Justin asked:
Why is it that in their morning sequences it is always light out and like 9 or 10 AM when they’re shooting deer? In around 5-6 years of hunting and getting to my stand or spot on the ground I have never seen a deer after 8 AM just walk around and moving, only if someone pushes them out of beds. Is it because the deer they hunt have a ton of food plots to choose from? I also know they need light for the camera, but it just seems too late in the morning for deer to be moving. I hunt on the east coast by the way. Our bow, rifle and muzzleloader seasons run from the beginning of october to the middle of december. With school I am in the woods 12-20 days per year (not counting turkey and bear seasons) with some after school evening hunts. Thanks.
Why is it that in their morning sequences it is always light out and like 9 or 10 AM when they’re shooting deer? In around 5-6 years of hunting and getting to my stand or spot on the ground I have never seen a deer after 8 AM just walk around and moving, only if someone pushes them out of beds. Is it because the deer they hunt have a ton of food plots to choose from? I also know they need light for the camera, but it just seems too late in the morning for deer to be moving. I hunt on the east coast by the way. Our bow, rifle and muzzleloader seasons run from the beginning of october to the middle of december. With school I am in the woods 12-20 days per year (not counting turkey and bear seasons) with some after school evening hunts. Thanks.
Tags: Days Per Year, Hunting Shows, Turkey
i shot 2 deer in last few years…one 11 am the other 3pm… 11 am one i was walking to camp for lunch and heard a shot 1/2 away…heard him coming so i sat on a stump…he stopped and looked back 20 feet away…4 points 130 pounds…..and cameras use giant light catching lenses even in light that you cant see and would not shoot in it can look light… [i saw a golf match [tiger] where it was too dark to see but on TV it looked like dusk
In a very long career of bow hunting and gun hunting for deer, 90% of the deer I have killed and seen in the woods have been after 8 o’clock. But I will say deer movement in different areas of the state I live in vary greatly. But it also depends on the method you use to hunt. When hunting a food source in early bow season, most deer seen and killed come into the feeding area about the last 15 minutes before dark, with most movement occurring right at last light. Toward the end of October, they will stop and feed under the acorn trees before bedding up for the day, and this will occur around 8 though 10 A.M. for the most part. I hunt in Louisiana. The movement of deer may be entirely different in your state. But the deer movement you see on these T.V. shows are coming from deer that do not live on public hunting areas, and are not pressured. For the most part, you could call them almost tame.I recall seeing one bow hunting show where there was several does feeding under a tree the bow hunter was in. An 8 point buck walked in bow range and the hunter made a killing shot on him. But the does feeding under his tree merely looked at the buck running off and continued feeding.Does your deer act like that?
1 thing you gotta remember, is that they are on high fenced propertys. That probably has a lot to do with it.
However, I have killed deer at 2:00 in the afternoon before, I killed one at 3:14 this year, nice buck too. The woods is where they live. Remember that.
Like the other poster said, most of these videoed hunts occur on either high fenced property or on super exclusive private property. Deer in these kind of environments do not act like normal deer. I have seen, and even shot deer at those rare times of the day when they aren’t supposed to be there. I guess someone forgot to send them the memo saying when to show up. You can never fully predict the movements of a wild animal, that’s what makes hunting so fun. You match your wits against theirs. They will surprise you a lot of the time. The thing that kills me is how dishonest some of these video producers are with their videos. For example, Primos videoed an elk hunt just minutes away from my house. In the video they are talking about how great the hunting was, and “anyone can come up here and enjoy a hunt like this.” They even brag about the hunt being on public land. All of us locals laugh it off, but they were hunting on the CA ranch just outside of Townsend MT. They even list them as the outfitter. They were not hunting public land, and the access to hunt the CA starts at $10,000. No wonder they all harvested monster bull elk. My 12 year old nephew could get one off of there. I really wish that the makers of these videos would be more honest about their endeavors, but I guess that wouldn’t sell their products.
Couple of things you have to remember.
1) They are probably hunting a high fenced ranch.
2) If it’s not high fenced it’s large enough that they can properly manage it without it being high fenced.
3) Being properly managed will entail having a proper ratio of buck/does (1:1)
4) Having a good ratio (1:1) will force the bucks to really move around looking for does in heat/estrus.
5) Bucks in a properly managed area will keep the does stirred up and moving around which will in return keep the bucks on the move hunting the does thus allowing hunters to see more deer all throughout the day.
6) When there is a larger number of does than bucks the bucks will be content to bed down with the does and not look for more out of fear of loosing what they already have.
I hunt mostly on public-access land and every location I have hunted there has been deer activity between 10:00 and 3:00. In most areas, unless there is an extreme amount of hunting pressure, deer will get up and feed during the day. Just as you and I eat lunch around mid day so do a lot of the creatures in the woods. If you aren’t staying in your stand during these times of the day you are severely limiting your potential for success.
Shoot straight and stay safe.
Don’t ever go by anything on those hunting shows. Those guys are hunting on pay to “hunt” ranches that are flooded with deer. In most areas they move in the am and start to move again a little before dark. In those ranches the damn things run in packs. No real hunt involved.
Start your hunt a half hour before daylight and make sure your stand is in a well used (by deer) area. If you see fresh tracks there on a daily basis, set up shop and you’ll be almost guaranteed dinner.