Mike from Texas

Why are the deer so nocturnal? We have had scouting cameras out since before season and 95% of them are at night. Pretty darn frustrating to say the least.

dep214

i am from arlington also. east texas is covered up with poachers. the deer are naturally few in numbers.even dogs run wild by these old places and chase deer.the deer seem to have no [pattern . i see them mostly early mornings with very seldom evenings.not to say they do not come out then.our cams picked up mostly at night but that just seems to be natural there. maybe it is when less people are around.

A5Mag12

Deer are nocturnal by nature. It's the type of animal they are.

Mike from Texas

Dep do you hunt east texas also? Where abouts? Do you seem to have the same pattern as we do?

A5, I know deer are nocturnal animals, but this is ridiculous. I've hunted in several different states and never seen deer this "day scared".

dep214

i stopped 2 years ago for the reason you state.one of the main reasons they are seldom seen is the poaching problem. economy is bad and they kill deer year around.even the hogs were the same way.we hunted in red river county. we saw al kinds of signs but no deer.we set up game cams and saw very few deer. the only deer seen were at nites. we moved the cams everywhere.we had just started to see deer the lasy year we were there. next year they sold and cleared the timber.east texas is just different than most places.give me a call sometimes and maybe we can hunt together.

bobo21

I know most of east texas is owned by tree farms which keep a lot of pressure on the deer. If the land was privately owned and not commercially you should be OK.

dep214

where in the world did you get that most of east texas is owned by tree farms?that is sure pulling one out of a hat. that is so obsurd i will not even say anything further on it. also remember i was born and raised there and still have family there.

bobo21

Yea dep214 your right I do need to re-phrase that. Most of the land that hunters get for a deer lease is owned by tree companies, also outside of Huntsville you have the national forrest which is also heavily pressured. So if your on a deer lease that is owned by a tree farm then the deer are heavily pressured.

However you could have corrected me without being sarcastic.

It may be just the areas that I have hunted in the past.

dep214

you are very right about around huntsville. the paper companies have bought all the timber. most paper companies own the timber and not the land. i always thought around huntsville was very nice.never saw many deer though.i used to go to huntsville once a week for several years.i was acrrying a load of prisoners to the diagnostics center. we went to all the prisons around there and it all looked like good hunting.

JagMagMan

Because the whitetail are nocturnal by nature, the increased hunting and poaching pressure, not to mention the dog and predator problems cause them to stay put or only move in thickets during the daylight hours.
As I mentioned the thickets that we have in East Texas, gives them a lots of cover to move in, in daylight hours, so not only do they stay nocturnal, when they move in daylight, they still have plenty of foraging area to move around in without being seen.
I have had a good year, we've seen quite a few deer, and I was able to get my limit! Where I hunt, between Woodville and Chester, we've seen deer just about equally between mornings and evenings. I have tried a couple of mid-day hunts this season, but it was just long hours of nothing! The deer I've seen are from daylight to 9 or 10 AM (7:30 to 8:30 AM mostly) and in the evenings from 4 PM until dark!
Your best chances of seeing deer in legal hunting hours is to find a good trail in a creek bottom where they feel safe. Or as where my stands are, old logging roads between the creek bottom forest and very thick young pine thickets! I guess the deer feel safe comming out on these old roads, but generally they don't stay out on these roads very long!