Deep dive on cold fronts and how to hunt them

[TheHornHunter]

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:

1. Just before: winds will typically shift NW to N and barometric pressure will start increasing as temps slowly start to drop
2. During: winds typically still NW to N, barometric pressure is high (30.2+) but typically flattens out as temperatures bottom
3. 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

[moog5050]

good post

[CapDistPatriot]

14 minutes ago, TheHornHunter said:

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:

1. Just before: winds will typically shift NW to N and barometric pressure will start increasing as temps slowly start to drop
2. During: winds typically still NW to N, barometric pressure is high (30.2+) but typically flattens out as temperatures bottom
3. 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

Wow, not just a good post an OUTSTANDING post. I actually learned something thank you!

[JRod 8G8H]

gonna have to read this later as i should be getting work done at work haha.. thx horn hunter...

[dbHunterNY]

falls in line with what i've experienced. no real different opinion here. early season if the temps are warm i've definitely had phase #2 play out well when temps are at rock bottom (relatively). it's usually in pockets of cover or somewhere out of the wind, quieter to not mess with their senses so much. otherwise phase #1 great throughout the season and phase #3 best in late season in spots of thermal cover close to food or areas with newer TSI growth other wise they're dug in.

[Robhuntandfish]

Always found my best days were just before a storm coming in and right after.   Got my best buck ever this year on the afternoon before a storm that closed us at work the next day.  And have taken several deer and seen a lot of deer before and after storms as they seem to hunker down during a storm just as we do.  Even thunderstorms as well in the early fall and snowstorms in later fall.  I also caught the biggest bass I have ever gotten right before remnants of a hurricane came thru one fall.  

Have always rushed out to beat an incoming storm when I see it coming. 

Have cut it close a couple of times and was dragging out this year in heavy snow and one year was tracking one and just as I went to gut it was a white out. Lol but it sure was productive! A lot of those good days were also on days wind was in the east and due to switch west from a cold front. I always try to keep several productive areas that I can set up for this east wind and def hit before a storm/cold front

Awesome post and information, thanks for sharing and hope you stay on as a member here to share info like this.  Much appreciated. Great read.

That being said winter storm warning just issued here for tonite and I can't hunt today!!!!   Grrrr!  

[grampy]

A very informational post!!! Very interesting reading.

Even us older guys can learn something new! 

Will go back through my journals, and see what the conditions were on successful hunts. 

Thanks for posting!

 

[ApexerER]

Thanks for the post. That actually makes a lot of sense. I am a hunt when I can hunter. Between work M-F and most Saturday mornings I am left with Saturday afternoons and Sundays and those have to be days that aren't filled with daughters soccer games or family stuff. I just try to be in the stand when I can be. Can't kill them from the couch. Hopefully someday when I retire I will be able to pay attention to information like this and make my stand time more productive. 

[Moho81]

And now I realize that I am even dumber than I previously thought when it came to deer hunting. LOL. 

Great post! thanks for taking the time to explain your thoughts on the weather and it's effect of deer movement. I will definitely read this a few times and use it in future practice. 

[moog5050]

I really think cold fronts can play a huge role in movement - not that we don't hunt when its not in our favor but its nice to be able to focus when it is.  I never paid much attention to lunar stuff.  That is an area where I still question its usefulness but I know some swear by it.

[The_Real_TCIII]

It was remarkable to me how there was very little activity on the Live thread during the extreme cold front but when we had the warmup over the weekend you guys were whacking and stacking

[Jamoke]

Your #1-#3 on the winds of the cold front are backwards unless I'm reading it wrong? South wind/low berometer, wind starting to shift Northwest then north winds in time backing off with berometer rising.

[moog5050]

9 minutes ago, Jamoke said:

Your #1-#3 on the winds of the cold front are backwards unless I'm reading it wrong? South wind/low berometer, wind starting to shift Northwest then north winds in time backing off with berometer rising.

I agree with his analysis of deer movement before, during (although depending on length and level of cold I still think we see movement during) and after.  But you may be right on pressure measurements as I understand cold fronts result in low pressure by forcing warm air over the top of the front.

[Robhuntandfish]

1 hour ago, The_Real_TCIII said:

It was remarkable to me how there was very little activity on the Live thread during the extreme cold front but when we had the warmup over the weekend you guys were whacking and stacking

but was it because so many less people out due to the cold, then when it warmed up everyone was chomping at the bit to get out and moving them. Always seemed for me the big difference between gun and bow hunting was that gun hunting movement is more on pressure and bow is more on weather.  

[The_Real_TCIII]

1 hour ago, Robhuntandfish said:

but was it because so many less people out due to the cold, then when it warmed up everyone was chomping at the bit to get out and moving them. Always seemed for me the big difference between gun and bow hunting was that gun hunting movement is more on pressure and bow is more on weather.  

No I'm talking the usual suspects on the thread, most hunted Thursday through the weekend. It lines up with #3 really

[TheHornHunter]

3 hours ago, CapDistPatriot said:

Wow, not just a good post an OUTSTANDING post. I actually learned something thank you!

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

[TheHornHunter]

3 hours ago, dbHunterNY said:

falls in line with what i've experienced. no real different opinion here. early season if the temps are warm i've definitely had phase #2 play out well when temps are at rock bottom (relatively). it's usually in pockets of cover or somewhere out of the wind, quieter to not mess with their senses so much. otherwise phase #1 great throughout the season and phase #3 best in late season in spots of thermal cover close to food or areas with newer TSI growth other wise they're dug in.

Thanks for the input! We don't have any TSI on our farms but I could see how that would attract them. It's one of my priorities for this upcoming offseason.

[TheHornHunter]

3 hours ago, Robhuntandfish said:

Always found my best days were just before a storm coming in and right after.   Got my best buck ever this year on the afternoon before a storm that closed us at work the next day.  And have taken several deer and seen a lot of deer before and after storms as they seem to hunker down during a storm just as we do.  Even thunderstorms as well in the early fall and snowstorms in later fall.  I also caught the biggest bass I have ever gotten right before remnants of a hurricane came thru one fall.  

Have always rushed out to beat an incoming storm when I see it coming. 

Have cut it close a couple of times and was dragging out this year in heavy snow and one year was tracking one and just as I went to gut it was a white out. Lol but it sure was productive! A lot of those good days were also on days wind was in the east and due to switch west from a cold front. I always try to keep several productive areas that I can set up for this east wind and def hit before a storm/cold front

Awesome post and information, thanks for sharing and hope you stay on as a member here to share info like this.  Much appreciated. Great read.

That being said winter storm warning just issued here for tonite and I can't hunt today!!!!   Grrrr!  

Thanks for the thoughts and glad you found it helpful! I'll definitely keep doing some periodic posts about things like this that people might find useful. I've been fortunate enough to come up under some really talented hunters so it's nice to pass back what wisdom I've acquired over the years. You're definitely right about the before and after - it's the during that really changes through the season. It amazes me how deer are able to foresee these storms yet our weathermen constantly screw them up.

[TheHornHunter]

3 hours ago, grampy said:

A very informational post!!! Very interesting reading.

Even us older guys can learn something new! 

Will go back through my journals, and see what the conditions were on successful hunts. 

Thanks for posting!

 

No problem glad you found it useful! I take way too many notes about my hunts and reports from my buddies so I'm constantly looking for trends that reoccur each season. Glad to see someone else takes notes too!

[TheHornHunter]

3 hours ago, ApexerER said:

Thanks for the post. That actually makes a lot of sense. I am a hunt when I can hunter. Between work M-F and most Saturday mornings I am left with Saturday afternoons and Sundays and those have to be days that aren't filled with daughters soccer games or family stuff. I just try to be in the stand when I can be. Can't kill them from the couch. Hopefully someday when I retire I will be able to pay attention to information like this and make my stand time more productive. 

There's nothing wrong with that at all! Many things in life take precedence to hunting, that's part of the reason I take so many notes and try to key in on trends like this. I'm hoping as I get older and eventually have a family I have a good enough sense about which are the best days to be in the woods that I can still be successful without putting in nearly as many hours as I do today. I've very fortunate to have an understanding girlfriend and a flexible job to get out as much as i do. The lack of children is also a big benefit to my hunting time LOL

[TheHornHunter]

3 hours ago, Moho81 said:

And now I realize that I am even dumber than I previously thought when it came to deer hunting. LOL. 

Great post! thanks for taking the time to explain your thoughts on the weather and it's effect of deer movement. I will definitely read this a few times and use it in future practice. 

No problem! Glad you found it useful. I'm not expert by any means, I just go out and try to learn something new every day I'm in the woods or every conversation I have with another hunt. I'm a whitetail junkie, no way around that.

[TheHornHunter]

3 hours ago, moog5050 said:

I really think cold fronts can play a huge role in movement - not that we don't hunt when its not in our favor but its nice to be able to focus when it is.  I never paid much attention to lunar stuff.  That is an area where I still question its usefulness but I know some swear by it.

I think the lunar stuff is more of an enhancer and not a sole catalyst for movement, but I know several guys who swear by it also and are very successful big buck hunters. For instance, despite all the stars aligning with the weather conditions on this particular hunt, the moon was rising right around last light in the afternoon and it was a full moon - both of those typically enhance PM movement in my experience. I would never hunt specifically because of the moon and weather trumps everything when it comes to movement but I like to know when the moon is rising / setting and overhead / underfood. When weather conditions align with moon conditions like they did on Friday it's one of the must sit afternoons for me but again that's 90% because of weather and 10% moon.

[TheHornHunter]

3 hours ago, Jamoke said:

Your #1-#3 on the winds of the cold front are backwards unless I'm reading it wrong? South wind/low berometer, wind starting to shift Northwest then north winds in time backing off with berometer rising.

From my experience when the winds shift NW that typically comes with rising pressure and then when it switches southerly the pressure starts to drop. I generalized cold fronts here for the "typical" one I've see, but cold fronts are like deer - everyone is different. They can have easterly winds, be low pressure, etc... but if you were to tell me a cold front was coming next week I would put 70% odds on it starting with a NW wind and ending with either S or SW.

[TheHornHunter]

2 hours ago, moog5050 said:

I agree with his analysis of deer movement before, during (although depending on length and level of cold I still think we see movement during) and after.  But you may be right on pressure measurements as I understand cold fronts result in low pressure by forcing warm air over the top of the front.

That's possible. I go by the barometric pressure data off weather underground and don't have my own reader, but that data typically shows pressure rises as temperatures drop, then flat line as temps stabilize and drop as temps rise. That of course is a generalization and every cold front is different, but on average that's what I would expect from my experience.

[TheHornHunter]

56 minutes ago, The_Real_TCIII said:

No I'm talking the usual suspects on the thread, most hunted Thursday through the weekend. It lines up with #3 really

I didn't hunt Saturday but I was out Sunday and it was definitely slower than Friday. The reports I got from my buddies that went out Saturday were decent but not nearly as much movement as Friday when nearly everyone I talked to was seeing crazy numbers of deer. I also know of several nice deer that hit the dirt Tuesday and Wednesday on the beginning of the cold front and despite Thanksgiving having tons of people in the woods I didn't hear of any good bucks being killer or even seen.