deer and the barometer
 

what does the barometer have to do with deer movement? what is considered a high barometer and whats a low and when do deer like to move the best.

The change in barometric pressure greatly effects deer movement. It triggers a sense in deer the need to feed due to a coming weather change. A falling barometer means a stormfront is coming. The barometer then stays low as the stormfront is present. As the stormfront moves out the barometer rises until the front has passed and levels out at a steady high barometer-meaning nice weather. The best time to hunt is the falling barometer because animals feel the need to feed before the storm. The next best time is when the barometer starts to rise signifying the stormfront has passed, again triggering deer to get up and feed. A steady high barometer is the next followed lastly by a steady low meaning the middle of the storm. I am a big believer in hunting by barometer movement. You can bet when the barometer is about to fall i will be hunting!!

I was always confused on that but I think rh cleared it up for me...I have really seen deer run to the feeding areas as soon as the rain or snow stops and just thought they were hungry!....thanks

Here is an excerpt from my bookTHe Complete Whitetail Addict's Manual.

Barometric PressureBecause fish and birds have air sacs in their bodies they may have the ability to feel barometric pressure changes. Geese are known to feed and begin to flock two days prior to the arrival of a storm, then migrate with the advancing cold fronts. Many hunters claim deer also feed heavily prior to a storm. During my seven-year study I found that (approximately) 40 percent of the deer sightings occurred when the barometer was rising, 40 percent occurred when the barometer was falling, and 20 percent occurred when the barometer was steady.
I did find that more deer were seen when there were abrupt barometric changes than when the barometric pressure was steady. I found no evidence that deer began to feed prior to the arrival of a storm, suggesting that they knew or "felt" that a storm was approaching. However, deer were frequently seen feeding after storms let up, especially if the storm lasted a day or more.
In his study in Georgia, Kent Kammermeyer found that deer activity was correlated with barometric pressure changes in the morning and evening. But, he noted that this is when these barometric pressure changes normally occur in that area. Illinois biologist Keith Thomas found that the highest amount of white-tailed deer movement and feeding activity occurred when the barometric pressure was between 29.80 and 30.39. After several years of study, Dave Morris, the manager of a Georgia hunting preserve, concludedd that the deer in the study area were much more active when the barometric pressure was below 29.00 inches, and the temperature and the humidity were low.I suspect that deer may react to the weather changes associated with barometric pressure changes, such as wind speed, wind direction, temperature factor changes, cloud cover and precipitation; but not necessarily to minute changes in barometric pressure.

Temperature has a far greater affect on daily deer activity than the barometer does.

God bless,

T.R.

Count me in among being out there as the weather is coming... as well as being out there as the storm breaks. One of the biggest bucks I ever killed was about 10 am... it was 65 degrees at 5 am that morning and snowing and 5 that evening. It was raining sideways with 20-30 mph winds when I caught him feeding up the other side of a deep gully. The biggest one I ever killed was during a sunny bitter cold day with howling winds as the pressure rose from a storm the day before. So Ive done well on both ends of that spectrum.

I have a weather service (mycast) downloaded on my cell phone. There is a barometer chart on there that predicts and shows barometer movement. I have used this for 3-4yrs now and there are no coincedences in my mind how much the change in barometric pressure affects deer movement!! I look at this chart constantly to plan when i will hunt. I would HIGHLY reccomend downloading one of these services to your phone and give it a try. Mine only costs 3.99/month.

I have a tear drop shaped glass with a spout on the wall of my hunting gear room called a New England Weather Glass, they used to use them on ships in the old sailing ship days. It's filled with colored water which moves up or down the spout as the barometric pressure changes, and predicts the weather with surprising accuracy. It cost me $5 at a flea market and all I have to do is add water to it occasionally. :s4:

LOL-i used to have one of those too! They are pretty cool devices. only problem is they cant tell you thursday that the barometer is goin to plummit 11:30am saturday.Those charts on my phone seem to be very accurate.

I was all geared up to answer, but WELL SAID!!