Pressure and movement...

[JMAR85]

Will a mature buck stay out of his bed longer in the morning with low to moderate amounts of pressure? Some of the spots I hunt are way back in the mountains and access can be difficult. I'm not sure how many people really go in that far in bow season limiting the amount of pressure. If the old bucks aren't as pressure will they stay out of their beds a little later in the mornings (outside of the rut)..?

[dan]

Will a mature buck stay out of his bed longer in the morning with low to moderate amounts of pressure? Some of the spots I hunt are way back in the mountains and access can be difficult. I'm not sure how many people really go in that far in bow season limiting the amount of pressure. If the old bucks aren't as pressure will they stay out of their beds a little later in the mornings (outside of the rut)..?

Pressure probably has some impact... But, even when hunting very low pressure managed land I have had a hard time beating the mature bucks to bed in the am outside of rut.

[Jonny]

Will a mature buck stay out of his bed longer in the morning with low to moderate amounts of pressure? Some of the spots I hunt are way back in the mountains and access can be difficult. I'm not sure how many people really go in that far in bow season limiting the amount of pressure. If the old bucks aren't as pressure will they stay out of their beds a little later in the mornings (outside of the rut)..?

I have seen some huge bucks during the "October lull" around 9-10 am walking in the hardwoods. They may have gotten out of bed for a stroll, or are getting back very late, I don't know.

I do know that there was no rhyme or reason for it that I could find. Maybe it was a moon thing, I never paid attention to that. But I know I have seen mature bucks at really weird times of the day outside the rut. Just don't know how predictable it is

[Bowhunter4life]

Morning hunts are tough no doubt and there are more factors I believe that go into them than say a evening hunt. That being said I I don't believe they are to be wrote off tho.

The full moon is poor just simply cause from what I've seen the deer are back in their beds earlier usually before first light. Later October I've seen many bucks come strolling back to their beds later than normal. Cameras have shown it and I've been on stand to witness it, even taken a few this way. I believe it is all about timing no matter where the buck is bedding if you time it right then your odds go way up.

Obviously on top of timing you have to factor in the other aspects such as how he will loop or J-hook the bed and what thermals/wind will be doing throughout the mornings.

[JoeRE]

My observations are similar to bowhunter4life's.

When Dan said the rut I think he meant starting with the pre-rut, which in the midwest starts to have a major effect on how bucks move in mid-October.

The October lull only exists in the minds of hunters, not deer. It has been proven conclusively that bucks are more and more active as the rut approaches. Hunting pressure suppresses deer movement whenever there's more of it, has nothing to do with a certain month.

The closer you get to breeding phase the better your odds of catching a buck on his feet in the morning as long as he still is on some kind of pattern. I don't like mornings after full moon nights either, and try hunt the back side of weather systems and high pressure days. By picking my days carefully I have had a lot of success mornings in the pre-rut.

Even then, to me 2 out of 3 mornings outside of November aren't worth hunting, low odds IMO. Stack the odds if you can to trim time. Otherwise just succeed by shear quantity of time.

[JMAR85]

Thanks for the input. I've been following a buck for the last three years unable to locate his bed until recently. I don't think he has one particular bed but more or less uses a half acre bench area about half way up the mountain. Due to the way deer are bedding around him I'm not sure how to pull off an evening hunt but was wondering if I could beat him to his bed so to speak..

[JoeRE]

Thanks for the input. I've been following a buck for the last three years unable to locate his bed until recently. I don't think he has one particular bed but more or less uses a half acre bench area about half way up the mountain. Due to the way deer are bedding around him I'm not sure how to pull off an evening hunt but was wondering if I could beat him to his bed so to speak..

That is exactly the situation that gets me eyeballing a morning hunt. And it happens a lot around here because of high deer numbers, at least half the good buck bedding locations I have found are darn near impossible to hunt in the evening effectively because of other deer ringing that bedding. The older buck is usually one of the first bucks back to bed in the morning so the "other deer" risk is minimized.

I would try to hit a flurry of pre-rut activity in the 10 days or so prior to whenever your peak rut activity is. Think cold front. Good luck!

[dan]

My observations are similar to bowhunter4life's.

When Dan said the rut I think he meant starting with the pre-rut, which in the midwest starts to have a major effect on how bucks move in mid-October.

The October lull only exists in the minds of hunters, not deer. It has been proven conclusively that bucks are more and more active as the rut approaches. Hunting pressure suppresses deer movement whenever there's more of it, has nothing to do with a certain month.

The closer you get to breeding phase the better your odds of catching a buck on his feet in the morning as long as he still is on some kind of pattern. I don't like mornings after full moon nights either, and try hunt the back side of weather systems and high pressure days. By picking my days carefully I have had a lot of success mornings in the pre-rut.

Even then, to me 2 out of 3 mornings outside of November aren't worth hunting, low odds IMO. Stack the odds if you can to trim time. Otherwise just succeed by shear quantity of time.

Correct about pre-rut... Oct 15th or so is about when I start seeing late bed arrivals... As far as the October lull, I think there is some truth to it, but most guys don't see it cause of there season structure. September has great movement, but by early October it slows down (which is when a lot of states open) then, as you suggested starts getting better and better as rut approach's. If your season starts in October you only see the up trend.

[Hunt247365]

My feelings on the Oct lull is as soon as the leaves are mostly off there is definitely a drop in daytime movement without a question regardless of hunting preassure. Has to do with the loss of cover in my opinion. I really like am hunts due to the fact that if you bump deer they seems to not bug them nearly as bad as in the pm. In fact there is a number of decent bucks between my dad and I that be haven't gotten on a am hunt to find out from trail cam pics that we bumped them coming in and he still came back around just a hr our so later....cant say the same for pm hunts. Still feel that the first week of season and late season hunting I would take over the rut time as far as best time to get a good buck.

If you have access to enough acreage then the more time you spend in the woods the better your odds of tagging a good buck for your area year after year but if your limited to areas to hunt then the less time you spend the better.