• Help Support TNDeer:

Daylight movement

Ski said:
I've heard from many people that deer don't need water because they get plenty from their food. I've got 10,000 pics of deer on my water holes this fall that says otherwise.
Click to expand...
Big difference between using what is available and needing it to survive. Deer do just fine in arid landscapes with no standing water. But provide it, and they will come.
 
Deer were super active yesterday morning during daylight. While running on the Harpeth Rive Greenway in SW Nashville yesterday morning, I was within 10 yards of 12 deer yesterday. That's a record for a single run for me. 6 does, 5 fawn and a 3 1/2 year-old 9-point. Two does and 2 fawns were close enough to touch.
 
BSK said:
Deer were super active yesterday morning during daylight. While running on the Harpeth Rive Greenway in SW Nashville yesterday morning, I was within 10 yards of 12 deer yesterday. That's a record for a single run for me. 6 does, 5 fawn and a 3 1/2 year-old 9-point. Two does and 2 fawns were close enough to touch.
Click to expand...
Yes hunted with a kid behind the house yesterday and probably had the best sit or one of the best we've ever had. Saw 10 so not a ton but 2 shooters and one giant. She shot a doe and missed the other good 8. Cameras around other farms said the same.
 
I posted this before, but still a good reminder for those who have a poor acorn crop this year (mainly West TN). Below is a graph of trail-camera events involving just older bucks (2 1/2+ years old) for November and December in a hardwood environment that is heavily hunted. The graph includes 8 years of data, four of which were good acorn years, and four poor acorn years. The graph is an hour-by-hour analysis of when bucks were photo-captured. Notice that other than the morning hours of 7 AM to 9 AM, poor acorn years (green line) displayed higher buck movement during daylight during all of the daylight hours than in a good acorn year (orange line). The largest differences were the first and last hours of daylight, although all the afternoon hours of 2 PM to 5 PM were very high for a poor acorn year. Although it sucks to have a poor acorn year, it does tend to result in more daylight movement.
 

Attachments

  • OlderBuckMov.jpg
    OlderBuckMov.jpg
    44 KB · Views: 59
Last edited:
BSK said:
I posted this before, but still a good reminder for those who have a poor acorn crop this year (mainly West TN). Below is a graph of trail-camera events involving just older bucks (2 1/2+ years old) for November and December in a hardwood environment that is heavily hunted. The graph includes 8 years of data, four of which were good acorn years, and four poor acorn years. The graph is an hour-by-hour analysis of when bucks were photo-captured. Notice that other than the morning hours of 7 AM to 9 AM, poor acorn years (green line) displayed higher buck movement during daylight during all of the daylight hours than in a good acorn year (orange line). The largest differences were the first and last hours of daylight, although the afternoon hours 3 PM to 5 PM were also very high for a poor acorn year. Although it sucks to have a poor acorn year, it does tend to result in more daylight movement.
Click to expand...
Life deals you no acorns, make lemonade. Thx for sharing that's encouraging.
 
I am very eager to check cameras.. still two weeks out from getting to make a trip, but the cell camera got a cool picture in daylight
 

Attachments

  • 99D33D47-E5DE-4870-B544-423A639123FA.png
    99D33D47-E5DE-4870-B544-423A639123FA.png
    349 KB · Views: 81
BSK said:
Man, you must have a very interesting definition of "seeing a ton." In 37 years of hunting my property, a hunter has seen more than 10 deer in a sit just twice.
Click to expand...
I will say on our place that's one of the better sits in years. Our other 2 leases a normal or below normal day. A couple years ago we average seeing 16 a sit with an average or seeing 4 bucks a sit. Of course seeing many of the same deer but a good year. Blessed with great ground. We've see as many as 70 to 80 deer an evening a few times with our bean fields. We've really worked on our does the last 4 or 5 years so not as many but still not uncommon to see 15 or 20 deer a sit. Good deer density tons of food lots of cover control lot of acres.
 
BSK said:
Last year, older bucks from the bottomlands didn't start shifting up into my hill country until around Oct. 18th. However, that was unusually late and I believe driven by the very late harvesting of standing corn in the bottomlands. In previous years, the shift occurred mid-September. I'm getting worried this year. So far, little to no shifting into the hills as of Oct. 11. Crops in the bottoms were all harvested by late September. But we shall see the next time I check cameras, which should be around the 21st.
Click to expand...
Cell cams will give you real time data
 
I just came back from Ohio. 4 days and the only deer I saw in person was a button buck. Biggest buck on cam in a month was this young 8, and it appears he'd already survived an arrow. Herd numbers seem way down up there. EHD really took a toll this summer.
 

Attachments

  • 20221028_155531.jpg
    20221028_155531.jpg
    271.3 KB · Views: 47
DeerCamp said:
Wife typically sees 7-10 per hunt here. Best days will be 15 or so.

Best sit ever was 24.
Click to expand...
I'm telling you what, I bet very, very few hunters could handle hunting on my place. Over the last 20 years, the average number of treestand hours required to see a mature (4 1/2+) buck is 212. That's about 60 hunts for the average hunter.
 
BSK said:
I'm telling you what, I bet very, very few hunters could handle hunting on my place. Over the last 20 years, the average number of treestand hours required to see a mature (4 1/2+) buck is 212. That's about 60 hunts for the average hunter.
Click to expand...
That's interesting. It is almost exactly what I average on public land. I end up sitting about 50-60 times (usually short evening sits since thats what work schedule allows) and almost always only see one mature buck on the hoof per year. Of course I see a lot of does and dink bucks in between to keep me entertained and to keep the freezer happy.
 
philsanchez76 said:
That's interesting. It is almost exactly what I average on public land. I end up sitting about 50-60 times (usually short evening sits since thats what work schedule allows) and almost always only see one mature buck on the hoof per year. Of course I see a lot of does and dink bucks in between to keep me entertained and to keep the freezer happy.
Click to expand...
Very interesting.
 
BSK said:
I'm telling you what, I bet very, very few hunters could handle hunting on my place. Over the last 20 years, the average number of treestand hours required to see a mature (4 1/2+) buck is 212. That's about 60 hunts for the average hunter.
Click to expand...
Honestly, to see a 4.5 yo buck around here is probably about the same.

Our definition of what we call a shooter is "does it get you excited" because with 40 acres, and so much pressure around us - it just seems hopeless to try and manage.

Last year my wife let 3 2.5yo walk and the same neighbor killed all 3 of them. That's another story though.
 
DeerCamp said:
Honestly, to see a 4.5 yo buck around here is probably about the same.

Our definition of what we call a shooter is "does it get you excited" because with 40 acres, and so much pressure around us - it just seems hopeless to try and manage.

Last year my wife let 3 2.5yo walk and the same neighbor killed all 3 of them. That's another story though.
Click to expand...
Managing small properties can be a real effort in frustration. All you can do is make the habitat as attractive as possible and then hope something that excites you shows up.

I suspect my standards are going to drop pretty fast this year. Normally, I will shoot the first 3 1/2 year-old buck with enough antler to raise my eyebrows. This year, who knows. I think bucks up to my standards are going to be few and far between.
 
BSK said:
I suspect my standards are going to drop pretty fast this year. Normally, I will shoot the first 3 1/2 year-old buck with enough antler to raise my eyebrows. This year, who knows. I think bucks up to my standards are going to be few and far between.
Click to expand...
All the more reason to maintain, or raise, your standards, heh?
 

Latest posts

Back
Top