Deer movement hoopla...

[Short Track]

I know I see deer 15 minutes every night after dark. They magically appear in my field.
Get out of my stand at dark. Not 1 deer.
Walk back to my truck, and drive down the dirt road, I can see deer moving across the field.
and if I walk the property in the morning, I see fresh rubs. Don't need to be a scientist for that.

 

[Long Cut]

MSU offers a wealth of information from an analytical perspective.

Anecdotally, I do believe the animals feeding times are correlated to the moons position I.E. Overhead vs Underfoot. There will be 2 Major and 2 Minor feeding times per day. The animals also have to lay and digest their cud, sleep etc..

If you pay attention while hunting, using trail cameras or deer sightings in general, and compare them to the moons Overhead & Underfoot times, I believe you will see a correlation.

Now, pair the above information with a moons Overhead time right at Dusk or Dawn, with a high pressure system (cold front) moving in, on a Full moon… I do believe that you will see a lot more movement.
- On the flip side, had the moons Overhead time been sometime around 11AM-1PM, I do believe the movement would be lesser; As the animals would probably be laying down, chewing their cud when hunters will be in the stand.

My .02 anyhow.

 

[MallardSX2]

Help me understand the data I'm looking at. High pressure seems to be correlated with more deer killed. Correct?

If that's the case I would buy that. I also find that I like hunting consistent weather patterns way more than leading or following a cold front or a weather change. It sure seems like those big changes get deer moving, but make them more random and harder to patter. Switching winds get me busted way more than consistent steady winds.

Up here in northern MN I see a decrease in deer activity with heavy wind. Mild to moderate winds seem fine. Rain does wierd things. I've had tons of buck activity on camera the last 10 days and with the rain overnight starting at 4pm and lasting til 5 am the cameras were almost dead. I'll be excited to see if the deer show back up tonight now that the rain has passed


I've learned I can't predict deer movement but boy I sure like to strategize and watch the cameras if I decide to go or not go and then look back and kick myself for making the wrong choice

We kill a lot of our deer on high pressure days and we kill a lot of deer in the dark of the moon.