Pressure! Does it affect initial movement direction?

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stash59
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Pressure! Does it affect initial movement direction?

Unread postby stash59 » Tue Apr 11, 2017 3:05 am

Does hunting pressure affect the direction a buck 1st heads from a bed?

I know they may just stay in bed later. But if they have an option to go feed on browse or an acorn area in the opposite direction. Will they just go do that? I'm thinking September hunts here. Where there's a good chance they may want to get on their feet earlier. To put the feed bag on.

Not just thinking general hunting pressure, but pressure from myself. If I take a stand on a trail heading in 1 direction. On higher ground easy to access. That's farther away and more of an observation sit. Over 100 yards. Will burning that bridge. Influence the buck to go in the other direction on the days following?

Which would make a hunt in the other direction. At a closer distance to the bed. Better odds?


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Re: Pressure! Does it affect initial movement direction?

Unread postby dan » Tue Apr 11, 2017 4:21 am

I wouldn't count on it... It may in some instances. But I see bucks slide around know pressure a lot. I see them circle down wind of known permanent stands in thick cover a lot... I remember one buck that used to bolt from cover thru the open "kill" area by the trees to the middle of the field he was feeding in...
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Re: Pressure! Does it affect initial movement direction?

Unread postby JoeRE » Tue Apr 11, 2017 6:52 am

Yea not so much opposite direction but like Dan said they skirt around spots all the time that they know are unsafe.

Last fall I killed a buck coming through 40-50 yards downwind of a tree I had hunted 7 days earlier - it does not always lay out that clean but regardless it was not a coincidence.

If a food source isn't safe during daylight a buck will probably just hang back.

I have always wondered if spotlighting all night long might pressure deer to other food sources.
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Re: Pressure! Does it affect initial movement direction?

Unread postby Tufrthnails » Tue Apr 11, 2017 8:49 am

hmmm well a different look is we have a section of the farm in KY that we call the bottoms and it doesn't hold deer until the neighbor starts hunting in gun season. We don't hunt it until we hear a few shots from over there and know he is hunting it. but once that happens it seems like the bottoms starts getting pretty active and we can slip in and ive seen some pretty good bucks down there after that. Our cameras show nothing but maybe a few does until then. It took a couple of years to figure the pattern out, but my brother managed to kill this one two days after we heard shots on the neighbors property.
Image
not a monster, but a pretty nice 11pt. The neighbor has a bunch of pics of the deer he showed us after we got to talking one evening after we caught him on our property he was tracking a doe he had gutshot :angry-fire:
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Re: Pressure! Does it affect initial movement direction?

Unread postby Jonny » Tue Apr 11, 2017 9:38 am

Tufrthnails wrote:hmmm well a different look is we have a section of the farm in KY that we call the bottoms and it doesn't hold deer until the neighbor starts hunting in gun season. We don't hunt it until we hear a few shots from over there and know he is hunting it. but once that happens it seems like the bottoms starts getting pretty active and we can slip in and ive seen some pretty good bucks down there after that. Our cameras show nothing but maybe a few does until then. It took a couple of years to figure the pattern out, but my brother managed to kill this one two days after we heard shots on the neighbors property.
Image
not a monster, but a pretty nice 11pt. The neighbor has a bunch of pics of the deer he showed us after we got to talking one evening after we caught him on our property he was tracking a doe he had gutshot :angry-fire:


A couple spots I gun hunt are exactly like this. Gun season opens on saturday, you might see a couple deer after 12 when people push them around enough. On sunday some years there are deer everywhere. Its like somebody just dropped a pod of deer there. Very little to zero sign all season, and then once the pressure hits, the deer flock to the area as soon as they feel safe doing so.

Thick nasty river bottom, that is never hunted. Worked out great for me this year 8-)

I think 90% of the deer killed in the river bottoms by us were shot on sunday
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Re: Pressure! Does it affect initial movement direction?

Unread postby JoeRE » Tue Apr 11, 2017 10:36 am

Yea, since you brought up gun season - most places that is 10 times more pressure than bow and I agree deer that has a lot bigger impact on deer than bowhunting. Some might say bucks don't move at all but they still have to eat and all that. They are just darn careful where they move. Agree with your observations Turf.

In the past when I had more time I would just go out glass during Iowa shotgun season to watch bucks stack up in some nasty bottom that nobody wants to drag a deer out of.
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Re: Pressure! Does it affect initial movement direction?

Unread postby stash59 » Tue Apr 11, 2017 11:42 am

Thanx everyone!!!!
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Re: Pressure! Does it affect initial movement direction?

Unread postby James » Tue Apr 11, 2017 12:14 pm

Just depends on the pressure I think. My marsh buck last year got himself killed because of pressure. First hunt spot and I walked in on his trails. It was windy but I was setup close (<50 yards) he heard enough to get up 3 hours early and circle around to check me out. Found himself an arrow...

Unusual circumstance for sure though. If he would have stayed bedded and scented my entrance later I guarantee he would have boogied out. I'm fairly certain I was on to him in 2015 and blew him out after one hunt. Wasn't in the right tree. Got to see him at least!

Goes to show that occasionally pressure can work out but also an example of how it will impact their direction and silliness to return.
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Re: Pressure! Does it affect initial movement direction?

Unread postby swampyak » Tue Apr 11, 2017 12:24 pm

JoeRE wrote:Yea not so much opposite direction but like Dan said they skirt around spots all the time that they know are unsafe.

Last fall I killed a buck coming through 40-50 yards downwind of a tree I had hunted 7 days earlier - it does not always lay out that clean but regardless it was not a coincidence.

If a food source isn't safe during daylight a buck will probably just hang back.

I have always wondered if spotlighting all night long might pressure deer to other food sources.


I definitely think spotlighting can affect deer. When we could shine until 10 it was rare to see a mature buck in a field before 10
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Re: Pressure! Does it affect initial movement direction?

Unread postby JoeRE » Tue Apr 11, 2017 1:47 pm

swampyak wrote:
I definitely think spotlighting can affect deer. When we could shine until 10 it was rare to see a mature buck in a field before 10


Yea I've wondered about that too. In states that have time slot for legal shining, like WI in the fall and winter, do the big ones learn they should stay in cover until after that time so they don't get harassed? Interesting observation
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Re: Pressure! Does it affect initial movement direction?

Unread postby swampyak » Tue Apr 11, 2017 3:11 pm

JoeRE wrote:
swampyak wrote:
I definitely think spotlighting can affect deer. When we could shine until 10 it was rare to see a mature buck in a field before 10


Yea I've wondered about that too. In states that have time slot for legal shining, like WI in the fall and winter, do the big ones learn they should stay in cover until after that time so they don't get harassed? Interesting observation


I know that it would effect me to if every time I went to a restaurant I got blinded by a spotlight I would make some changes. It might be more pronounced in flat land were you can't hide behind a hill
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Re: Pressure! Does it affect initial movement direction?

Unread postby Jonny » Tue Apr 11, 2017 3:23 pm

JoeRE wrote:
swampyak wrote:
I definitely think spotlighting can affect deer. When we could shine until 10 it was rare to see a mature buck in a field before 10


Yea I've wondered about that too. In states that have time slot for legal shining, like WI in the fall and winter, do the big ones learn they should stay in cover until after that time so they don't get harassed? Interesting observation


Another thought is how often do you see a mature buck out in the open near a busy road? Sure they will bed near roads if pressure is low there, but driving past fields full of deer, I don't recall ever seeing a big set of antlers out in the field. Now a field at the end of dirt road, all of a sudden I will start seeing bigger deer out in the fields.
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Re: Pressure! Does it affect initial movement direction?

Unread postby swampyak » Tue Apr 11, 2017 3:36 pm

Jonny wrote:
JoeRE wrote:
swampyak wrote:
I definitely think spotlighting can affect deer. When we could shine until 10 it was rare to see a mature buck in a field before 10


Yea I've wondered about that too. In states that have time slot for legal shining, like WI in the fall and winter, do the big ones learn they should stay in cover until after that time so they don't get harassed? Interesting observation


Another thought is how often do you see a mature buck out in the open near a busy road? Sure they will bed near roads if pressure is low there, but driving past fields full of deer, I don't recall ever seeing a big set of antlers out in the field. Now a field at the end of dirt road, all of a sudden I will start seeing bigger deer out in the fields.


We are talking about nocturnal hours not daylight, we don't have many busy roads and personals I think they would harassed less feeding in fields by busy roads after dark then remote roads
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Re: Pressure! Does it affect initial movement direction?

Unread postby Nocturnal » Tue Apr 11, 2017 4:08 pm

I see the same things. Here's a little something different. Years ago, a guy down the road from a cabin we have was baiting deer with apples. He had a 3 year old 8 coming in every night. Of course he always took the same way to his stand but this buck would know he was there. He would never come in during daylight on the days he hunted. He would leave at dark and 5-10 mins later he would hit the apples and he'd get all kinds of pictures. It was funny cause he knew this deer was playing him. He never did kill the deer but it's cool how the buck accepted his presence and bedded close on pretty much a daily basis knowing he was being hunted.


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