Cold fronts, moon phases, and bedding

[Elite]

This may be a dumb and ignorant question to ask, but I have to ask: with hunting buck bedding areas and bedding areas in general, are cold fronts, moon phases, etc less of a importance? A lot of hunters wait to hunt in October unless they have daylight pictures of mature bucks or cold fronts. My assumption is that these weather and lunar factors aren't that important if I'm hunting within 100 yards of a bedded buck, but I could be wrong.

[Jdw]

All questions are good questions.

I agree with you. The less distance a buck has to move to get to you the less environmental factors need to line up in your favor to hunt him.

[jwilkstn]

I think that's fair to say that other influencers are less critical the tougher to bedding you hunt, BUT they can certainly still be advantageous. Anything that helps get a buck up and moving earlier in the afternoon will only make it more likely to get a crack at him.

[mheichelbech]

In pursuing, especially older bucks, they often don’t move that far from bedding, often but not always. It really depends on the situation, the buck, how far he moves, the terrain and how close you can get without spooking him, etc. One thing I had trouble with early on was trying to apply “rules” if you will, trying to assume that if I found the bed, and hunted near it, I’d see the buck and get a shot. It’s not that simple.

For example, a buck could be bedding by an oak that’s dropping acorns. The buck may get up and start eating acorns before moving on to somewhere else. It could be an hour before he even moves 50 yards. However, cold front, particular moon days days, etc. have show to get deer moving earlier or staying out longer.

The only way to figure this out is to get in there as close as you can without spoooking him. This may result in spooking him but you have to push the envelope to figure things out.
With respect to the moon, I would advise keeping a journal and tracking what you see. Every place is different and situational. For example, if the deer are heavily pressured them they may not move in daylight despite all factors being present.

[Singing Bridge]

This may be a dumb and ignorant question to ask, but I have to ask: with hunting buck bedding areas and bedding areas in general, are cold fronts, moon phases, etc less of a importance? A lot of hunters wait to hunt in October unless they have daylight pictures of mature bucks or cold fronts. My assumption is that these weather and lunar factors aren't that important if I'm hunting within 100 yards of a bedded buck, but I could be wrong.

This is so far from dumb and ignorant, I don't know where to begin. I won't go in to great detail in the interest of brevity.

No, they are not less important when you are a mobile hunter with many stand locations / scouting / maybe even years.

A cold front can get a heavy pressure buck to move a little bit after he has been hammered by pressure around his beds for weeks... instead of just standing up and milling around a little bit before dark. He may well stage to the edge of what he could see / smell / hear all day from his bed to where you will be waiting. They same can be true of certain moon phases, I'm told, in lower pressure areas (I'm not a big moon guy).

Let's not forget about windy, blustery days that provide lots of cover sound and movement of the leaves- or cattails- or brush, etc. that allow you to hunt buck staging areas near bedding that you could never approach on a normal day without the buck picking you off.

You should have some buck bedding areas coming to mind... take advantage of what you are given.

Bridge

[croatandan]

With Dorian comin up the coast I was wondering how it would effect deer movement. My season opens on the 14th here in Carolina

[Abishai]

Cold fronts will make deer move, whether they're close to bed or not. Moon phases don't really affect deer much at all. Cold fronts do.

[Tennhunter3]

This may be a dumb and ignorant question to ask, but I have to ask: with hunting buck bedding areas and bedding areas in general, are cold fronts, moon phases, etc less of a importance? A lot of hunters wait to hunt in October unless they have daylight pictures of mature bucks or cold fronts. My assumption is that these weather and lunar factors aren't that important if I'm hunting within 100 yards of a bedded buck, but I could be wrong.

Cold fronts are great for hunting downwind of huck bedding areas for morning hunts. Bucks are on their feet later into the morning.

Moon phase I'm not sure how much impact it has.

Afternoon I don't think it matters.