RE: Peak deer movement vs time of season
Both are very valid answers. I hunt private ground so we don't have any pressure. What I notice is that it really depends on the weather in any given day. When its warm early in the season, deer seem to get to their beds a lot earlier, getting out of the feilds and up over the mountain to their bedding areas before light a lot of times. They will also move real late in the evening taking advantage of the cooler air. As the season rolls on, I've notice deer spending a lot longer time in the feilds in the morning before moving toward bedding zones.
When it gets real cold, we see deer moving during mid day as much as any time.