Whitetail Deer Movement

[TXHunter12]

Yessir. We all know they prefer to move in low light situations. Everything I’ve read claims mature deer will travel further to feed at night than they will in the daytime. They will rest near the nighttime feeding location at night. Then move to their daytime bedding area in the morning. They feed close to the daytime bedding area during the day. In South Texas/Mexico they usually don’t have to travel too far for food. So they could spend day and night in same bed if they like the groceries nearby. This is how I interpreted it anyways.

Do deer go to larger fields and bed down at night there also (I’ve seen bedding areas in the fields) because it’s safer from predators? The same question for during the day, do they take cover in the woods because it’s safer from predators in the daytime? Just wondering why fields at night and woods in the day (assuming no people populated around)

[Blackmouth]

I was part of a large deer research study where we caught and collared over 200 deer and followed them with the collars on for 3 months taking points every 15 minutes. I’m sure in the 1,000,000+ points we got back that an answer although maybe not concrete but just as good as any other study that I know of could be extrapolated from it.

Multiple MS and PhD theses and dissertations could be gotten from the data we collected. The answer is out there, just need someone smarter than me to run the stats.

[Beargrasstx]

I recommend looking up MSU Deer Lab. They have podcast you can listen to while driving to and from work. They have stuff up on their facebook page or website if you like to read through studies. Wealth of information

[Native Texan]

I've noticed that wind direction plays a part in their movements. They like to be able to smell where they can't see, and will bed down on the downwind side of hills. They use the wind to their advantage whenever they can.

[lovemylegacy]

Do deer go to larger fields and bed down at night there also (I’ve seen bedding areas in the fields) because it’s safer from predators? The same question for during the day, do they take cover in the woods because it’s safer from predators in the daytime? Just wondering why fields at night and woods in the day (assuming no people populated around)

When I hunted Illinois a lot, this is what I would see walking out at night, the bean field was full of deer. They were having a good time, playing and eating, just doing what deer do. A lot of the time they were there all night. To answer your question, yes.

[Hix]

Deer move when I’m gone and bed when I’m hunting. It’s really simple [emoji16]


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[Big pig]

If you want to leave out moon phases, you cant get an answer.

This

[TXHunter12]

This

Again I see this stated all the time as fact, period, end of discussion. But there are lots of collar tracking studies that do not confirm this. Many go as far to conclude there is no effect at all from the moon. If it was that simple it would seem almost all tracking studies would validate this and it would be consistent across all geographical locations.

I’m not disagreeing that moon phases, rising and set times etc. play no factor. It’s just that when I start reading studies it’s not very consistent.

The one consistent finding in the collar tracking studies across the board is that deer movement mostly occurs at dawn and dusk.

[TXHunter12]

Deer move when I’m gone and bed when I’m hunting. It’s really simple [emoji16]


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I can confirm this as well


Thanks everyone for the input.

[sharpstick35]

from my personal experience, outside of the rut, the dawn/dusk period will see peak feeding activity. you'll find them out in the open more at night, especially darker nights. and in the woods/shade during the day. since I'm outside most of the day and run cameras and feeders year round, I can pattern them easy enough.
now the rut, that's voodoo.

[lovemylegacy]

Again I see this stated all the time as fact, period, end of discussion. But there are lots of collar tracking studies that do not confirm this. Many go as far to conclude there is no effect at all from the moon. If it was that simple it would seem almost all tracking studies would validate this and it would be consistent across all geographical locations.

I’m not disagreeing that moon phases, rising and set times etc. play no factor. It’s just that when I start reading studies it’s not very consistent.

The one consistent finding in the collar tracking studies across the board is that deer movement mostly occurs at dawn and dusk.

Back n the day, there was fellerby the name of Charles Alsheimer, he probably knew more about deer than anybody answering your thread. Check out what he says about the moon and deer movement

[JMKro]

Can anyone simply a day in the life of a whitetail deer doe/buck?

The more I read the more confusing it seems to get.

Leaving out moon phases, weather patterns, rut, etc.

A deer does what during the day time and what during the night time. Then what during dawn and dusk.

When does a deer bed down and when does a deer feed?
How often do they move?

Thanks

This is a little off topic, but I started logging observations/trail camera photos into an Excel spreadsheet, and it makes it much easier to see trends/patterns in deer activity/movement when you can actually see it laid out in front of you. Also, it's 100% factual data that is being collected on the specific property you're hunting.

Example:

I have a log of buck sightings/trail camera photos starting from opening weekend of archery season and continuing through the last weekend of gun season. I only logged trail camera photos that were taken during shooting hours, & I listed all the time stamps in "bow season times". Meaning, if a picture was taken during October, I didn't mess with the time stamp. But if a picture was taken in the middle of November (meaning after the time change), I made it an hour later to make it as if the time change never happened. To make it all apples to apples is what I'm saying. The PM data was pretty common of what most people would think. All but one of the sightings/trail camera photos were from 3:00 PM or later. The only one outside of this time frame was a deer I rattled in and killed at 12:05 PM. That in itself brings into question whether or not the deer was already on his feet when he heard me rattling, or if he was bedded down and the rattling got him up. The AM data was more interesting. 75% of the sightings/trail camera photos were between 9:00 AM & 10:30 AM. Definitely not the "prime time" in the morning you typically hear about. So now going forward, I can make a more educated decision on when I decide to go out and hunt.

[HR3]

Can anyone simply a day in the life of a whitetail deer doe/buck?



The more I read the more confusing it seems to get.



Leaving out moon phases, weather patterns, rut, etc.



A deer does what during the day time and what during the night time. Then what during dawn and dusk.



When does a deer bed down and when does a deer feed?

How often do they move?



Thanks

An old Hunter gave me this bit of wisdom as it pertained to deer patterns and behavior....."deer do what they darn well please"...... Lol

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[KNEE DEEP]

All I know is this year the moon and everything else that influenced them to move didn’t happen when I was hunting. I didn’t see shat.

[TXHunter12]

This is a little off topic, but I started logging observations/trail camera photos into an Excel spreadsheet, and it makes it much easier to see trends/patterns in deer activity/movement when you can actually see it laid out in front of you. Also, it's 100% factual data that is being collected on the specific property you're hunting.

Example:

I have a log of buck sightings/trail camera photos starting from opening weekend of archery season and continuing through the last weekend of gun season. I only logged trail camera photos that were taken during shooting hours, & I listed all the time stamps in "bow season times". Meaning, if a picture was taken during October, I didn't mess with the time stamp. But if a picture was taken in the middle of November (meaning after the time change), I made it an hour later to make it as if the time change never happened. To make it all apples to apples is what I'm saying. The PM data was pretty common of what most people would think. All but one of the sightings/trail camera photos were from 3:00 PM or later. The only one outside of this time frame was a deer I rattled in and killed at 12:05 PM. That in itself brings into question whether or not the deer was already on his feet when he heard me rattling, or if he was bedded down and the rattling got him up. The AM data was more interesting. 75% of the sightings/trail camera photos were between 9:00 AM & 10:30 AM. Definitely not the "prime time" in the morning you typically hear about. So now going forward, I can make a more educated decision on when I decide to go out and hunt.

I had just started to do this. I don’t have a spread sheet but that is a much better idea than just writing it down. Hunting one spot for many many years is what made me start wondering.

I can’t seem to find a pattern. I think I have it figured out sometimes but then something is different. I’m not sure where their exact feeding areas are but I do know in the morning they wouid come in from the north and in the evenings come up from the south. Recently even that I’ve seen reversed.

From what I’ve gathered here if your location is not near a daytime resting area then you are not likely to see them during the day. If they have to eat 4-7 hours then they would be moving in the day.

I’m in a wooded area. I do have some random daytime and nighttime sightings.

Going to start tracking it more thourghly like you and see if I can figure anything out.