Bucks can move at anytime of the day. As long as you are in an area where deer move through, your chances of seeing a buck are good in the morning, midday, evening. If does are moving thru there, thats another good sign because when the rut kicks in, the bucks are sure to follow does right past you if they continue to run thru your area.

deer get up to "browse" every 3-4 hours. deer aren't like people where they eat alot at one time and go 6-8 hours between feeding. deer are browsers and tend to browse every 3-4 hours. the buck i shot "chasing a doe" was not right on her with his nose up her butt. 2 does run through this swamp i was sitting in. approximately 5 minutes after the doe's left my sight, the buck came through the same area. he was lifting his head and sniffing the wind. i'm assuming he was following the doe's scent trail.

as far as the "rut" goes, this is not a cast in stone specific time. like mentioned by WW, not all doe's get bred during this "magical" time. the one's that don't get bred will come back into season approximately one month later and continue to do so until she is bred. i have seen spotted fawns in all seasons, not saying this is common but it does happen. so back to my story, i don't know if one of those doe's were in season or not. maybe the buck was just following them because of the safety factor (prior deer in an area detecting no danger), or maybe just maybe this was the common travel route for these deer on their way to browse.

We actively get cam pics of bucks moving at all times of day. Rut or not. Two years ago I left my stand around 10-1030 then returned in the evening. When we pulled the cameras at the end of the weekend I had a 13 pt eating 15 yds from my stand for almost an hour between noon and 1 o'clock.

I bet you were kicking yourself when you saw that pic. :s6:

Come to think of it, I got many trail cam pics of bucks during the hours of 10AM and 3PM.

So much for the theory that they won't move then as others claim.

WW, don't let it get under your skin. GMMAT has been chasing deer for a total of 5 years now. Without a doubt, he knows all!!!!!

Some of my best hunting (Oct-Jan) has been done while hunting the T's. I love hunting mid-day after it has rained hard thru the night and early morning. Same goes for snow storms. Not every day is built to hunt mid-day, but those special days can prove to be very special if you are smart enough to be in your stand when they come along.

I remember watching an old video by Roger Raglin and he specifically stated that mid-day on public land it a big time to be in the woods because others are moving to their trucks for lunch and in that time, they are pushing deer around whether they know it or not. He goes on to say that you should pack a lunch in your backpack so that you can be in the woods longer while others are leaving. I hunt all day from sun up to sun down, it has to be pretty crappy weather to get me out of my stand.

KB...Whatever your issue with me (personally) is....the above quoted (from you) is ALL I've been saying in this thread.

Nor is every spot (built or even desirable to hunt mid-day). ALL I said was....you can bugger up an otherwise good spot by hunting it when you shouldn't. There's no epiphany in that statement. It should be common knowledge.

I have no personal problem with you, heck I don't even know you. I just call an ace an ace and a duece a duece:biggrin:

Even when we're saying the SAME THING?....lol:biggrin:

What I'm being chastised for....I didn't say (i.e. don't hunt mid day). I never said that. What I did say was.....pick your times AND spots wisely (in and outside the rut). It's a proven tactic. Conceded.

When I said this...

What I meant was (and poked fun at myself in the process).....I RARELY have a buck pinned down (his bedding area) outside the rut, well enough to know the optimal spot to be in to kill him. I've likely buggered up some otherwise great spots by going in at the wrong time or not exactly the right spot.

Rut? All bets are off. Get between doe areas and you're golden.