all my deer are nocturnal!!
#1

All my deer are nocturnal, i have many pictures of deer and huge bucks, but all the pics are at night, only two are during the day, and i havent seen but two deer of my stand since the opening day of bow. Does anyone have any suggestions or tips. Im putting up my scrape dripper tommorow, hopefully it will bring out one of the nocturnal monsters.
#3

I am in the same situation you are in- I have been hunting early in the morning and from 3:00 til dark and I have only seen 3 does in 10 times of hunting....even off in a distance. But there are TONS of tracks, scrapes, and rubs....corn is stillup so that might be the problem
#4
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: White Plains, MD
Posts: 77

I think there's a lot of things that factor into that, hunting pressure, weather (a front moving through might make them move before dark, or cold weather might make them get up early and eat), moon phase (full moon means they are more nocturnal, new moon means you're more likely to see them at dusk or dawn)....and sometimes I think that when they herd up the dominate doe or buck have a big say in when the heard moves....I know I've watched different groups through the season and you'll see yearlings come out earlier than older deer or after a dominate doe is taken you'll see the younger animals in the heard not maintain the nocturnal dicipline.....or I've seen different groups no more than a few miles apart keep different schedules.
#5

ORIGINAL: spur0701
I think there's a lot of things that factor into that, hunting pressure, weather (a front moving through might make them move before dark, or cold weather might make them get up early and eat), moon phase (full moon means they are more nocturnal, new moon means you're more likely to see them at dusk or dawn)....and sometimes I think that when they herd up the dominate doe or buck have a big say in when the heard moves....I know I've watched different groups through the season and you'll see yearlings come out earlier than older deer or after a dominate doe is taken you'll see the younger animals in the heard not maintain the nocturnal dicipline.....or I've seen different groups no more than a few miles apart keep different schedules.
I think there's a lot of things that factor into that, hunting pressure, weather (a front moving through might make them move before dark, or cold weather might make them get up early and eat), moon phase (full moon means they are more nocturnal, new moon means you're more likely to see them at dusk or dawn)....and sometimes I think that when they herd up the dominate doe or buck have a big say in when the heard moves....I know I've watched different groups through the season and you'll see yearlings come out earlier than older deer or after a dominate doe is taken you'll see the younger animals in the heard not maintain the nocturnal dicipline.....or I've seen different groups no more than a few miles apart keep different schedules.
There are always a lot of factors that must be considered when deer sightings are low and IMO too many hunters think nocturnal is always the reason.
If you put even a little pressure on that big old buck, yes, his movement during daylighyt hours will be very limited. A buck that has been avoiding hunters for 4,5 or 6+ years, knows every trick in the book - and going nocturnal is one of them.
I don't believe the same can be said for all the deer in a certain area.
Just my 2 cents.
#7

In my area, during the summer, I seen about 7-10 bucks a night coming out much before dark. About a week before season it all changed. Now, I can't see a doe before dark. I leave my treestand at night, no tracks. Come in the morning, tracks galore. You just have to be patient and wait for the rut, that will get them up and moving in no time!
#10
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: White Plains, MD
Posts: 77

You also have to remember that there's a lost of mast laying on the ground right now and it's gonna be good eating most of the month, I know where I live and hunt there's a lot of white oaks.....be honest, if you had pizza and beer delivered to your bedroom for every meal would you ever leave or even get out of bed?