How do your deer....

[growalot]

Move? For those that hunt the same basic areas every year and get a feel for the herd movement ...how do they pattern? ie...

Here at home I can count on the deer moving from on top of the hill to the lower parts of the hill in the mornings then reversing that in the evening,,,,,,, dawn to dusk...sometimes about half way they will do a cross wind movement...now our place faces west north west...use to be always a prevailing west/north west wind ..but the last few years we have been getting a lot of south east winds...which have not changed the deer movement.

 

Now at camp...more hill country the winds blow up hill from the west and the deer move from down hill to up hill in the mornings and reverse in the afternoons....the camp is on a hill facing west on the down hill slope..but more of a West south west orientation...those deer also will some times make a cross wind change in direction half way up the hill....

 

So basically the home deer walk into the wind during morning hours and the camp deer move with the wind to their backs in the ,mornings...reversing this in the afternoons...Both herds having the same basic terrain...Why would you suppose this is?

 

 

[Doc]

As the air begins to warm in the mornings, the thermals generally are in an uphill direction. In the evening when the sun goes down and the air is cooling, the thermals are sliding down the hills. Interestingly enough, the deer in our area seem to position this normal air flow to their rump instead of taking advantage of the normal thermal flow. In other words they generally head up the hill to bed in the morning and come down to feed in the evening. That is strange, but pretty darn consistent....or at least as consistent as anything about deer.

We have very steep terrain with narrow valleys so this effect is very pronounced. This pattern of bedding on the hill (or hill-sides)holds regardless of which side of the valley, so the prevailing westerly winds that blow across the valley really don't effect those patterns.

Having said all this, that is not to say that no deer bed in the valley. Most of our thick heavy brushy areas are in the valleys and there are always a certain amount of deer that take advantage of that. Also, there are food interruptions to that pattern also. Primarily the oaks are all located up on the hilltops. When they are after the acorns, all bets are off. Some of the deer don't even come down off the hills.

So, all I can say is that there are only very general patterns that can change at anytime due to any number of factors. We always try to use wind patterns and natural movement to our advantage, but it isn't always a guarantee,. In other words, just when you think you have it all figured out ..... watch your back ....lol.

[thphm]

Same here up in the morning / down in the late afternoon.Just watch the ridges bucks like to travel them. 

[growalot]

Thanks for the replies  guys   wish there'd been more...

 

Yes I know about the thermals...I find it funny that camp has ...minus ppl activity...the same general make up yet the movement at hope is the reverse...perhaps it has something to do with the altitude..or a preference in pine plantations to bed???.....

[thphm]

Gro, my property goes from 2000 feet to 2500 feet, they move around it all day but before sunset thy come down low and cross the road to my neighboes property (around 2000 feet )  which is loaded with old and new pines.More so in foul weather. 

[apoallo]

My  main hunting spot is on tiop of a mountain. during bow season time there is tons of activity with bucks and doe around the upper mid area of the mountain. once gun season or rut starts the deer move to the top of the mountain and run a muck chasing sparing etc... all in the thick stuff. Evening time they are gone altogether.. There is a grassy field that is on a corporations property adjacent to the top of the mountain. The deer go there during the am hours when activity is the highest around 6am to 9 am Most activity stops 9am . The company is very strict about going onto their field but cannot stop us from being in the woods which is not their property.... This spot is our honey hole and we save this area for ONLY opening day of gun season and some early bow. We incorporated our own Antler restriction policy of 4 pts or more. . Every years opening day we are not dissapointed