Hunting bedded bucks in extreme cold weather.

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Stanley
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Hunting bedded bucks in extreme cold weather.

Unread postby Stanley » Sat Jan 14, 2012 12:36 pm

Do you think bucks would move more to feed in sub zero weather? Safe bedding is survival but so is feeding. Which survival instinct would be more overriding?


You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Re: Hunting bedded bucks in extreme cold weather.

Unread postby Dewey » Sat Jan 14, 2012 1:07 pm

I think feeding would be a priority in extreme cold but a mature buck still will not be careless or highly visible like a younger deer.
He would feed in the heaviest cover if possible.

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Re: Hunting bedded bucks in extreme cold weather.

Unread postby Schultzy » Sat Jan 14, 2012 1:10 pm

Anything close to zero or under I think deer In general move more. Last year I had trail camera's out In early February trying to catch pics of bucks that hadn't shed yet and I got lots of pics of deer moving all hours of the day. Some were pics of a 4.5 year old buck.
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Re: Hunting bedded bucks in extreme cold weather.

Unread postby mn5503 » Sat Jan 14, 2012 1:34 pm

Conserving energy is a priority in extreme cold conditions. Deer will bed closer to food sources and move much less (distances) around here when it gets really cold.

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Re: Hunting bedded bucks in extreme cold weather.

Unread postby PLB » Sat Jan 14, 2012 1:37 pm

mn5503 wrote:Conserving energy is a priority in extreme cold conditions. Deer will bed closer to food sources and move much less around here when it gets really cold.

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I agree but they will move during the warmest part of the day which is mid afternoon. I have had some
Fantastic action late season in below zero weather with deep snow!

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Re: Hunting bedded bucks in extreme cold weather.

Unread postby mn5503 » Sat Jan 14, 2012 1:43 pm

Public Land Beast wrote:
mn5503 wrote:Conserving energy is a priority in extreme cold conditions. Deer will bed closer to food sources and move much less around here when it gets really cold.

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I agree but they will move during the warmest part of the day which is mid afternoon. I have had some
Fantastic action late season in below zero weather with deep snow!

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I've also seen movement at those times when it's warmest, warm being a relative term of course. Lol

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Re: Hunting bedded bucks in extreme cold weather.

Unread postby Swampthing » Sat Jan 14, 2012 2:07 pm

The best and earliest movement during late season action I,ve ever experienced was hunting in sub-zero temps.
One particular week i remember . I had a buck show 3 times that week. Each day it got colder and each time he arrived earlier. The last day of hunting it was -17 with a wind chill rating of -45. And he showed up into a small patch of food a full hour b4 sunset.
That behavior would normally be un-heard of in my area , under normal conditions.
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Re: Hunting bedded bucks in extreme cold weather.

Unread postby Indianahunter » Sat Jan 14, 2012 5:14 pm

My experience in my neck of the woods is that both are of great importance but the difficulty comes in to play that they tend to bed very close to the food source when it is very cold so accessing and hunting either is difficult (not impossible). All properties are differnt though. If hunting near bedding in the bitter cold....I would look for the best THERMAL cover such as dense pine or cedar thickets then I look for the best cover between the two sources. This time of year the woods is so barren that good traveling cover between the two is a premium resource to utilize.
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Re: Hunting bedded bucks in extreme cold weather.

Unread postby Stanley » Sat Jan 14, 2012 5:33 pm

All good points. This time of year the days are much shorter than the nights. I wonder if this produces more feeding time under the cover of night?
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Re: Hunting bedded bucks in extreme cold weather.

Unread postby PLB » Sat Jan 14, 2012 5:35 pm

I think it does as long as the temps are not too extreme!

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Re: Hunting bedded bucks in extreme cold weather.

Unread postby dan » Sun Jan 15, 2012 1:08 am

They will bed closer to food, and move more in daylight. But still take safety over ease. If there is any pressure, I find mature bucks still bedding in the classic spots. No, or little pressure gets them bedding in the best situation thats closest to the limited food.

I think a lot of people see all the younger deer bed really close to food and "think" all deer do this all the time.
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Re: Hunting bedded bucks in extreme cold weather.

Unread postby GRUD » Sun Jan 15, 2012 1:47 am

I typically see deer move late morning and early afternoon in really cold temps. Especially on a day when the sun shines. When it is really cold I usually dont hunt mornings because the deer typically wont move till it warms up a bit and I dont want to get out of a warm bed and sit in the cold for several hours. Also, the day that the temps warm up a bit seem to get them moving. Today is the perfect storm here, it has been in the single digits the last couple nights and only teens in the day with high winds. Today is supposed to be sunny and calm around 27 degrees, couple that with the great moon phase, I will be out early this afternoon!


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