With warm weather likely to dominate deer seasons to come across most of the country, I believe we’ll have to deal with bucks that are more nocturnal and night-moving than ever. I do not expect last fall to be a one off. We take extreme care to not pressure our best food plots, but even those were pretty empty during shooting hours last fall.” At least on our farm, mature bucks, and most does for that matter, were not hitting our traditional November/December food plots of corn, brassicas and winter cereal grains until after dark. I firmly believe it had to do with the unseasonably warm temperatures. “I know of many folks in the eastern half of the U.S experienced the same thing. “We saw exactly the same thing on our north-central Pennsylvania farm,” said biologist Kip Adams with the National Deer Association. Was this just me, or were other hunters experiencing the same? On all the lands I hunted, human pressure, which can turn bucks nocturnal overnight, was light to nonexistent. Everywhere I went, from Virginia to Canada to Indiana, bucks 3 years of age and older showed up on trail camera at night but moved little and randomly in daylight hours. It may surprise you being waist high.ĭeer season will end in 54 days, you better get busy hunting.I’ve been both awed and frustrated by the nocturnal tendencies of mature bucks for years, but last season was ridiculous. Next time that you are out hunting notice the browse line of vegetation where the deer have grazed. Your property can only handle so many deer per acre. Fewer does means a closer buck to doe ratio and a more balanced healthy deer herd. With all this being said, December is the time to cull a few does from your property and get some meat for the freezer. This isn’t the case with gun hunters who have purchased high end rifle scopes with excellent light gathering capability. The biggest down side of bow hunting is that you aren’t able to take full advantage of the determined legal shooting hours. Bow hunting the property doesn’t have the same effect on your deer herd. No doubt the muzzle blast of a rifle is far more alarming to deer than the wisp of an arrow in flight. It is my belief that if a family group of does come into your green field and one of them is shot, the others will remember and may not return as often during the daylight hours or at least will be more wary when they do show up. It is best to let the does feel comfortable and relaxed when feeding in green fields so when the rut comes the bucks will follow them out into the field. Personally, I try not to allow family or guest to shoot does on green fields but that’s not always the case. Sure, all successful hunters know to “play” the wind in their favor before selecting a stand location but how many times have they sat in a stand with the wrong wind direction thus spooking deer off the property? I am willing to bet it happens more times than they realize or care to think about. and return back to the same trail and the same stand at 3 p.m. It is normal that most hunters leave their stands around 9-10 a.m. The human scent trail that all hunters leave as they enter and exit the woods is a dead give away. First and foremost, the amount of increased vehicle traffic on the country roads just before daylight and noise from ATV’s riding in the predawn darkness with hunters heading to their stands. What makes a deer go nocturnal? Truthfully, there are so many reasons that I can’t list them all, but here are a few things that tip deer off due to the hunting pressure. A nocturnal deer is extremely difficult to kill. When mature bucks feels pressure from being hunted morning, noon and afternoons, they hunker down in the impenetrable thickets waiting for nightfall to feed. For instance, the deer might have smelled a predator nearby and felt the need to move. This is typically brought on by other factors. In my opinion, this is the time when deer, especially mature deer, realize that there is mounting hunting pressure that lurks in the timber and a field. It is simple to assume deer are nocturnal if you see them at night because they can be somewhat active during the day or even in complete darkness. With the holidays fast approaching and kids out for Christmas break, the woods should be full of eager hunters hoping to tag a deer.
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