ORIGINAL: YooperMike
I would not count a buck going nocturnal as evolution. In the true definition of evolution, I don't think that going nocturnal could count because it is a behavior exhibited by a few individuals of a the species, not necesarily something that is being passed on. It would be like breaking a leg, having a child, and that childs leg is broken because the parent's leg was broken during pregnancy. Acquired traits (learned behavior) is not something that is passed on, it is not encoded in the genes.
You have a point and could well be right.
My idea on this runs along this line. Biologists have proven that women and men, mostly women, are hard wired to react in a nurturing way towards a baby that is crying. This is an inherited trait. So in terms of deer biology are deer becoming more nocturnal due to learned bahavior or because of a genetic predispostion that is being passed on to following generations because of hunting pressure.
I think of this because scientists have written recently on accelerated evolution. It just got me thinking. I don't see anything else in terms of deer biology that that comes close to hunting in terms of potentially accelerating evolution. In my state 25/33 % of the herd is removed every year due to hunting.