Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Nocturnal deer ..

Nocturnal is what lets the big guys get big. A handful of days during the rut they'll let their guard down when the doe they are with goes into estrus. A new moon will give you a small window of time at last and first light. Very remote areas they bed in areas you can find them too.

Guys, that's why I said "basically" and maybe crepuscular would have been a better term, i.e. more active at periods of dawn and dusk. But I didn't mean they never move in daylight....but are more inclined to move at dawn/dusk and under the cover of darkness. Really an adaptation used to avoid predation (deer are of course a "prey" animal).

We all know that at some times of the year a mature buck will move during daylight hours; and like Calvin said maybe more active during moonlit nights and possibly on cloudy days as well. During the rut we can kill them at any times of the day as the urge to find hot does overtakes them.

And like Tony says there are bucks that won't take part in the rut or maybe even have been cowed by younger/stronger,more aggressive bucks so back off from breeding duties. Just because they are biggest does not mean they are the most active and aggressive breeders.

But many of us develop our hunting strategies around low light situations because we know that's when really big bucks are most likely to expose themselves (We know this because of all the guys afraid of losing their reticles in bad light

Also seems the majority (not all) of game cam pics of really outlandish bucks are taken with the benefit of a flash,so they sure were not there during daylight hours.

I've killed some of my biggest bucks during broad daylight....again during the rut when the urge to breed caused them to move during daylight;dragged them out of the normal pattern.But during the pre rut if we hunt food sources,we may be lucky if they show on the edge of dark and daylight in exposed areas.

A solid buck I killed in Alberta waited until the very last minutes of daylight before he decided to cross a big field, and when he did it,it was at a dead run; he either had an appointment somewhere or he was very uncomfortable exposing himself like that in the open.

Spent lots of time on big fields in Alberta and Saskatchewan seeing nothing but middling' bucks....the monsters you knew lived there were reluctant to move into exposed areas during daylight hours....no doubt they will at times if the rut or extreme hunger makes them do so,and like was stated..."right time/right place".

My biggest from New England was killed 11:30 in the morning when the rut had him up on his feet (even he was not really in the open and I would not have seen him in that swamp had I not been in a tree stand)...so sure,they will move during daylight at times but I would bet most of the big ones have stuck to that anti-predation mode to avoid detection, likely spending most of their lives in crepuscular and nocturnal movement patterns when up and moving; and sticking to heavy cover during most daylight hours.

And during the rut(again), they will be on their feet looking for hot does at almost anytime, even stepping into open areas to scent check where does have fed to see if any are in heat...one that gave me the slip in a clearcut in Maine this year was doing just that at about 8:30 in the morning after the sun was well up.

One of my favorite situations is to cut a big,fresh track in snow,headed into a bedding area early in the morning...I know that buck has likely been on his feet, traveling and looking for does and will want to bed and rest for awhile,so is not too far ahead. He may be on his feet later but for the time being he will rest for awhile before taking off again(maybe during daylight) in search of breeders.

Having seen the kind of genetics running around central and northern Alberta, other areas of central Canada, I am of the opinion that there are far more world record quality bucks living there than any of us realize...yet they are infrequently killed, relatively speaking.It's their ability to avoid detection that keeps them safe,mostly.

So yeah I am pretty comfortable saying the really big one's are "basically" nocturnal.

The largest whitetail buck I had never seen lived(part-time?) within 400 yards of my parent's house.

My dad was moving dirt with a scraper, looked down and saw his skull, really nice 5x5.

I'm with Bob on this. Crepuscular is 'zactly the right word and personified by bucks that reach 3.5+ years old. I believe there are 3 categories of bucks - 1.5-2.5 year old deer who hang out with does and hang out alot of places does do. Somewhere between 2.5 and 3.5 they start catching on - mainly because they've start to accumulate experiences with hunters and have survived. Some with bullet/arrow wounds, all having both sighted/winded humans by that age. I'd venture most have been shot at. Seems when they turn 3.5 they become a different deer - and much harder to hunt. By 4.5 they do things completely different than the rest of the deer herd.

I believe I've only killed 1 deer in the 4.5+ YO category and killed him last year. He was chasing a doe out of a laurel thicket, on top of a mountain about a mile from the closest road. I hunted one this year that is at least 3.5 and probably 4.5. I have both his sheds from last year, can tell you where he beds - never laid eyes on him this year. He is living in a rather remote area that doesn't get much/any hunting pressure. I suspect he'll die of old age - unless I can catch him chasing a doe next year. I'll likely sneak in there this Saturday for one last hunt. Wind will be right, main rut has long been done but hopefully a second estrus doe will be hanging around, although I don't see many does up there either. He's a tough one.

BTW: this year was tough in TN as well. I didn't see many deer and 2 small bucks which I declined to shoot. Acorns were plentiful - kind of like walking on marbles. I think the deer here were living and staying in laurel thickets with oaks growing in them - both feed and cover without moving far. I did OK in PA an didn't really notice much different although the last Saturday I hunted - rain, cold, fog, crappy - I only saw 1 deer. Of course it was the one we were hunting, a nice 3.5 YO 8 pt, that I somehow managed to miss.

Which brings up another old buck truism - they can show up when least expected. I got into my stand 30 mins before daylight on that Saturday. It was 36 degrees and raining with fog to limit visibility at times to less than 50 yards. It was that perfectly crappy late November/ early December day PA is famous for. I sat till noon without seeing a deer, managed to get wet despite my raingear, and was starting to get cold after ~ 6 hours on stand. I hang the rifle on my hook, fished out a samich, and picked up my phone to check on my Dad. About 5 minutes into my distraction, I look over and he's walking through my best shooting lane. By the time I ditched the samich, phone, and snagged my rifle, he was walking down through the woods in the way mature bucks do when they are out and about. I spied a small opening in front of him, led him through the opening, and squeezed the trigger. I knew I had missed because the crosshairs were on his brisket when the gun went off. No hair, no blood, followed his tracks in the wet leaves for 3-400 yards - a clean whiff. I've made that shot before but its a tough one. After killing a bull in CO, a dandy 8 in TN, and and a 10 pt in PA last year I can't complain too much

As I understand it, deer are ruled by their gut. They have to eat, ruminate, and defecate on a fairly regular schedule or else face pretty severe discomfort. They go through this cycle about 4 times a day. You may see them bed longer during a severe change in weather, but they normally stick to that six hour schedule.

How does this jive with "going nocturnal?" When the moon is visible during the middle of its monthly cycle, deer are more likely to feed more actively at night. When they are stressed through hunting, they may do so as well. However, they still have to get up and move about every six hours or so. Folks see them at their feeder cameras at night, because that is an easy place to snack. It is their version of going to Taco Bell at midnight. They generally go to the food sources that are harder to exploit during daylight feedings. The other thing deer will do is limit their activity. A big buck might withdraw to a few acres in a place where he can eat and bed without much effort. However, if he is interested in breeding, he'll be wherever the doe are, no matter his other inclinations.

What I noticed this year was that the deer stayed well away from their usual haunts in the early parts of season. I do not know where they were, but they were neither feeding in the open fields nor in the oak groves. I also saw minimal breeding activity. Towards the latter part of the first week of season, as the moon began to wane, they suddenly started gorging on acorns that had been left untouched since October. The big bucks were generally no where to be found. I finally spotted The Big One on the last day of season while I was up in a stand cutting down the camo skirt. He was out munching on acorns about 1000 and could have cared less about me.

Good luck.

Shaman where I hunted in central Maine this year it seems as if a lot of does did not come into heat until the end of the 3rd week of November and into the 4th week.

We saw a lot of track of bucks moving, scent checking, but not much chasing of a hot does until then.

In Maine, the woods are loaded with food and a rutting buck can get all he needs without too much effort near bedding cover...some food sources are standouts up there (like fresh tops from new cuttings and 2 year old clear cuts) but the does get into that stuff as well. Bucks cruise through scent checking those areas for does in estrus and she may lead him anywhere.

One guy cut a big fresh track right at sun up, crossing a major logging road. He jumped on it and sure enough jumped the buck within a few hundred yards, which had bedded down after a night of cruising. He missed him but stayed on him all day,seeing him two other times.....never got him......ended up 5 miles from his truck and another guy from our camp drove him back right at dark.

That buck was moving all right but was pushed hard all day...I bet both he and the hunter were pretty tired after all that.

This was an odd season for sure. Our herd is on the build right now. 2012 we all got skunked, and I think it was a poacher causing the trouble. A certain neighbor moved out and the deer started coming back-- know what I mean? 2013 was a fair year. This year, we saw young small deer like crazy. I suspect next year will be better again.

I don't know what kept our deer out of the woods in October. My first guess would be better acorns somewhere else. At first the uneaten acorns had me thinking the deer had been poached again, but then all of a sudden they were there and they were all munching month-old acorns. Go figure.

In regards to "nocturnal" deer, I have a long drive to deer camp and it takes me past a lot of fields and usually a lot of animals. My rule of thumb is that if I see deer out feeding late-- say after 9 PM, then they'll be up about 0900 the next morning. Similar for deer at 5, 6, 7 O'clock. Add 6 hours, and the deer will be doing the same thing. THen add another 6 for the next go-round. Deer up moving at 5 will be doing the same thing at 1 AM and 5AM-- give or take.

You got me there....generally where I hunt we don't get to see the damned things out feeding at all....nothing but big woods and they all stay hid...

Where I like to hunt deer, the deer are noctural, especially during the summer. With daytime temperatures between 105-112 plus, and water sources very widely scattered, it makes good sense.
We have very good data on their nightime activities because the local sportsmen put cameras on the water sources. It's not unusual for the same buck to show up at 10:00 PM and again at 4:00 AM.
During the hunting season, the bucks may travel several miles to and from water at night. Which is why hunting near water sources, especially for older bucks, seldom works.
In spite of all of this, their nocturnal habits don't make alot of trouble for those of us that hunt them. What makes it tough is finding them, particularly if they are living in areas where driving into their range is not possible. That and their very low density. DFW estimates that there are only 3000 of them living in 6600 square miles of habitat.
One thing I might add is that from our radio telemetry data we have learned that the older bucks are very sensitive to hunting pressure. When the vehicle traffic increases near their home ranges, they shift their home ranges to those areas where experience has taught them they won't be bothered. Some mighty ugly, unproductive looking country has been known to harbor some really big, old bucks.
How big ? I saw a photograph from a remote water hole that was of a buck with his antlers in the velvet. In spite of the fact that they hadn't quite finished growing, I'd bet money he was at least 40 inches wide. He's in an area that very few hunt because it's way off the beaten path, flat and very thick.
Then there are the really old bucks. Every year a few come in that run 16-18 yrs. old. I met a guy that killed one that was 20.5 yrs. old. Heck, I killed one that was 14. Only took me 5 years. E

Yall are doing better than me!
I been EVERY weekend since our season opened and
have not seen squat! Not even a squirrel

try being 'sneaky'.....

January, feeders, blinds, mature bucks out in the daylight, all the points get counted too? Very interesting...

Something I observed a couple years back. I had a little honey-hole set up on a saddle. This saddle was surround by old cypress swamp on one side, and typical GA bottom swamp on the other.
This saddle had a lot of acorn producing hardwoods. There were 3 very nice white oak tree among them. We planted and 40 x 70 yrd food plot right between them.
One evening, I noticed a small buck emerge from the swamp. He made his way to the white oak acorns at the edge of the food plot. He then circled the food plot looking for acorns. He never entered the food plot. The food plot was gorgeous--probably 8-12" high, with clover in the mix.
About 3 weeks latter, I hunted the place again. It looked like the food plot had been mowed.
Over the years I've concluded that as long as deer have access to browse and mass crop--they prefer it (at least in my area). When the mass crop is gone they forage where they can. And that is my plan for food plots. It's a source of nourishment for deer when the mass crop is depleted.
Another thing I have noticed. Deer movement seems to be cyclical. Hunting the same area, there are years when bucks (big bucks) just don't seem to move during day light hours. And some years, I've seen them move all during the day.

GeorgiaBoy ,

Which county in sw georgia do you hunt in ?

What type of terrain is common there ?

I like to root around on google earth a bit -it looks like there is a lot open flat country up there .
Is your area considered a big deer kind of place -say like the black belt area of alabama ?

Deer here in the florida panhandle have no interest in corn once the green browse wilts away - they do seem to like winter rye grass this time of year .

We shot two nice 8 pointers the first week of the season here in PA after 4pm....they were starting to move at dusk....

Dougherty, Stewart, and Randolf counties.

The terrain is varied. I hunt a plantation in one county it has everything and managed for hunting (almost unfair to talk about it). I hunt bottom land and pecan grove in another, and 10-year-old pines/bottoms in another.

There are very big deer on the plantation--I know--I have to let them walk. Stewart and Randolf counties are managing their herds. I would not classify them as big deer counties, however, there are an increasing number of quality bucks comeing out of those counties.

The thing about corn is doing it throughout the year. Before hunting over bait was legal in GA, a former club I was in sectioned of an 80 acre block of woods. We put two feeders in that section, and kept something in them year round. The deer came to see those two stations as simply another food source.
No one was allowed to put a stand in that area, but we hunted the many established trails leading to it.

The more successful plots I've seen have a mixture of rye, wheat, peas, and clover. Clover seems to be especially favored, the other vegetation provide cover for it while it becomes established. However, not all food plots are the same. Again, the most successful food plots I've hunted are those that are established or managed. That is, they are plated every year, or every other year and are fertilized. All food plot are not equal, and deer seem to know which ones provide the better nutrition.

As I stated in another post, I view food plots and corn (which I don't really care for) as a food supplement. Being consistent year round with something allows the deer to see them as another food source and increase the chances that the deer will frequent them.

Sorry for rambling.

Thanks sounds like a nice area .

I need to do more work on my plots .

I have tried to find some clubs in sw Ga. -even more sw than you but haven't had much luck. Seems Georgia guys don't care for all the florida hunters coming up there -on GON =georgia outdoor news website -can't say I blame them there are some rude hunters down here . I have been sitting in a stand -had other hunters --if you want to call them that-- walk under me -ask if I seen anything and walk right through the area I am hunting then stand around in the area for an hour. They only came over there because they saw my orange vest -lots of punks down here .
Hunting down here in the jungle gets old open area means 50 feet and the wind blows 360* every minute of the day. More less a waste of time to sit in a tree stand where you can see 100 feet and the wind goes round and round.
I use to live in Kennesaw ,Ga. nw of atlanta -Georgia is the best place I ever lived wish I hadn't moved and might move back someday.
OK good luck up there .

And to you also.