TheHornHunter

Good, I'm glad to hear it! Hopefully it helps you kill something!

I created a post called "Deep dive on cold fronts and how to hunt them" that hopefully answers your question and helps you put a big bruiser in the dirt!

I put up another post a few days ago about the buck I harvested and the favorable weather setup I took advantage of. A member replied asking me to expand on this and how barometric pressure impacts deer movement so I decided to make a new post about it. Cold fronts are one of the best catalysts for deer movement and there are three phases to any cold front which we will discuss later as it relates to hunting. I’ve generalized the wind conditions below which are based on our typical north westerly winds for cold fronts but we occasionally have a NE system come through: Just before: winds will typically shift NW to N and barometric pressure will start increasing as temps slowly start to drop During: winds typically still NW to N, barometric pressure is high (30.2+) but typically flattens out as temperatures bottom After: winds shift S to SW, barometric pressure starts dropping as temps increase Before we get to the hunting part I think it’s worth explaining why cold fronts impact deer movement and how the deer react and interpret the weather conditions. Cold weather causes deer to use more energy to sustain which means they need to eat more and thus must head to food more during day light. During the rut it also drives more movement because it’s more favorable for bucks to run around – think about working out on a 90 degree July day vs. a 60 degree September day; I bet you can do a lot more and be more comfortable in September than July. So how do deer react to a cold front? Deer can sense changes in barometric pressure - I believe through a sensor in their ear - and they know if it starts rising that probably means colder weather is coming and vice versa when it drops. This means you’ll see movement just before it hits because deer will sense the pressure rising and will hit the feed to try and get enough reserves to get through whatever is coming. Once the cold is here and pressure is high they will typically continue to feed heavy or if during rut running around like crazy (partly because does are out more trying to eat). Finally, once the pressure starts dropping deer will understand better conditions are coming which I find usually has one good day of movement where deer are out restocking feed reserves and getting their social fix; after the first day of warmer temps I find movement drops off pretty drastically. Now to the fun part – how do you hunt them? Most of you know how powerful a October or early-to-mid November cold front can be at getting deer – especially mature bucks – up on their feet and I think any one of the above phases is a good time to be in the woods, although I’ve seen the most movement in #2 when temps are the lowest followed by #1 just before it hits and deer are preparing for it. That all changes from my experience once we get past the middle of November - they are still just as powerful (if not more) at driving movement but require different tactics. The cold fronts are now much colder with typically higher wind speeds and the deer are much more run down from already going through the bulk of rut. This translates to much more movement on phase #1 when the first northerly winds come in and pressure starts rising (signaling to deer bad weather ahead and the need to feed) and phase #3 when wind switches out of the south, temps start rising and pressure starts falling (signaling to deer the coast is clear and better conditions ahead). I’ve spent many lonely cold hours in the stand during the middle of those cold fronts thinking deer would be out feeding hard when temps are the lowest but based on my observations they more so just hunker down in thermal bedding and forage on whatever is close to that. It’s almost like they avoid movement to try and conserve as much food reserves as they can which makes sense given the difference in temps (an October / early November cold front probably bottoms out at 20-40F while later season they will usually be single digits). I think the very low movement characteristics of phase #2 really enhance phase #3 which is by far my favorite time to hunt one of these cold fronts - phase #1 is good too and I definitely go out but I generally stay out of woods during phase #2 and do stuff like pull trail cam cards, put up new sets, etc. Deer are social creatures and become more like humans late season in that they don’t like nasty weather any more than us. Deer will crave social interaction after being bottled up for a couple days dealing with extreme cold so there’s two powerful factors driving movement in phase #3 (need to restore feed reserves and get their social fix). If you get one of these cold fronts from say 11/15 to 11/25 then you add another even more powerful factor and that’s the desire to breed with the tail end of rut. Bucks will finish breeding any does they are locked down with during the cold front but they don’t really go out seeking new ones until weather gets better so you can see some powerful seeking and chasing on the first south wind after a cold front (especially with mature bucks). This is exactly what happened on my hunt – Tuesday afternoon the winds shifted NW and pressure started rising so I jumped in an observation stand overlooking a creek bed and rye grass field on one of my properties and saw quite a few does and some bucks (including a big frame 10) hitting the tallest section of grass an hour before sunset. Temps dropped to single digits Wednesday and Thursday – I ended up hunting Thursday because it was thanksgiving and who doesn’t hunt on Thanksgiving (?!) but only saw a few does – I usually see at least one 3 year old buck and minimum of 10-15 deer every time I hunt this property so this was a very slow day. Friday AM was still very cold but winds switched to the south, pressure started dropping, and it was probably 35 degrees by 2PM when I headed out. I went to the closest spot I could get to where I saw the deer feeding in the rye on Tuesday which happened to be in a hedgerow – we didn’t have a stand on it so I put some brush together and made a DIY blind to ground hunt from. I had a 3 year 130-140 class 8 pointer cruise by within 60 yards of me less than ten minutes after I was set up and had constant action the rest of the evening (two mature bucks, two 3 year olds, three 2 year olds and ~15 small bucks and does). I had 8 does in front of me in the rye around 430PM when I saw one snap her head back to the creek bed at the head of the hedgerow I was on and a second later I had my buck in sight at a full run after her grunting like crazy. I couldn’t stop him and ended up shooting him on the run, but it was something I will never forget and is a good example of how powerful the action can be right after one of those brutal late November cold fronts. The best stand locations are pinch points between bedding and food or right on a food source (my favorite are green ones like winter wheat, clover, rye, etc. or a cut corn field). I like to sit an observation stand where I can see a lot of ground on the first phase so I can get an idea of where the deer are moving and then I move in on those spots and either ground hunt or do a hang and hunt on that first day of southerly winds (unless of course I’m lucky enough to already have a set hung there but I’m usually not that lucky). I hope this helps explain my strategy better and helps one of you put a nice buck on the ground! Definitely let me know if anyone has any questions or has different opinions or experience on the matter. --- Horn Hunter

I think that's especially true in highly pressured states like NY where deer have a PhD in hunter avoidance by the time they are 3. It's a different story if you go to the mid-west or some mid-south states like Texas or Oklahoma where bucks are allowed to mature and hunting pressure is less intense. There you can see mature bucks become more daylight active with age and they'll get smarter when it comes to the rut so they will often wait until they hear the tell tale signs of breeding such as a buck fight or tending grunts and then will sweep in and take the doe.

Thanks and I’d love to! Next time I’m at a computer I’ll put something together. Thanks for the suggestion.

Thanks! I shot him with my muzzle loader, actually he was my first deer with this particular muzzy. Movement in my area definitely picked up Friday thru the weekend - the first half of last week and last weekend was pretty dead. Most of what I’m seeing is typical late season feeding habits. AMs are getting tough to hunt but if you can get around bedding undetected it can still make for some good hunts. PMs have been much more productive for me... green food sources or cut corn being the most productive. I took my buck in a rye grass field. Good luck!

80% of it is ag fields if I had to guess so it hunts a lot smaller than it sounds, but it's enough for me and my buddy to hunt nearly every day and keep the pressure spread out.

Thanks! Same to you. I live in Pittsford so right around the corner from you

Yep, frozen with a side of rigor mortis

Thanks!

Thanks! He was stiff as a board from hanging all night by his antlers so when I took him down for pics his head and neck stayed straight up. I wasn't planning on that happening but it worked out well!

Congrats to all the hunters that were fortunate enough to harvest something this weekend! Here's some better pictures of the buck I harvested Friday evening. Unfortunately his body was just a little too long for my weight station set up with my hoist, but I was able to get a reading of 220 lbs (before field dressing) with his head and antlers still on the ground so I'm going to guess a live weight of 240-250. Ended up with about 90-95 lbs of meat which still needs to be boned out and trimmed after dry aging but most meat I've ever got off a deer. His body was much bigger than his antlers that I scored at 127"... nice 20 to 21" beams but no mass with his bases measuring 4 to 4 1/2" and everything else in the 3s. That said, I'm happy as hell with him, I'll take a big body over big antlers any day. I've been passing 3 years olds all year including a nice 130-140 class 8 point I saw maybe an hour before I shot this one and I can't say 100% this buck is 4 but he had a long body and nice saggy belly so despite having the antlers of a 3 year old I think he was 4. Even if he's 3, he came out of the woods chasing a doe with his mouth open, nose flared and grunting like crazy which is something I will never forget and that's what counts! I'm also pretty sure he died quickly despite me backing out and giving him time and there was no coyote damage so all around very successful hunt. The neighbor had shot a big 10 pointer Wednesday (he got put up on NY Big Buck Club so I'm sure some of you have seen it... beautiful mid-150 class) that I had 7 encounters with during bow just as I was getting out of my stand so I had been a little bummed out but I got back after it Friday, set up a home made ground blind in some thick brush piles and ended up taking my buck within 100 yards of where the neighbor shot the big ten. Just goes to show you, stay after it and good things happen! FWIW, I figured Friday was going to be a good day to catch some bucks cruising because it was the first south wind after several days of brutal northerly winds that brought temps down to single digits around Rochester. Cold fronts are great for October and first half of November, but I find once we get past mid-November the deer just hunker down during them and the best time to hunt them is either the first day the winds shift to the north and pressure just starts to rise or the first south wind when pressure starts dropping and temps warm up. I've spent many lonely hours freezing my ass off in the stand thinking the cold would get them moving but they don't appear to like it anymore than us. It's been a pretty reliable formula I've used to see a lot of bucks so hopefully that helps one of you put one down too!

Thanks!

Good news!! Recovered the buck. He literally only went 10-15 feet from where I jumped him and less than 200 yards from where I first shot him. I think the crashing I heard that I thought was him running thru brush was actually him crashing to the ground dead. I’ve never had to back out on a deer before so I was pretty tore up waiting the 6 hours but I’m glad he died quickly and wasn’t suffering for that time. I definitely got the liver and I think one lung but haven’t gutted him yet... figured it’d be best to do at my house given all the coyotes I’ve got on that property so I’m off to do that once I post this. It’s not the buck I thought it was but my buddy and I have seen this buck a few times before. Tank of a body and a pretty good set of antlers. We were undecided whether he was 3 or 4 so my buddy actually passed him at 20 yards during bow but he wasn’t getting away tonight when he came in grunting and chasing a doe. Will post some more photos tomorrow once it’s light. Thanks everyone for the input earlier!

Thanks, will do! Yeah our coyote problem is terrible on this farm. It doesn’t impact the deer hunting and it’s by far my most productive spot so I’ve been reluctant to add any additional pressure and go predator hunting but we’ll definitely be out in the off season trying to knock down their numbers. Last time I shot a doe they were out howling before I even had the deer gutted.

Thanks! I went home got dinner with the old lady, loaded up the ATV and am about to drive back. Bringing my coyote rig with me just in case

This was in rush near 390, but I hunt West Bloomfield too.

I’d love to give him the night but there’s a huge pack of coyotes in the creek bed and I’m afraid there won’t be anything left if I give him the entire night. Would you still leave him knowing there’s at least ten coyotes calling the creek bed home?

It didn’t look nearly as dark in person but I was afraid if may have been liver. I’ve never hit one there so never seen the blood before. The spray had me thinking maybe liver and one lung. Gonna give him time and come back in a bit. Thanks for the input.

I think it’s my phone. It wasnt nearly as dark as it looks in the photo in person. My phone takes terrible photos once the sun is down. That said I definitely think it could be liver or maybe liver and one lung which Is what my buddy thought so gonna give him 5-6 hours and go look.

Just joined here earlier this week and figured tonight was a good time to join the convo. Really awesome night in the woods in 8H. Had a nice 3 year old 8 point cruise by within 60 yards literally within minutes of getting set up and brushing myself in on the ground, right around 230. Pretty constant action after that. Saw three 3 year olds, two 2 year olds, several yearling bucks, and maybe 20 does. Had 8 does in front of me around 430 and noticed one snap her head back behind her and start running which I knew meant a buck was coming... ten pointer showed up a second later on a full run after her. His antlers looked out to the tip of his nose and I think it may have been a 4 year old I’ve been seeing pretty consistently so I decided he was a shooter. I couldn’t get him to stop with grunts and ended up shooting him on the run at 60 yards or so with a muzzle loader and he ran 150 yards into a creek bed. Got on blood right away and it looked pretty good so after giving him 20 mins I started to work to the creek bed and ended up jumping him right as I got to the edge. I’m afraid I only got one lung and maybe liver so I backed out and am going to come back in 5-6 hours and start searching. I’ve never had to back out on a deer before so pretty torn up and really hoping he’s dead when I come back. Anyone else think this blood looks like the spray you get with lungs?

That's an awesome buck you got last year! Good to know someone else is hunting same areas too. I agree with you on other hunter's shooting those deer and I'm fine with that to be honest. Most of our neighbors pass them but we have a few that don't and like I said in response to someone earlier I'll never tell someone what they should or shouldn't shoot - if it puts a smile on your face it's good with me! I hunt a lot of creek beds, thickets and swamps trying to find those hiding spots lol. It's a low probability adventure chasing these timber monarchs and I know that but that's what makes it fun to me... if it wasn't challenging i'd get bored.

Will do - thanks for the tip!

Thanks for the welcome! There's nothing wrong with not passing them - i tell all my buddies shoot whatever puts a smile on your face. I got skunked my first season, shot a six pointer my 2nd season and killed a nice 120ish 8 point last year so I've been passing bucks this year that would be my biggest ever. Maybe I'm crazy, I just love the thrill of chasing these old brutes and being in the woods. Plus I get plenty of meat from does so as much as I want to kill one of these 4+ year olds i'm not going to be heart broken if I don't and it won't ruin my season.

Hello all, Stumbled on this site recently and decided to join up. I live outside Rochester and hunt several leases (~600 acres w/ 1 other guy) and permission properties (~1K acres) across Rush, Mendon, Honeoye Falls, West Bloomfield and Macedon. I also do some hang and hunts on public land around the area and typically get out to Ohio once a year for a 3-4 day hunt. I hunt A LOT - this morning was the 29th day I've been in the woods and my 40th sit. I'm a huge data junkie so I track all sorts of stuff from hunting observations, to trail cam activity to carcass weight and meat yield - i'm a research analyst by trade so just my nature :) This is my fourth year hunting and bow hunting is my preferred method, but I mix it up with my muzzleloader or rifle from time to time. Killed a few does this year, but no bucks yet. My hunting partner and I target bucks at least 4 years old and are lucky enough for a lot of our hunting land to be surrounded by either properties that don't allow hunting or are similarly managed. I passed probably a dozen 2-3 year old 120-135 class bucks during bow and had close encounters with probably a half dozen mature bucks, one of which I've now ran into 7 (!) times in the past month. I've had him at under 40 yards twice, but one was chasing does and the other was running off a buck whose ass he just kicked and neither time I couldn't get him to stop. Most of the time I get to watch him walk under one of my other tree stands on the property and kick myself for not being there. Hoping to catch up with him again and seal the deal. Anyways, that's a bit about me and my season to date. Looking forward to joining into the conversation with ya'll!