I'm looking for some opinions on whitetail behavior. I live on a 7 acre lot and have a stand set up in the back with a security camera over my bait area. I lay out a small pile of corn every morning and have a salt lick sitting there as well (legal in NC). During the summer, the only deer to show up most of the time (about 3 times a day) are a doe, a fawn and 2 point buck.



(The square in the middle of the pic is the salt lick)

Those three show up a number of times a day - morning, afternoon, just before dusk and in the late night.

This will be my third season hunting - 1st two years were with a bow and I didn't get anything. This year I have a Winchester 94 .30-30 and expect to tag at least one. Being that I still have to get a single deer yet, I would take either the doe or the buck in the above pic. But then yesterday these guys showed up...



They arrived sort of out of the blue, since I have been reviewing the cam footage for a while now and the largest I've seen was a six pointer who showed up about a month ago in the middle of the night (I think he was in this group - there were about 4 or 5 of them roaming around). This shot was taken around 5:20am.

I know that deer cross my property all the time - there is also a small spring on the corner of it. I set up the stand just off of the main trail they use. I'm hoping this isn't just a fluke and that they will come back.

So - please tell me that in the fall and during the rut that these deer will change their patterns and show up during daylight hours. I wouldn't mind taking one of these guys as my first.

Thanks