Fall Daytime Deer Movement - Hunting

Successful deer hunting is fully dependent on daytime deer movement.

Dogs will make deer move when they are bedded down, or locate/expose them if natural movement is very little and very slow. However, the use of dogs present a whole set of problems. Problems such as the Game & Fish dept. allowing dogs to be used in your area or not, catching your dogs before they leave your area during a chase, deer being chased by dogs are running (sometimes wildly) and year round lodging/feeding of the dogs.

Possibly the best location to be when using dogs is on a stand or in a blind in a good location where deer slipping away from the chase can be harvested. Slipping deer usually are not traveling very fast and may even stop frequently. Since their attention is on avoiding the chase, they are not as tuned in on looking for or in detecting a hunter by smell as they normally would be in high hunting pressure situations. Large mature bucks often fall into the category of a slipping deer.

Waiting in a stand or blind for natural deer movement (without the use of dogs) is only successful when the deer are moving from natural forces in the daytime. These forces include moon phase, weather, food availability, rutting periods, hunting pressure (or the lack of hunting pressure), etc.

Moon phase is probably the first thing to consider since it seems to activate/deactivate daytime deer movement the most, as well as control the time of day deer movement is best. Moon phase versus daytime deer movement is somewhat complicated since not every moon phase happens during the nighttime or during the daytime, but during both. Also, the moon does not follow the same path across the sky, it repeats only every 28 days, and has more influence when it is at it's highest point per region.

Altogether too many hunting/fishing moon phased based calenders simply do not work as they should, and they will tend to make hunters/anglers abandon the notion that moon phases does have a direct influence on game/fish activity versus the time of day this activity occurs. Deer hunting especially, is the best example of these generic type moon phase based hunting/fishing calenders not working well.

Although deer movement patterns can be likened to catfish biting, deer movement during the daytime according to moon phase is greatly more complicated than catfish. For instance, deer movement in more open woods or fields will be greater than in heavy cover during some phases, and during other moon phases, deer movement in heavy cover will be greater. A deer hunter cannot simply set up in only one spot and expect to have good results, he must have a stand in more open spaces and another in more heavy cover. A stand or blind location that incorporates both open spaces and heavy cover is hard to find, but very well may be the best all around location if one wants to set up only one primary stand or blind.

When the moon is at 3/4 to full moon phase during the nighttime (1st quarter to half moon and the moon at it's highest in the sky is the best), deer movement during the daytime will generally be best from around 9:00 am to around 3-4:00 pm and can be random and often throughout this period. Sometimes specific weather will alter these movement times or include very early and/or very late daytime movement. Various stages and various moonrise/set times of 3/4 to full moon at night will also cause very early or very late daytime movement too.

When the moon is at 3/4 to full moon during the daytime, deer daytime movement patterns change to from very early in the morning to approximately 10-11:00 am, and again in the afternoon from about 3:00 pm to dark. Various stages and various moonrise/set times of these moon phases during the daytime will determine the exact time deer movement occurs best. And again, specific weather can further alter these times.

Perhaps the daytime movement of deer is the very best for any given day in various stages of when the moon is from approximately 1/4 to new or approximately 1/4 to full. Of course daytime movement times vary widely depending on the moonrise/set times. Probably the very best all around daytime movement times versus moon phase occur when the moon is in it's first quarter to half moon and up only in the daytime with the moon at it's highest in the sky. The next best would occur when the moon is in it's first quarter to half moon and up only at night with the moon at it's highest in the sky. There again, exact daytime movement times are effected by the various moonrise/set times. Both full moon and new moon phases make for generally slow deer hunting.

Cloudy days/nights will effect all the moon phases, with increased deer movement anytime the moon is up on cloudy nights. While heavy rainfall during the daytime suppresses daytime movement, heavy rainfall during the night with little or no rain in the daytime the next day will tend to enhance daytime movement. Drizzling rain or on/off rain showers, especially long termed, tends to increase daytime deer movement.

Wind may or may not play a factor in deer movement depending on whether or not steady wind is a normal everyday occurrence in your particular area. In areas of the deep South for instance, wind plays a significant part in deer movement. In areas of the country like south Texas, where steady winds are normal, deer movement is not necessarily effected. On especially windy days in the deep south, one generally wants to be on stand during the morning before the wind gets high and again in the evening just as the wind sets. Positioning oneself to take advantage of the wind by staying downwind is very important everywhere.

Food availability directly effects where (location) any deer movement occurs. Setting up your stand or blind on the normally traveled trail(s) to and from food sources to bedding areas will result in greater chances at harvesting deer. Study your area before deer season to determine the location of available food sources during deer season versus available bedding areas near those food sources. Situate your stand or blind in a likely location somewhere in between.

Trophy buck hunting during periods of rut is a whole new ball game altogether. Bucks in rut do not necessarily follow normal patterns nor necessarily observe normal moon phases and weather. Hunting bucks in rut, especially trophy bucks, takes a whole new approach and mindset. While does normally follow feeding patterns according to available food and are still more subject to the various moon phases and weather, stand or blind location to have a greater chance at harvesting a trophy buck must be changed.

Instead of bucks in rut following trails does normally travel, they will often travel a route that intersects those doe trails. The trails the bucks travel will usually be in heavy cover and/or across the middle of open land or open woods where no cover is available. Bucks chasing does will expose themselves in open areas but will return to the security of heavy cover when not chasing a doe. Study your area to find the normal travel route of does, then find intersecting thick cover routes. A stand or blind situated to where this cover can be seen through as well as shot through will possibly give you a chance at a trophy of a lifetime.

It is smart to hunt bucks in rut at odd times to normal deer travel times. Trophy bucks often move when the does are bedded down. This is a good time to sneak from tree to tree in the woods, stopping at each tree for some time to look around for moving bucks and bucks chasing does. Oftentimes a buck will get a doe in heat up from her bed, where the chase is on and cover is not necessarily observed.

Another note worthy of being mentioned is, minor/major period deer movement can be approximately 3 hours apart between a minor period and the major period, and six hours apart between either major periods or minor periods. That is, when you begin to see deer movement at 8:00am you may see some type of deer movement again at around 11:00am, 2:00pm and around 5:00pm. Since these times are minor and major periods, deer movement may be more intense during some and less intense during others.

Not all days really have a major daytime period. Instead there may be a series of periods that could be considered as minor periods. Some days, hardly no deer movement in the daytime will occur. This can be all be attributed to several things including moon phase, moonrise/set times, weather conditions and hunting pressure.

Daytime deer movement by moon phases in the deep south can best be likened to catfish biting as mentioned earlier. Catfish bite the best at night when the nights are completely dark, that is, void of any moon showing, and bite the best in the daytime when there is no moon showing in the daytime. Although deer movement in the daytime does not exactly match catfish activity, daytime deer movement can be predicted in much the same way by paying attention to the different phases of the moon as well as time of day the moon rises and sets.

Year around, anytime a deer hunter is in the field or on the roads and see good deer movement during the daytime, he/she should take note of the moon phase, moon rise/set time, the time of day he/she sees this movement and the weather at the time of the observation. Then when deer season comes around, the deer hunter will be armed with the general knowledge of moon phase and weather factors versus daytime deer movement for the general area he/she lives in. With this knowledge, hunting pressure issues can be managed as well because that hunter can be on stand when the natural elements have the greatest influence. Oftentimes that hunter will find that other hunters are at camp when he is on stand!