Deer gone Nocternal

[greatwhite]

Any suggestions all the deer seem to be nocturnal at all our stands including one other fella we know hunts near by.

I'm going to make two mock scrapes one at my sons stand and one at mine. But I was thinking of buy some attractants like Acorn rage or Big Game Peanut Butter Attractant Bag or pour lots of molasses any farm feeds?.

[fratri]

Buy whole corn and set it out. Watch the wind on the way in and out. If they know you are there, they will not show. Given the time of year, you may get lucky and have some other bucks pass into your area looking for a hot doe. I think next week the action (chasing) is going to get good and some bucks will throw caution into the wind

[Species8472]

Baits almost always turn deer nocturnal. Especially if there is always food at the bait. When bait is first set out the deer usually are not be nocturnal. If the bait is always there they get used to it and become nocturnal as they know it is always there and why take a chance visiting during daylight when they know it will be there in the dark. In my experience the type of bait makes little difference if it is always available.

So if you want to hunt over bait you have to keep them guessing. Let the bait run out periodically and don't put as much down. This causes then to check more frequently including during daylight hours as they don't know when the food is gonna turn up and when it is there they try to get "dibs" before it runs out.

More reliable way is to find where they bed and find where they eat. Set up on a corridor that connects the beds and the food and as close to the beds as you can without spooking them. Guaranteed you will see deer in daylight just takes more time and effort to figure out. Over half of the 89 deer i have taken were ambushed between beds and food sources. Smaller numbers were taken on active scrape lines and on food sources. Water holes can be hot spots as well. Even when bedded deer move every few hours to relieve themselves and take a drink.

Baiting really becomes much more effective in the last two weeks of the archery season. Cold and snow limit food sources and the bucks are trying to recover from the rut. If there is enough snow on the ground (say over 10 or 12 inches) and it is cold it almost becomes unfair as the poor bastards are desperate for calories and guaranteed you can get yourself at least a spike or quite possibly something bigger.

The value of natural choke points cannot be understated as well. This year during the rifle hunt i will be hunting 3 spots where i know they cross a river between their beds and their food sources. Location will be determined by the wind conditions on any given day. No stands or blinds just ground hunt from a location where i brush myself in.

[Bowjob]

Baits almost always turn deer nocturnal. Especially if there is always food at the bait. When bait is first set out the deer usually are not be nocturnal. If the bait is always there they get used to it and become nocturnal as they know it is always there and why take a chance visiting during daylight when they know it will be there in the dark. In my experience the type of bait makes little difference if it is always available.

So if you want to hunt over bait you have to keep them guessing. Let the bait run out periodically and don't put as much down. This causes then to check more frequently including during daylight hours as they don't know when the food is gonna turn up and when it is there they try to get "dibs" before it runs out.

More reliable way is to find where they bed and find where they eat. Set up on a corridor that connects the beds and the food and as close to the beds as you can without spooking them. Guaranteed you will see deer in daylight just takes more time and effort to figure out. Over half of the 89 deer i have taken were ambushed between beds and food sources. Smaller numbers were taken on active scrape lines and on food sources. Water holes can be hot spots as well. Even when bedded deer move every few hours to relieve themselves and take a drink.

Baiting really becomes much more effective in the last two weeks of the archery season. Cold and snow limit food sources and the bucks are trying to recover from the rut. If there is enough snow on the ground (say over 10 or 12 inches) and it is cold it almost becomes unfair as the poor bastards are desperate for calories and guaranteed you can get yourself at least a spike or quite possibly something bigger.

The value of natural choke points cannot be understated as well. This year during the rifle hunt i will be hunting 3 spots where i know they cross a river between their beds and their food sources. Location will be determined by the wind conditions on any given day. No stands or blinds just ground hunt from a location where i brush myself in.

X2 i bought an auto feeder for this reason have it set for twice a day at .8 pounds. If you have a pile of food out they will only come at night when they know its more safer to do so.

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[Sam Menard]

IMO, whenever deer go “nocturnal” it means that they are avoiding certain areas during the day. This could mean a couple of things: avoidance for safety reasons, or they have other places to be during the day. Obviously, deer aren’t vampires or live in caves which means they are somewhere in the open. To solve the puzzle, you need to understand the land that is available for deer to live on; not just immediately where you hunt but in the surrounding area as well.

Consider that a family unit of does/fawns might require 350 acres of land to carry out their life functions. (In actuality, it could be more or it could be less depending on the quality of the habitat and deer density). Go on Google Earth and measure out a circle with a radius of 750-800 meters from your stand. (If your stand backs up against a hard boundary e.g. lake or river, you may have to adjust the shape of the area and distance of the line). Anyway, the objective of this exercise is to give you an idea of where “your” deer might be living. Adjustments should be made to exclude barren ground and include contiguous blocks of timber.

Once you understand where your deer live throughout the year, you can delineate feeding and potential bedding areas and adjust your hunting strategies accordingly. Admittedly, this can be hard if you don’t have a big enough patch of ground to hunt. Some folks get glued to their spots and won’t move either because their stand is too hard to move, or they have a bait pile that they won’t abandon. IMO, you need to be flexible if you want to be successful.

Good luck!

[gbk]

IMO, whenever deer go “nocturnal” it means that they are avoiding certain areas during the day. This could mean a couple of things: avoidance for safety reasons, or they have other places to be during the day. Obviously, deer aren’t vampires or live in caves which means they are somewhere in the open. To solve the puzzle, you need to understand the land that is available for deer to live on; not just immediately where you hunt but in the surrounding area as well.

Consider that a family unit of does/fawns might require 350 acres of land to carry out their life functions. (In actuality, it could be more or it could be less depending on the quality of the habitat and deer density). Go on Google Earth and measure out a circle with a radius of 750-800 meters from your stand. (If your stand backs up against a hard boundary e.g. lake or river, you may have to adjust the shape of the area and distance of the line). Anyway, the objective of this exercise is to give you an idea of where “your” deer might be living. Adjustments should be made to exclude barren ground and include contiguous blocks of timber.

Once you understand where your deer live throughout the year, you can delineate feeding and potential bedding areas and adjust your hunting strategies accordingly. Admittedly, this can be hard if you don’t have a big enough patch of ground to hunt. Some folks get glued to their spots and won’t move either because their stand is too hard to move, or they have a bait pile that they won’t abandon. IMO, you need to be flexible if you want to be successful.

Good luck!

Very true-essence of deer hunting.

Other then the method mentioned by Sam,there is the need for year round scouting(barring available time : at least from Sept til June).While signs are obvious,mosquitos are less,and hopefully ticks are few and far between.
By scouting i mean only one thing-walk,walk ,then walk more.
Then watch,observe,think,and try to understand the land.

[FishHog]

agree with the above, I don't believe deer ever go nocturnal. That's just something hunters say to make themselves feel better.
In reality, I think deer are reacting to the increased hunting pressure and are well aware that you have been in a spot, and thus only go there if they want to at night.

Same with the so called "o
October lull". Again, I think that is a reaction to increased pressure and their ability to avoid you and your spots.

[huntnmachine]

agree with the above, I don't believe deer ever go nocturnal. That's just something hunters say to make themselves feel better.
In reality, I think deer are reacting to the increased hunting pressure and are well aware that you have been in a spot, and thus only go there if they want to at night.

Same with the so called "o
October lull". Again, I think that is a reaction to increased pressure and their ability to avoid you and your spots.

Agree. Human scent is a huge factor as to why deer going nocturnal, As Species mentioned regarding feeding, I have witness this happening. we have a few good-sized food plots on my cousin's property at Burks Falls and after we plant in the spring most of our trail cam pictures of them feeding are in the dark.

But after a month or so of not visiting our food plots, after the bear hunt, we do get multiple pictures of deer feeding during the day.

Great topic

[greatwhite]

Spike horn showed up on one of our Cams at 9:00 AM this morning and nobody was there.

[GYPSEE]

They are nocturnal because they know your there during the day.. be quiet and play the wind.

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