Deer don't move in the...

[phinton81]

I hunt when I've booked the time off from family/work and any other commitments I may have.I don't have the luxury of living close to my hunting grounds, or being able to watch, document and/or photograph their movements. I take what nature gives me and try to make the best of it. Deer always surprise me and the days where I'm expecting the most action are usually the least interesting and vice versa. I'm less concerned with trying to figure what they'll be up to in any given situation and focus my efforts on trying to find them in the short windows I get afield. I scout, watch, listen and try and find as much info as I can in a short period of time, beyond that my hunts are random and luck plays the biggest role.

Also, none of you are experts, some more experienced than others but you're all mostly full of sh*t with grains of valuable insight sprinkled about like un-digested corn.

Patrick

 

[the spank]

I can’t say when it comes to deer when they do or do not move and since I am anything but an avid deer hunter I could care less but it’s -31C here today with a windchill rating of -41c and I sure as heck am not moving about much!!
After reading through this thread though I am starting to wonder if the deer and other critters have discussions about which weather is best to move about in to avoid human contact?!

 

[hoytcanon]

I can’t say when it comes to deer when they do or do not move and since I am anything but an avid deer hunter I could care less but it’s -31C here today with a windchill rating of -41c and I sure as heck am not moving about much!!
After reading through this thread though I am starting to wonder if the deer and other critters have discussions about which weather is best to move about in to avoid human contact?!

Almost seems that way... it's -30 here too.

 

[TANK1867]

is that a toilet or a garbage can or both? I've never hunted from a blind like that so I'm used to just making compost on the leaves somewhere

Hahaha, its a toilet. Step 1- Close windows, step 2- crank up heat, step 3-do your business, step 4- hurry up and get the windows open again!
The stand is 8'X8' with a lazy boy, propane heater, butane stove for coffee and soup, toilet, blankets etc...

 

[old hound]

You seem quite impressed with your own whitetail knowledge, starting thread after thread, postulating conclusions that are often incorrect, based on your own limited observations... but the clincher is that your mind is shut to the observations/conclusions od others or much of the whitetail science that has been done.

I agree with you on several points regarding this new topic and disagree with others. First, I hunt long and hard, regardless of rain, sleet, snow or wind, I am out well before legal light and don't return until after legal light is over... regardless of conditions "the deer are in the woods, not next to the woodstove." I disagree with your conclusion that less deer are taken on windy days because "there are less hunters in the field." It is a fact that deer move less and have completely different patterns when high winds hamper their senses, ALL animals are affected by high winds, as it robs them of their ability to detect predators... they become nervous, they change their patterns, sticking to heavier cover and limiting movement. Knowing this, if you adjust your tactics and locations, you can take advantage of the situation. High wind is the best time to attempt to "spot and stalk" deer, the chance of catching them unaware is much higher at those times. In general it is best to move away from open communal feeding areas, such as alfalfa fields, and closer to bedding areas, as deer will generally stay closer to the cover they feel safest in and the possesses the most escape routes. The point is that deer and all animals are intimately connected to their environmemt, they maximize their movements and patterns for survival, understanding those patterns and "adjusting" for them means a hunter will be more successful over the long haul... of course there are always exceptions because deer are as uniquely individual as people, and these exceptions are what the ill-informed point to as evidence to refute solid factual understanding... long story, even longer... do deer move LESS in high wind, heavy rain, blizzards? YES... and they move "differently," but they do move....they don't have a choice if they want to survive, but it is overly simplistic to just say "I go hunting anyway..." don't just hunt longer, hunt smarter.

not everyone is an expert like you. I have found Johnnys comments over the years to be sensible and polite and like he says there are many people here who are not experts.
I rarely read a thread on hunting where you don't add your two cents of wisdom. I suspect it eats at you that some people might not care about your expertise and just want to hunt and enjoy the outdoors.
Get over yourself.

 

[hoytcanon]

not everyone is an expert like you. I have found Johnnys comments over the years to be sensible and polite and like he says there are many people here who are not experts.
I rarely read a thread on hunting where you don't add your two cents of wisdom. I suspect it eats at you that some people might not care about your expertise and just want to hunt and enjoy the outdoors.
Get over yourself.

Sure, chief.

 

[DVXDUDE]

I don't give two ####s about weather when deer hunting. The colder the better though.

High winds, heavy rain/snow, fog, sunny, dead calm the big bucks still move. I had my tag filled early this year and went for a drive the last day of the shotgun hunt here. It was 60km/h winds and -19 with windchill and about 8" of snow the night before.

Seen three nice bucks that morning, rut was still on so they were still crusing, not many hunters out that day, barely any human sign anywhere

 

[John Y Cannuck]

Fair enough... peace, love, Woodstock...

Most "experts" are only such in very localized areas and under very limited circumstances. I remember the first time I left Ontario to hunt deer in the Little Missouri breaks, and discovered that whitetail deer there had very different patterns than the woodland deer I was used to, likewise when hunting large tract farmland deer in SK... they might as well be an entirely different species. There are general rules that apply and then there are other behaviours that are adapted to specific locales for specific reasons, based on feeding and bedding areas, travel corridors and escape routes etc... tough to be an "expert" everywhere... and blanket statements often don't apply across-the-board.

The hunt I did in BC at my sisters ranch bears that out. Blacktail, different area, different foods, it wasn't a very successful adventure, I did get one 'jumper' that's what I was told it was. A doe AFAIK. American hunters are often amazed when you tell them deer change colour up here. I had to show a guy down in Vegas on my laptop, the grey winter coat before he'd believe me. (it was the booth where they introduced that inflatable deer decoy) Yes, deer are the same, but not the same, across their range.
BTW, watching a doe react to that inflatable decoy in our woods is worth the price. Never saw a buck go near the damned thing. (Yeah, I bought one, I'll try damned near anything)
It's the wrong colour, a tad too small, for anything but a fawn, and it doesn't move. Does would come out to it at last light, stamp their feet, snort, sometimes circle it and snort some more. Never did I see them raise their tails, but they sure were flipping about. Haven't used it since. I came to the conclusion that like some fishing lures do fishermen, it catches more hunters than game. Caught me.

 

[coyoteking]

The hunt I did in BC at my sisters ranch bears that out. Blacktail, different area, different foods, it wasn't a very successful adventure, I did get one 'jumper' that's what I was told it was. A doe AFAIK. American hunters are often amazed when you tell them deer change colour up here. I had to show a guy down in Vegas on my laptop, the grey winter coat before he'd believe me. (it was the booth where they introduced that inflatable deer decoy) Yes, deer are the same, but not the same, across their range.
BTW, watching a doe react to that inflatable decoy in our woods is worth the price. Never saw a buck go near the damned thing. (Yeah, I bought one, I'll try damned near anything)
It's the wrong colour, a tad too small, for anything but a fawn, and it doesn't move. Does would come out to it at last light, stamp their feet, snort, sometimes circle it and snort some more. Never did I see them raise their tails, but they sure were flipping about. Haven't used it since. I came to the conclusion that like some fishing lures do fishermen, it catches more hunters than game. Caught me.

From discussions I’ve had with northern Saskatchewan guides, American hunters often pass on 160-175” bucks thinking they’re 130-140”. The much bigger bodies of our northern whitetail throw them for a loop.

 

[John Y Cannuck]

there's a video on a US site of a guy crying over a buck he shot. He keeps calling it a monster. I think it was 170lbs. (I could care less about the rack) That's a fairly common weight here.
I'm in a new area this year, so I found out where my neighbors take their deer, and went in and asked what was coming in. on the hook, hide off 140lbs was what he considered average for a decent buck. At that point he had seen nothing bigger in 2017. that was mid November. I should ask in December next time.

Oak tree grove near by.

 

[hoytcanon]

The hunt I did in BC at my sisters ranch bears that out. Blacktail, different area, different foods, it wasn't a very successful adventure, I did get one 'jumper' that's what I was told it was. A doe AFAIK. American hunters are often amazed when you tell them deer change colour up here. I had to show a guy down in Vegas on my laptop, the grey winter coat before he'd believe me. (it was the booth where they introduced that inflatable deer decoy) Yes, deer are the same, but not the same, across their range.
BTW, watching a doe react to that inflatable decoy in our woods is worth the price. Never saw a buck go near the damned thing. (Yeah, I bought one, I'll try damned near anything)
It's the wrong colour, a tad too small, for anything but a fawn, and it doesn't move. Does would come out to it at last light, stamp their feet, snort, sometimes circle it and snort some more. Never did I see them raise their tails, but they sure were flipping about. Haven't used it since. I came to the conclusion that like some fishing lures do fishermen, it catches more hunters than game. Caught me.

Decoys work... try again with a non-inflatable one, flocked decoys are even more realistic, but my old three legged Flambeau works fine.

 

[coyoteking]

I shot an ancient mule buck this year. My 9 year old son was with me, his first time deer hunting. As I was preparing to tag and field dress it, my son asks me, “dad, how come deer don’t have teeth?” Lol. Not a tooth left in his head. I didn’t weigh the buck whole, now I wish I would have, but I did keep track of the weight of the deboned meat. 140 lbs total. This was by far the biggest bodied deer I’ve ever shot.

In keeping to the nature of this thread, I got him at 3:00 in the afternoon on a calm, pea soup foggy day. We had walked a lot of draws and saw a few does and young bucks earlier in the day. We decided to call it a day and head home. While driving out of the pasture I noticed 2 bucks standing at the head of a very long coulee, so we decided to put on one last stalk. After making a big loop to get downwind, we came around the side of a hill and there they were. The bigger racked buck(about a 160”) was half the size of the old fork horn, probably a 3 1/2 year old with lots of potential, so I decided to let him grow and took the old buck.

I didn’t see or hear any other hunters out there that day.

 

[John Y Cannuck]

I think my oldest deer has been about 4.5. that was my guess comparing it's teeth to a website picture. Many years ago, I passed on a buck because it was before legal light, and I couldn't see my sights I watched it go over and sniff a tree that I had put some of that "200 proof doe in heat" that was legal back then, on one of the branch tips. It shook it's head, did a little dance and vanished behind a small spruce. It went over the ridge, and about ten minutes later was shot by my friend 'Newt' It had a huge rack, but not much for teeth, and had faded to about 120lbs. He had it mounted. Meat was tough, but that may have had more to do with our limited knowledge of meat handling, and the two mile drag by hand out to the trucks.

we were hunting with dogs back then, but this all took place before it was light enough for the dogger to start out with them. It was in the 1970's, I can picture it. Open hardwoods, a cold snap, frost on everything, no snow, the two of us had gone out early, the rest of the camp didn't want to be on watch before the dogs started, because it took two hours to do that run. My watch was on the side of a ridge, watching "the notch" a spot where deer regularly crossed the ridge top. This buck came in to the doe in heat apparently. None of us used calls back then. I was cross wind to him he gave no indication that he knew I was there.

oh yeah, of interest to the gunnut. He used a mix of 150 and 180 grain loads in a 300Savage. This deer was hit through the heart with one of the early 180gr Remington Bronze points. Those things were horrid wrt to expansion, but that didn't matter this time. The bullet went right through a 5" maple, left it's jacket on the hide on the entrance side, letting the core alone penetrate to the heart. He used to carry the remnants as a good luck charm when he hunted after that. It was a very close shot, maybe 25yards.

 

[John Y Cannuck]

Decoys work... try again with a non-inflatable one, flocked decoys are even more realistic, but my old three legged Flambeau works fine.

your decoy looks a lot better and larger than this inflatable thing. They do have flocking. I may give it another shot. Do you leave the decoy out overnight? or pack it in every day? Where I was trying it, it was impractical to pack it in all the time, the stand was a 2k walk from camp. The other thing of course is that in the bush, the decoy isn't as visible as it would be in a field. The deer there were not seeing it until they were on top of it, and maybe see that something wasn't right. There are however spots where you can see a hundred yards or so, when you get under the canopy of bigger trees on this place. I never got around to trying it in the bedded position either.

 

[Papaclaude]

Over the decades I've heard guys proclaim they are not going out because the deer don't move in
The wind
The rain
The cold
those are the primary ones.

Well, 'taint so.

Deer do move in the wind, my trail cameras prove that, as well as the cold, and the rain.

I think part of the wind theory, is that guys are nervous about being out there when it's windy. Deer are definitely more nervous in wind, but, they still eat, and rut. Are fewer deer shot on windy days? sure! But only because there are fewer hunters out there. Same for the wind, and the cold.
BTW it's been my experience that smaller deer yard first. Late season cold hunts can net big deer.

One guy I knew claimed there was no use hunting before 9am, 'cause he'd never shot a deer before that time. 'course the fact he'd never been in the bush before 9am might have had some minor influence on that!

Yes, I'm that hunting nut, the guy that goes out in all weather, regardless. As a result, I've shot deer in all kinds of weather, even once in a thunder storm! (but I was headed for the truck)

My usual comment when they ask why I'm going out alone in bad weather, is "You can't shoot game sitting in camp" That's not quite true, but that is another story!

Ok, lets hear your views and superstitions.

I think there are no hard and fast rules to game. One bit of wisdom I've heard all my life is that big game always walk into the wind. If that were so, every big game animal in North America would eventually end up on the coast of BC/Alaska, because our predominant winds are from the W-NW. I've heard deer that sounded like a herd of elephants, but had some walk up on me in leaves so dry you could hear a mouse at 50 feet with almost no sound.

 

[Papaclaude]

Over the years I've dropped the need to be on stand by zero dark thirty hours in order to see and shoot deer. I did this after realizing we had seen and shot (and missed) deer at all hours of the day.

I've seen/shot most of my deer around 9:00 a.m. There are 2 reasons I like to be in the bush just as the sun is rising - first, it gives the forest a chance to calm down. It almost always takes 15-20 minutes after I get there for squirrels, birds and mice to start moving around normally. I also figure it gives mu scent a chance to lessen. The second, and maybe most important, is that I just love watching the sun come up and the forest wake up. It's one of those life-changing experiences. You simply can't have any dark thoughts surrounded by so much peace and beauty.

 

[mbogo3]

Deer don't move a lot in extreme cold weather unless pushed.I've been out in -50 when younger and foolisher ,the deer were easy to locate by the steam rising out of the willows where they were bedded.When I approached them doing a push ,I got this "you gotta be kidding look" and they slowly got up from their beds at point blank while reluctantly heading to the set ambush. My buddy shot his first deer with his .375 Big Bore and the barrel glazed with a 1/4" of ice first shot making a dull pop sound.[like the bullet didn't even want to be out in this weather.The deer blood froze in pea sized balls midair before hitting the snow.Gutted the animal with pins and needles hands and got to hell out of there.Silly 20 year olds.

 

[track]

I've seen/shot most of my deer around 9:00 a.m. There are 2 reasons I like to be in the bush just as the sun is rising - first, it gives the forest a chance to calm down. It almost always takes 15-20 minutes after I get there for squirrels, birds and mice to start moving around normally. I also figure it gives mu scent a chance to lessen. The second, and maybe most important, is that I just love watching the sun come up and the forest wake up. It's one of those life-changing experiences. You simply can't have any dark thoughts surrounded by so much peace and beauty.

Ditto, I have always been in the bush or edge of a field prior to daylight.......I arrive in the dark and then depart in the dark during a full days hunt. Missing one minute of big game hunting is one minute to much. I've killed deer at all different times of the day, from dawn to dusk. There are other enjoyments in the wilderness when hunting big game, such as grouse, squirrels, lynx, rabbit, badger, etc.

 

[hoytcanon]

your decoy looks a lot better and larger than this inflatable thing. They do have flocking. I may give it another shot. Do you leave the decoy out overnight? or pack it in every day? Where I was trying it, it was impractical to pack it in all the time, the stand was a 2k walk from camp. The other thing of course is that in the bush, the decoy isn't as visible as it would be in a field. The deer there were not seeing it until they were on top of it, and maybe see that something wasn't right. There are however spots where you can see a hundred yards or so, when you get under the canopy of bigger trees on this place. I never got around to trying it in the bedded position either.

I don't bother with decoys in deep bush where there is limited visibility. I often use them as confidence decoys at food sources, alfalfa/clover fields etc..., positioning them facing where I expect the deer to come from. Many times this draws bucks out into the open during legal light. I also use them in small clearings or old growth fields while rattling and calling. In my experience, decoys do not spook deer, they often ignore them, and other times come in to check them out, but I haven't experienced strongly negative reactions to their presence. Last fall I had a dozen does and fawns come in and surround the decoy and after introductions, they bedded for an hour and chewed their cuds, all with in 10 yards of the decoy and 20 yards from my position... I would have liked to have taken a picture but I didn't dare move with that many eyes/ears watching. IMO, don't ever leave the decoy out overnight, take it in and out with you, or at least bag it and stash it somewhere nearby, personally I take it in and out every time. I also reposition the decoy everytime out... if going to the same stand twice I move the decoy so that moving deer are seeing something new. I spritz the hind end and face of the decoy with a doe urine in the early season and switch to a doe in heat sent as the rut approaches... I also take pains to not get my scent or other foreign scents on the decoy. One trick to add realism is to tape three sheets of toilet paper to the rump, so that it flicks in the breeze, it actually does look like a contented deer at rest, but don't do this in a high wind or you end up flagging like a frightened deer. I proabably only use a decoy 10% of the time out, but when it works, it is often spectacular, and I have taken several nice bucks bowhunting over decoys. It is just another tool in your bag, to use when conditions are right.

 

[ratherbefishin]

I think its easier to hunt coastal Blacktails in the rain because it seems quieter to walk,not sure on scent ,but I think that might be dampened down too.I also find deer out in the open rocks in the rain

While I like to be out at first light,most of my deer have been shot around mid morning