Dr. James Kroll once made the statement that you could leave them alone or spend so much time there during the off season that they got used to you. I don't know if that works, but it may. I spend a lot of time on one of my places, trapping, food plotting and just working. Been five years now, and seems like they are getting a little less spooky. That said, the old does and the bigger bucks still run at night mostly.
The moon goes around the earth in around 25 hours so in appearance it is loosing the race with the sun about 55 miutes per day. At times it is directly overhead when the sun is overhead and primary feeding is at 12 noon. In that case the deer might not be in the field beside the road at noon but they will be up and feeding. Should the moon be overhead at 5 in my he evening then the fields will fill up. The rut is almost over for most of the country so those not paying attention the the moon from here on out are not taking advantage of the most important factor in hunting success.
According to the P & Y 28th Biennium Convention Program Record Period Statistical Summary of all entries for whitetail deer here are the following times the animals were taken:
Sunrise - 10AM= 27% 4PM - Sunset= 47%
There were a total of 5062 entries for whitetail deer entered at the end of the reporting period. I think this is some pretty valid information as to when is a bowhunter's best chance is of killing a whitetail based on statistics. However, the overall best time to kill a deer is when the bowhunter is afield hunting.
I agree that near dawn and dusk will most consistently show deer movements. Whatever else they do, prey species that are somewhat nocturnal, so their tendency is to bed down just after dawn and get up just before dusk.
I have also seen some credible reasons to think the moon has some influence. Have you ever been driving along in the middle of a hot day and seen deer up feeding everywhere? I have. 95 degrees and between 10 and 2 and deer are out feeding over some distances. Something has them all up together. There is not always a moon timing explanation, but many times there is
In heavily hunted areas, deer have learned to be bedded well before dawn and stay bedded until after dark. However, they also know when the woods get quite in the middle of the day that they can get up and feed.
I also believe the most single thing that gets deer moving is a weather change: rain on the way, front coming, etc.
"Have you ever been driving along in the middle of a hot day and seen deer up feeding everywhere? I have. 95 degrees and between 10 and 2 and deer are out feeding over some distances. Something has them all up together"
Yeah its called no pressure. I have seen what you speak of as well but not ever during hunting season! Pressure pushes them Noc.
26% of all P&Y deer are harvested from 10-4.
That means if you hunt all day, especially during certain moon phases you could harvest anywhere to 26% more deer.
Obviously having more data would prove that out.
I also agree with the pressure crowd.
Consider even the guys that do hunt all day. How often do you hunt all day compared to just the "prime" times?
Then consider that that 26% most likely only falls during the rut because I can't think of many guys hunting mid day in September. Now think about your odds in November 10-4!!!!
I typically go in the woods around 7-7:30 AM on a normal non-guided deer hunt. I see most of my deer from around 8AM -12:30 PM. Come out for lunch and regroup for afternoon hunt. I have been amazed at the number of deer I see during the non-typical hours when most others have left the woods around 9-9:30 AM.
Just a suggestion that others may want to try sometime.
Many times I fall asleep and then wake up and there are deer near by. lol
Do you have hogs? They can ruin deer activity.
Another thing you could do is cut back on the amount of corn thrown or only throw corn in the morning.
Are these "your" deer or wild deer?
As far as I know, wild deer feed when they want. I don't know about domestic deer...
Maybe that's your problem; are you trying to domesticate wild deer...?
Find out where they bed, and get closer to it. Try a food plot in a smaller clearing, where they can feel more secure with cover close by, or set your stand on a path between their bedding area(s) and water. There are a lot of options. Less pressure might also help. Consider giving the area some serious time off.
I had deer eating in all my test plots at various times during the weekend , during the opening weekend of deer season. Yes, i scored an old buck in the test plots. What was in his stomach's was clovers, brassicas and triticals.
Yes, i've brought up triticale numerous times in the past year and once again, i witnessed zero deer grazing on any of the oats, buck forage oats nor fall rye plots but they were in the triticale and it's because it's HIGHER IN SUGAR.....
I agree with much of what's been said above.
If I was limiting my approach to simply the feed times, I would probably set feed times to an hour after daylight and then a few feed times every couple of hours stopping at 1:00 or so.
I also think for overall deer activity (if you are going to bait) you are better off with more feeders running shorter periods of time rather than long feed times. Let the deer hit the feeder and move on to another area to find food.
Though my approach on food plots and feeding isn't to try to concentrate deer as much as it is to promote activity and herd health.
Hey I harvest game over feeders too, but there is really no "learning to hunt" involved in that. You were not asking advice on learning to hunt, but on how to change deer's natural behavior. The internet is what it is. You have to take the good with the bad. However, if you have spent any time here or on other hunting sites, you have to know that many of the guys look at bait as a four letter word. Secondly, you give us no info except that you want advice to make deer come to your bait during daylight. You wait 4 days to slightly clarify that it is a small parcel then call some of us jerks. With that in mind, I wouldn't think you would be that surprised with the result.
I do believe then based on your comments is that the thread question should have been "How Do I Adjust My Bait Piles So That They Come To Them In The Day time?"
Had that been the case, I'd of never even clicked on this thread, no less offer any advice.
Forest Bows, when we are talking to the deer they can sometimes distinguish between our wants and our needs. :)
Obviously pressure quickly changes feeding patterns. However, when you hunt woodland food sources-natural food sources-if you hunt them properly, you do not hunt from the same tree every time you go to the woods. You move as the deer move and as the food sources change. Even on a small tract of land, you can hunt regularly and still not make your deer appear nocturnal.
I am speaking of deer in general, not mature bucks. A mature buck may go mostly nocturnal with very little pressure. However, even thought you may not see any deer in the daylight and get plenty of night pictures, that does not mean they do not feed in the daytime.
in the 60-years I have been hunting deer and the 35+ I have been studying them, I have never seen an instance of totally nocturnal deer. I have, on many occasions, seen totally nocturnal deer when studying baiting and food plots. And this is true in many areas. If you have a bait pile or feeder and that is the only place you hunt, it won't take much to make them nocturnal as it relates to that location.
By learning and understanding natural food sources and hunting multiple stands, you can hunt an area of less than 20-acres as much as three days a week and have activity all season. The woods behind my house are a prime example. I have 8-stands on 20-acres, hunt it as much as four times a week and see deer almost every time I go. I just do not hunt the same stand twice in any seven day period. I have not reduced the pressure in any way. I just never exerted it to start with.
However, as for myself, I hunt total woodland-no fields or food plots. Each year, as I scout to see what has changed with the habitat, I find some stands locations must change as primary food sources change.
I hunt quite a it, sometimes, as often as six days a week. Usually, about three days a week. I have never had a problem with nocturnal deer anymore than is normal. It is extremely rare for me to go and not at least see a deer.
This year, due to health problems, I have only hunted 16-times since Oct. 1. I can see no difference in my deer traffic than any other year. No more or less diurnal movement than in years I hunted hard. However, seldom do I hunt a stand more than once in a week.
