Mid-day buck activity observations??
 

I am debating on setting up a stand or two for next year specifically to try to capitalize on mid-day movements. Perhaps decoying the setup as well.



[/align]I would like to know if and how much mid-day buck activity you have witnessed over the past few years? I am most interested in hearing about the late pre-rut into the beginning of the post-rut, but will take any relevant info. I do not want to define a definite timeline as the rut is at different times for a lot of us.

For this, let's call "mid-day activity" 3 hours after sunrise to 3 hours before sunset.

Give me some details and let me know what your setup was, whatyou saw, the approximate time of the sighting and by all means a photo of a happy hunter if applicable!



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RE: Daytime buck activity observations??
 

I have seen quite a bit of mature buck movement between 11am-2pm during the rut cycles you mentioned. Actually I would say that probably half the mature bucks (3.5 or older) I have seen while hunting were during this time frame. That buck movement was always related to either them being pressured from people walking in and out of the woods for lunch, or chasing does. The two points in the field that you can see in the pic I posted is a hot spot for this. The bucks will chase them on that southern sidehill that is a known doe bedding area and the does will break into that field hoping the bucks won't follow into the open. The does will break into the field on the western point, and then go back into the woods on the eastern point. Sometimes the buck follows into the open, sometimes not. We have seen them follow into the field 3 seperate times in the last 2x years though including one that was visibly a dandy from 500+ yards away with no glass. I have a stand in there now but haven't gotten a chance to hunt it yet.

RE: Daytime buck activity observations??
 

all areas and deer are different.depends on the land and pressure.try deer cams they're a big help to find day time movement.i swear by them.good luck

RE: Daytime buck activity observations??
 

I have good daytime movement for about the first 3 weeks of November. During our gun season I have shot more bucks after 10 am than before. Hunt along edges between bedding and food area's you should get some movement.

RE: Daytime buck activity observations??
 

I agree with Matt, I've seen the majority of my "daytime" buck movement between 11am-2pm. I'll also say that the majority of these occurrences were in pretty thick areas adjacent bedding areas. I too have hung stands in these areas and two bucks were killed out of one stand this year. Granted one deer was taken in early daylight hours, but the other was taken shortly after noon.

RE: Daytime buck activity observations??
 

Rick and dwd thanks for the info guys.

Everyone else...

If you guys could... I am looking for a little more specific information regarding what you saw,what your setup was, the aprox age of the buck and what hewas doing....

I'm not so much looking for advice at this time. I want to compile thespecific information from everyone such as if the bucks theyhad seenduring this time were chasing, cruising, fighting etc etc so I can determine what type of setup (bedding, travelcooridors etc)I may want to attempt to capitalize on during this time frame.
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RE: Daytime buck activity observations??
 

This doesn't pertain to the rut BUT


A couple years ago I was scouting at 1:00 and was sneaking around the edge of the woods coming up on a bean field inearly september and I saw 3 good deer and 1, I would estimate at 3-4 years old.It was a distance though so I am not sure.He did have about a 20" spread.They were feeding about 50 yards into the field but there was a creek right behind them with an easy escape route.I was slipping up on them and I heard a noise,I looked to my left and saw a 2 1/2 year old jumping up off the ground at 20 yards from me.It looked as though he was bedded right there,just inside the woods.


I have seen many deer feeding in bean fields in the middle of the day while still in their summer patterns.

I don't know if this is the kind of info you are looking for but it has been some of my experiences.

This isweird,I think you have forgotten more about big bucks than I will ever know.:eek:

RE: Daytime buck activity observations??
 

It's hard to say, I'm usually napping during those hours. I am 50.;)

RE: Daytime buck activity observations??
 

Scott

I see quite a bit of activity at mid day but generally it is young bucks ( 3.5 years and younger ) roaming rightoutside the bedding areas. The big boys roam the edges" inside "the bedding area. I wish we had trees here to capitolize on it. To hard to hunt inside the bedding areas without wrecking the area when hunting on the ground. I hunt30to 50 yards outside theedge and hope one slips up but so far no luck.

Our bedding areas are really defined... probably more so then yours. The bucks will have a trail 15 to 25 yards inside the bedding area...running the wholeedge for scent checking the bedding area. I would love to hunt thesetrails but with the young bucks and does feeding right outside the bedding area at mid day it would be a disaster. Plus these trails are in the heavy cover and I would need to be above ground level to get a shot. Again a tree would be nice.

I don't keep a log of deer sightings andthat iswhat you really want to know. It really isn't going to help you out by knowing my specific buck tally for mid day movement anyways. What is important... your deer have the same habits as mine. They rut the same and deal with pressure the same.The key for me is finding an area that isn't/hasn't been pressured duringpre - through post rut. Tough to do but that is where I see the best midday moment. Find those spots, hang acouple stands and tell us what your buck tally is next year.

I am also thinking of trying a deer decoy for mid day hunts. If I can't hunt inside the bedding area... it might be a way of drawing the mature bucks out.

Tim

RE: Daytime buck activity observations??
 

Chasing and cruising mostly for midday. You always hear 10-2 but for me it's more like 9 -1:30. Occasionally you will get a good fight but not often. My style is different from most. I concentrate on spots that I've actually seen deer chasing in, I'll set up on my little stool and wait for one to come by. Most of the time I'm not quite in the right spot though, but that is ok. When I do see a good one out cruising, especially chasing, I'll watch where they go and wait a few mins after they leave and move my set-up to a place, preferrably a point of some kind, where I saw them pass. I'd say at least 50-60% of the time they will come back by that point or another buck will cruise through on the scent trail an hour or so later. Believe it or not this works really well. I generally look for spots in the river bottom or saddle areas in fields where there are wood lotson both sides of the saddle. Other than right at dark, this is when I see the big boys. Another good tactic if you have plenty of area to hunt is taking 1/2 hour or so during this midday movement and drive around your area and look for bucks cruising. Figure out where they will likely head and ambush them. I did this on one of my best bucks, the hunt lasted almost 4 minutes. I knew he was skirting the edge of a cow pasture and was able to slip around and meet him on a cow path, shot him at 12 yards and he never knew what hit him. That is an "odd" way but it does work. During that time of the year the bucks are fairly "approachable" and really let their gaurd down.

RE: Daytime buck activity observations??
 

One of my best buddies will only hunt from 10am-2pm during the peak of the rut, and the man has killed 2 trophy bucks while doing it. Hes only been experimenting with it for the past few years; but its worked out. He hunts outta lock-ons about 30 ft in the air, in the thickest cover you can find on the farm. IMO its a hit or miss approach.

RE: Daytime buck activity observations??
 

Most responses will be I see a ton of activity betwen 6 & 9 then you ask how often they stay in the woods between 9 and 3 and they will tell you not many.
In the past two yrs I have hunted in Illinois and seeing the caliber deer I have seen It prompted me to stay in the woods all day. During those "off peak" hours I have had some of the most fun and seen some sights. With the weather being so warm this past season in NY It didnt seem feasible to stay in the afternoon time the weather kept activity to a minimum. Until the weather broke I hiked back for a nap but i trird to get back out as soon as possible for the afternoon. Hunt all day we only have about 25 days a year with the bow!

RE: Daytime buck activity observations??
 

I really don't get the time to hunt nearly as much as most of you do. That said, I follow the advice of a very experienced friend who hunts in the mountains of Virginia and also in more populated parts of Maryland. He said that he sees a lot of mature bucks (He has killed some real dandys.) right around noon-1:00 during the full moon. I saw one of the nicest bucks that I spotted this year, exactly like that. I was set up in a travel corridor and he came in pretty quickly, but on full alert. Having a decoy would have bee great, but I didn't. He busted me without me moving a muscle. I moved my stand back about 40 yards to take advantage of what he showed me, and killed an 8pt. the following week on a morning hunt, around 7:45.

RE: Daytime buck activity observations??
 

All of the good experienced hunters on this forum and this is all the feedback a guy can get ???? [8D]

RE: Daytime buck activity observations??
 

Honestly, I have had very few encounters with mature (3.5 +) deer, let alone bucks in the time frame you are discussing. The few times that I have, I have been set up on the edge of a known bedding area. The first time was '05 and I was on in a stand in a strip of woods that is an outside corner of a field (south and west is field) and to the north is a thicket where they bed. The buck was coming to the bedding area after fighting another mature buck. You can see the result in my avatar. That was the absolute peak of the rut and deer were literally running all around me as I was gutting him. Craziest day I have ever seen in the woods. The second time was this year. It might not have been 3 hours to dark, but it was 4:00 on November 10, early around here for a mature deer to be up. The buck I entered in the contest this year was just up crusing by himself. I was hunting the northeast side of that same bedding area that time, again on the edge where it butts up to the woods to the east. The north side is again an open field and he was just skirting inside the edge. He actually never left the bedding area and he had turned back around to return where he came from when I got a shot at him.

Same stand as the first one a few years ago I got down to answer the call of nature and decided to grap lunch while I was at it. Came back and a nice big rub had been made 3 feet from my tree. No kidding! Can't say for sure it was a mature buck, but it was at least an aggressive buck.

Edit: just wanted to add that yes, it is strange that it happened two years in a row and I said I have had very few encounters to start off my reply. I have been hunting the same way for many moons now and I can't explain why it happened two years in a row other than luck.

RE: Daytime buck activity observations??
 

Anyone else have anything to add?

RE: Daytime buck activity observations??
 

I havn't seen much activity during mid-day from bucks but my game cameras sure did this year. I got alot of pictures of bucks at around 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. throughout the archery season this year. What amazed me is that I usually climb out of my stand at around 10:30 a.m. and get back in it around 2:00 p.m. I decided several times to just sit the whole day and of course those days the deer decided to stay put during that time frame.

Several years ago my buddy and I were set-up on a trail that went up a hill (he was at the top and I was at the bottom) that had a decent rub-line on it. We got out of stand after seeing nothing all morning just to go grab a quick lunch at noon. It was probablly a 10 minute walk back to my house, we made some quick food and headed right back out. We weren't gone more than 45 minutes but in that time frame a buck had came down the trail and rubbed 3 new trees.

The other time that really sticks out in my mind was my first year archery hunting. First morning and my buddy and I were set-up in on the hill I mentioned above. At 9:00 a.m. a large 9 point came down and my buddy smacked him. We backed out and decided we would track the buck at lunch time. Well, being the novices that we were, we left our bows at home simply because we didn't feel like trying to drag them through the thick brush that his buck went into. When we go to where he shot his buck we noticed three bucks, 2-8pts and a giant 10 point standing no more than 25 yards from us just looking at us. If I had my bow it would have been a chip shot.

RE: Daytime buck activity observations??
 

It's because of responses like the ones posted here that I have stayed put up in a tree ALL DAY during the rut for the past 3 - 4 years. However, in my area, the responce and sightings have been anything but positive. Most of my sightings - even during rut - came at the usual times of just afte rusnrise and just before sunset. The unusually high temps we had during that time frame the last few years have been a major factor. On the few days it wasn't hot, it was windy which didn't help either. We had exactly 2 days during the rut this year where the weather was good. I killed a doe and two very nice bucks during those two days, but still, it was at the usual times.

RE: Mid-day buck activity observations??
 

I have not had any luck in the midday hours. Not for, lack of trying but haven't seen any good bucks this time of day. Spikes and forkhorns are the only bucks I have seen this time of day. My set up should be ideal but hasn't worked for me in southeast Nebraska.

The spot is a ridgeline of timber approximately 200 yards wide running east and west. Opens out onto corn fields at the top, soybeans and alfalfa at the bottom. The ridgeline connects two major bedding areas and is between one of the bedding areas and the main water source for the area. Early am and evening there are deer moving all over on the ridge. During the rut the bucks are chasing does all over this ridge every am and every evening. They come off the fields in the am and chase in these woods and then they stage on this same ridgeline in the evenings and the activity is very high.

One of the bedding areas is close enough that I can see the does bedding with binoculars and watch them. The only thing that keeps me sane sitting all day. I only hunt this spot when I'm going to sit all day so as not to bump the one set of deer coming out.

Most all of my mature buck sightings in the am are before 9. They either follow the does off of the fields or they come down the ridgeline using the wind to scent check. They show up again about 4:30 in the afternoon. The does usually come in to stage about 3:00pm.

I hunt the first week of November every year and it is either pre-rut or heat of the rut depending on the year. I take 10 days off and hunt all day so it isn't a matter of not being out there. I have tried calling, rattling, the can, grunts etc. 1.5 year old bucks are all that I see in the time frames you have mentioned. These youngsters come through checking for does, nose down, working the wind, etc. cruising. I know the does are there, I can see them.

This is private property that is only hunted by me and the landowner. He does not bowhunt so these deer have no pressure on them from the end of rifle season to the first week of November. No scouting pressure either, I have been hunting this property for 20 years and know it like the back of my hand. When I show up the landowner tells me where the deer are and what they are doing. It is the same every year. Bowhunters on the property to the south and the west, to the east and north roads are fairly close and a lot of grain fields. I know and am friends with the guys hunting around it and they don't go in this place.

So a long answer to your question. I don't have any luck with the midday hours. Maybe it is because these deer don't get enough pressure? There are not many mature bucks killed in my area during these hours.

RE: Mid-day buck activity observations??
 

Scott, Keeping in the time frame & rut stages you mention I have seen mature buck movement at all hours of the day and I hunt very heavily hunted public land. This is usually in the first 2 weeks of Nov. in northern Illinois. The spots I set up in are travel corridors between bedding areas. One good spot is in a brushy fencerow extending from 1 bedding area into a field with another bedding area across the field. Another is on the downwind side of where a ravine ends that they travel around to check between bedding areas.... Hope that's what your looking for.

RE: Mid-day buck activity observations??
 

The only time I hunt middayis during the first in bound cold front or during the rut or late winter.

RE: Mid-day buck activity observations??
 

Two out of the last three years I have seen bucks with a doe cornered in a brushy ditch that extends out into a field on the farm I hunt in IL. The first was a nice 8 pt 130 class. I tried to sneak up on them but only got to within 50 yards and got busted. He also had a little forky he kept running off. This was about 10:30.

The second was around noon. This was a real bruiser chasing a doe in and out of the ditch. She just wasn't ready but he wouldn't take no for an answer. They ended up running across the field. Both of these happened the second week of Nov.

This ditch is just a grown up waterway with brush, blackberries and a few sapplings. But the does like to bed there. So the bucks pay it a visit now and then. I was going to sit there this year during the rut, but I got my buck on opening day.

I also see a lot of movement throughout the year from8:00-10:00 in these woods. The deer don't have well defined bedding areas here. It is a real thick woods, so they bed in a lot of different places. I think I may be seeing them moving from an early morning bed to a midday bed. Or they could just be taking their time finding a bed, since I do hunt mostly deeper in the woods instead of on the edge of fields.

RE: Daytime buck activity observations??
 

if i have a place i hunt in the middle of the day i still get there before daylight , but have seen and killed bucks between the hours of 11- 3 in the day if they are cruising or chasing they can appear anywhere but i always concentrate on the does bedding areas or close to thicket edges