the woods too early for deer?

[wolf695]

I'll give you a good example of this, years ago I took my second son shotgun season youth. set up a blind on a major deer path. We got out there at 530am , so as not to freak everything out! About 615 or so my son wakes me up from my nap. He says (Dad there is a big buck at the window screen, smelling me) I get up and sure enough there is! Now if you obey the law, which we do! I told him let him go ,and forget it until after daylight. He was at least a 12pt, 3-4 yrs old. Looked like the Hartford Deer...

 

[H&Hhunter]

Reading these posts is interesting. Most are in the Midwest region or Eastern regions. The few that were out West, the shooting times seem later, like after 9 am-1 pm or later.
I found that to be true for the most part when I hunted here. Got a decent number of mulies around the Bodie area after 10 am. Ya never know.

Most but not all…

 

[Hookeye]

Ive seen good bucks right at first and last legal light. But most were between 10 am and 2 pm.

Trail cams show lots of activity in the dark around 1 am.

Is your area a patchwork of woods w ag all around, or big chunks of woods, or sea of ag ?

Hunting pressure, legit, illegal, natural?

It all.can factor.

During gun season, when rut has already started here, lots of folks bail around 10.am
Pushes deer. Stay put til 2 pm!

Also, the bruiser we had on camera Jan 1. Was killed in following gun season, over 2 miles away.
Current spot is patchwork of smallish woods w beans n corn all over.

 

[CoalCrackerAl]

Every deer i shot was at day break or shortly after.

 

[Hookeye]

Hunting small spots, super easy to spook.deer going in. Since gun season folks around us tend to get in at first light, being in early lets the deer pushed by them come in, and we are already there ( no spook ).

Which makes for a rough time, getting in early and staying til 2 pm. Brutal w bad back.

Of.course folks just come in to their spot whenever and have a nice buck pop.up.
It happens.
Usually not for the reasons they think.

I scout my area, who hunts around me. Having a few yrs there, i know one spot gets zero pressure in gun, is a sanctuary....til.late season. We used to see and kill bucks when those guys hunted it earlier.

Now the big ones tend to hang there during the day.

This yr from that woods to ours, is corn. So will act like a continuous forest. Which means right by where we park, the deer will cross. Ive killed a couple bucks on that corner. My buddy thought i was nuts hunting it. Corn comes down, those scrapes still get attention.

Unfortunatly the bucks were 125 and 131 inchers. 175 and 181 lbs dressed. Nice enough for me but not " big "

 

[Hookeye]

When I started deer hunting was at my Jeep eating lunch. Guy next door shoots a good one. Next yr am eating lunch and see a big once come in from afar.

Hmmmm.

Killed.my first deer a couple yrs before, diff spot. Opening day of bow. 11:52 am

 

[.45Coltguy]

Most but not all…

And that is why I said most. Certainly isn't going to happen all the time.

 

[Plano11]

I have seen too many deer early to put much value in that study .

i had a few walk by my house a couple months ago and my wife fed them, they were not bothered or scared. I took some photos i will post them later. deers can show up and just move when they want.

 

[9x56MS]

Looking back through my hunting journals of 50 seasons I have killed deer at all hours of the day but most (60%) were between 6:30-8 am. My observations do not support that studies findings. The only way you will harvest a deer is if you are out there in the woods. To each there own but me I am out before first light and come in after I have tagged my deer or it gets dark.

 

[buck460XVR]

It's a fact that most animal activity is during low light periods, this includes fish. Sometimes has to do with whether or not they can see in the dark. My trail cams pick up deer at any time of the day, yet dusk/dawn/night is the most often. During the rut, it's a different story. I always thought that deer are driven to being nocturnal because of human activity. Still is when it comes to big bucks. As deer have become accustomed to more and more human activity in their immediate area, they become less nocturnal. Half a century ago, once a deer saw you, they were gone and running to the next county. Now, they stand and look at you. Used to be you had to go out of town to even see a deer. Now, there are more deer in town than in the woods. Times change. Gun deer season changes everything about deer movement and behavior in most areas, due to pressure. You don;t know if a deer you see at 10:00 a/m. is moving naturally or has been pushed out of it's bed by another hunter.

 

[red rick]

In my state and county most of the movement is caused by deer hounds , except during bow and muzzleloader season .

 

[bearcreek]

I don't know; what do you think?

I think you're a lot less likely to get a deer if you're not out hunting.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

I've staked them out already and picked them off when they are getting up out of their beds. We had a lot of rag weed in the openings where I grew up in Pa, and if I knew bucks were bedding down there, I would get there early and wait them out. I'd watch them stand up, stretch, lick their chops, and then drop them. It was usually always a little past daybreak. The DRTs I was always thankful for but didn't get too many of them.

 

[Thomasss]

Your information given from the study makes some sense, but it is not showing you nor are you looking at the whole picture. Deer are mostly nocturnal. We see them on trail cams etc to be moving and eating during the night. Then around daylight they will lay down unless motivated to move by hunters, predators or by weather. Some of the best hunting is just after dawn when hunters are pushing them out of their beds. Then too, they are also pushed out around noon; hunters going in to eat lunch or to watch the big game on weekends. Finally, weather causes them to lay down. Their protection is hearing or seeing danger. Weather negates that process so they will lay for long periods. If the rain is hard and long lasting, they will sometimes get up to dry off. Their fur is quite waterproof but if soaked through to the skin, they will get up to dry off. The human being is the only animal I'm told that sleeps for one long period. All other animals will sleep for short intervals during the night and day.

 

[Thomasss]

how they get to be old deer! and the dumb ones don't! LOL

My youngest told me that when he first started hunting. He said, "We always seem to shoot the small dumb ones, and not the smart big ones." He said that after watching TV of hunters at a game farm. lol

 

[9x56MS]

I once saw a buck bed into a multi flora rose bush. I sat on a rock waiting for 2 1/2 hours before he came out and I was finally able to shoot him. Another of the pleasures of still hunting.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

I've been saying that for years, but I like to be on stand before dawn....because I like to see the day begin in the woods.

Same here, I just like to be in the woods, so the earlier the better. I'm not too concerned when I see a deer. Dawn, dusk, or anywhere in between I'll be out there where I belong.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

John “Pondoro” Taylor always maintained that if you act like a hunter, if you crouch down and start moving towards an animal they immediately become alert. If you close the distance by walking off angle not straight at them and don’t stare/make eye contact and maintain the posture of a person simply walking by. You’ll get much closer, and do it far easier than the hunter who postures like a predator.

I've always thought that the predator behavior of hunters is what keeps them safe (most of the time) from bears and especially cougars. Yes there is something to that. I see more game hiking then I do hunting. !!!

 

[Random 8]

I have shot the most deer within 1 hour of sunrise and sunset, not counting the old driving days. Here in the Northwoods, November weather coming in can change this dynamic, and I'll hunt the front and back side of snow/wind/rain/whatever religiously regardless of time of day.

Where I hunt, there is a mix of open fields (either hay/alfalfa or an occasional picked cornfield), clear-cuts, natural forest openings due to windfall/fire/disease/old grazing or logging activities, heavy young timber, and more open older growth. The deer tend to use the larger openings nocturnally, traveling established corridors in the early and late hours to the heavy younger timber. During acorn crop, they WILL operate within the older more open timber at more civilized hours of the day. All season, they will move around within the heavy cover to the small natural openings for a bite to eat or to make a social call on the ladies, but you'll rarely see one, buck or doe, break cover during broad daylight according to my game cameras and my meat pole unless the weather, wolves, or a local old fashioned deer drive throws you a curve ball. Unfortunately, when I'm talking heavy cover, I'm talking MAYBE 50 yard shooting and an impossible approach. Very hard to hunt. The only way I've found is to be there well before the deer, sit down and be quiet. I usually lack the patience to sit all day, so I tend to optimize my times to the most active and concentrated deer movement in my area.

I'm sitting my stand on a travel lane at sunrise and sunset, and posting a small forest glade on the fringe of impenetrable cover during the day.

 

[buck460XVR]

Deer are not that smart, LOL. They do adapt to what is there, like any mammal. Where I live after first day of season, there are spooked so they move different than normal. SURVIVAL, how they get to be old deer! and the dumb ones don't! LOL...

Used to be that way, not so much anymore. Deer get big in many areas around here not because they are smart, but because they were lucky enough to be born into a home range where the hunters with access, allow them to live until they get big. Many times, that ol' mossy horn that everyone is after could have been dead a dozen times already if folks didn't like the size of his horn and let him walk. Big bucks like that wouldn't make it a day during hunting season on public land. I hunt both public and private land. Many times, does on public land are much more wary than 3 1/2 year old bucks on the private land. On public land, a 2 1/2 year old buck makes a mistake and walks in front of someone, odds are, he's dead. If he does it on my private land.....he walks. The bucks I am after have made plenty of mistakes....it's just they haven't had to pay the price, like public land bucks do. On public land, here in the Mid-west, any 3 1/2 year old is a trophy, regardless of horn. Just how it is. On private land.....it's iffy. It's no different than trophy fish. With the pressure put on them on water with public access, trophy size fish get there these days because someone, generally many someones. caught and released that fish. Don't matter if it's a 8 # bass or a 50" Musky. If that water is open to the general; public(as most water is) they didn't get big because they were smart. They got that big because of being let go. The problem is, and it goes for both deer and fish......some folks take an animal that while not yet a trophy, is bigger than anything else they have taken. Sad part is, it might only be a year or so until that animal/fish becomes a true trophy. That is why I tell my grandkids.....if you want to shoot a buck and you don't want to wait for the big one, take the 1 1/2 year old, not his 2 1/2 year old brother. Same with fish. Want a fish fry? Take panfish or the small 1# bass or 2# walleye. Let those that are almost trophy go.

 

[wolf695]

It all depends on your area, Deer have a set time for curtain things. Bow and youth seasons get them older ones wise!

 

[S.Crockett]

Conclusion....Sleep in, enjoy breakfast and coffee, and get out and in to the woods after the 6AM and 7AM crowd. And to think I would be sitting an hour before shooting time in the DARK.

LOL! …. Ah yeah, no. Those who snooze late and snore loud on opening day never bag the Big Bucks.

You want a record-size rack? …. Get your keister in that deer blind or atop the stand no later than 4 a.m.

Late arrivers are just driving deer for the early birds who’ve been hunkered down for hours.

 

[Roverguy]

My own extensive, decades long study of deer movement across several states has conclusively established the following facts about deer movement:

1) when I have a buck tag, does will be omnipresent and bucks non-existent. And vice versa;

2) when I am ready and in place to hunt, deer will be nearly as scarce as honest politicians;

3) deer are more likely to be killed on the road on the way to hunting than on the trails where they have been documented for months ahead of the season;

4) deer will be sighted most frequently in the places I just left;

5) the biggest bucks of the season will invariably be sighted just after tagging the mediocre meat deer you finally settled on.

 

[9x56MS]

My own extensive, decades long study of deer movement across several states has conclusively established the following facts about deer movement:

1) when I have a buck tag, does will be omnipresent and bucks non-existent. And vice versa;

2) when I am ready and in place to hunt, deer will be nearly as scarce as honest politicians;

3) deer are more likely to be killed on the road on the way to hunting than on the trails where they have been documented for months ahead of the season;

4) deer will be sighted most frequently in the places I just left;

5) the biggest bucks of the season will invariably be sighted just after tagging the mediocre meat deer you finally settled on.

I take it you are a glass half empty type.

 

[Kingcreek]

Over many years of Midwest deer hunting I have concluded that I see the most deer activity when I am in my stand. Almost none when I am not. If I have the time, especially early bow season, I’ll go out and sit awhile regardless of time of day.
One season I finished my longbow. I had hung a tree stand and realized it was too high for longbow so I went out midday to move it. I was wearing blue jeans and a camo shirt. I took my compound bow with me just so I wasn’t empty handed.
After rehanging the stand and trimming a couple branches I was sweaty so decided to sit in the stand and cool off before walking out because I was going to come back and hunt it later that afternoon. I looked up and saw a nice mature buck walking right toward me. I got my bow ready and shot him at 12 yards. Never did shoot one from there with my longbow.