Deer are Nocternal....how to change their minds?

[Mudshack]

There are a ton of deer on my lease. Although in one section of the lease they are regularly observed during daylight hours, in my section we have two cameras up. And both cameras only get pictures of deer at night. I have the same 7-8 deer show up on cam. Bucks individually (does are always in a group of 4). They feed and get their glamour shots then meander off. I have caught a glimpse of an old 8 pt, and an adolescent big 6, but they appeared to be just passing through, not feeding on the corn.

How do I coax these deer to pay a visit during the daylight hours?

I will say that a 1.5 5pt and a 2.5 7pt made an appearance on camera around 8am on two seperate days, individually, last week. This was the first pictures of deer during the day.

Do I have to just be patient and wait for colder weather?

Why do I only see these deer when I see many many more when I am driving in and out of the lease. Are their "home" territories that tight?

Thanks for continuing to listen to my questions, GreenScreen. This 20 year hunting veteran has always hunting rifle season in Penns where every deer seen is pushed or spooked.

[doc]

I'm not sure you can "coax" them out.
They have their own minds and needs and will do what they want!
The rut is supposed to make them do weird things, but I'm beginning to think thar ain't no ruttin deer in Texas!

You could try finding their bedding area and going in after them....

[Mudshack]

Yeh, doc. I have spent my late morning times getting to know the property better. I have a very good idea where they are bedding. I honestly believe they bed down and just watch us drive/walk the roads. If you venture into their area, they squirt out into another.

[aggie2000tx]

I would hunt all day if I could. Most of the time if deer are coming out at night they have also got to be moving during the day sometimes. When the rut is on they will move a different times

[Mudshack]

aggie, I must also tell you I am basing my choice to label them as "nocternal" on my trail cam activity.

I need to get a comfortable chair and sit in that blind for an entire day, you are right.

[grizz]

Call them

I've had success calling them out of heavy cover. The Buck-wise call I used to use( I have to get another one) for does is use the fawn location call (a 3 second elognated ewwwwwwwwwwwww 3 or 4 times will call a doe who has or recently had a fawn. I've had bucks respond to that too. Also, low grunts with antlers hitting brush and dirt will bring in bucks either wanting to spar or see who's mixing it up. Don't use a dominant grunt if the deer you are seeing are NOT the Alpha Buck. If you think the ALPHA buck is in there the use the ruttin buck grunt and trail it away like its moving..start at left shoulder and wrap to the right and muffle with the hand to give the impression of running away or movement. Try some estrus in a spray bottle and shoot into the air to lay a scent trail.

This is fun hunting is you can get the right tone and frequency. I like to play in the woods on deer I have insight and see if I can get them to respond or spook. Like fishing..find the right pattern.

Of course..don't overdo or you'll kill your setup. Move around to different loactions ocassionally

[doc]

I grunted and snorted at a buck the other day end he never lifted his head from eating. That at least told me that I sound more like a deer than something scary!
I know he heard it, because I kept getting louder and I could hear it echo off the tree line.
I say all this because, I'm with grizz -- I like to play with them. I'm the kind of guy that takes a duck call to park and "talks" to the local inhabitants!
After all the stories I've been told about how skittish deer are, I've been real surprised at what I can get away with. I think motion and scent are the keys!

Now, back to your original post Mudshack -- do you always do the exact same thing to get into your blind?
Maybe try changing your route and/or arrival times. You could be right; they are watching you come and go so they know better than to make an apperance. Just stick with it. We've only got 5 weeks left!

[Mudshack]

Good point, doc. Maybe I will try coming in from another direction one morning.

Honestly, I would consider money well spent on a lease where I could watch deer even from 100 yards, and see how they interact. Try different calls. See what rattling is all about.

I have hunted deer for over 20 years and have no idea what a real grunt sounds like. For all I know, all these grunt and doe calls are just gimmacks (don't really think that).

I just want to be AT the game. Not in the locker room. Having the coach tap me on the shoulder to go "IN" the game would be a bonus.

[grizz]

I swear that deer WILL pattern the hunter. That's why I move around and don't hunt the same spot more than once a week at MAX. I don't know how leases work but if you could move your setup 50 yards each time and try different aproaches and time for arrival it may make a difference.

I've seen where deer will set right next to a road because the hunters all want to go in deep. Deer see, smell and adjust. Also, a deer has a range of about 100 acres...if you kill off all the ones in deep and NOT shoot those in close..bingo..where you gonna find deer.

Watch the other hunters..locate pressure..play the middle ground

[DRow]

I have got the same exact problem at my lease in Jasper. All of the game cam pics that i am getting are of the deer coming into the feeder between 2 and 4 AM. I dont know what to do. Someone told me that i should try setting my feed times to later in the mornings and earlier in the afrernoons. I trid it and it failed. I dont know what the heck to do anymore.

[shawn]

How much food do they have to eat? Is your feeder thowing so much corn that it doesn't get eating in the morning hours and is still enough for them to eat at night? You might try that drip crape bag that is suppose to make nocturnal bucks check the scrape during daylight hours. I've never tried that,but have heard of people doing that.

[DaveC]

Have you turned off the evening throw?

They most likely have no NEED to eat corn, only do so at night as a treat.

In other states they would pull out the dogs or do a deer drive.

Good luck with it.

[Muygrande]

Our place has been hunted pretty heavy for twenty plus years and we have a lot of nocturnal bucks. About the best advice I can give is to try and be in the woods as much as possible during the rut and try to position your setups as close to bedding areas as you can without spooking them. If you can set up a stand near thick cover you should hunt it all day as deer will move around where they feel safe. Once mature deer know they are being hunted they go nocturnal so try to avoid disturbing their bedding areas and don't hunt stands when the wind is wrong.

[Mudshack]

My feeder has been throwing at 7am for 5 weeks now. And I actually hunt 100 yards away, over hand corn.