With the cooler weather coming and the dark phase of the moon beginning, I bet you get your chance next week, maybe even later this week... I'll be watchin' and waitin' on that text with the LDP!!
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Pressured Deer Are EASY To Pattern
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Originally posted by AgHntr10 View PostI don’t think it has as much to do with heat as it does acorns. I see deer in the middle of the day in July and August when it’s hotter than this.
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Pressured Deer Are EASY To Pattern
Originally posted by Etxbuckman View PostMan you make a good point. The acorn numbers are ridiculous. Frankly I don’t think either is playing in to our favor right now though.
I am no expert but I say do the math, we are less then 30 days from the first peak in rut cycle for Etx, therefore your 4/5/6/7 yo bucks are doing what? Taking inventory of their rut range, marking territory, and galvanizing their positions in the great heirarchy of the largely unseen and ever present social balance of the woods. If juvenile bucks are role-playing with their horns know the real performance is well underway in the woods.
Simultaneously bow hunters are entering the woods and gun hunters begin to increase their presence either scouting or making last minute preparations to their blinds and feeders, regardless there are an exponentially greater number of two leg predators in the woods now vs July/August. While I appreciate that accorns are dropping I contend that the combination of pressure increasing and the pre-rut biological demands on the bucks in 90 degree plus weather pushes them to increase night activity out of necessity and energy conservation.
The last relevant factor in my mind is the lunar phase, anyone notice when the two majors were today? I attached it. I could careless about minors and the second major was in the middle of the day, in my opinion everything suggest ETX deer movement should be taking place at night right now.
Just my opinion, I hope we are all pleasantly surprised by encounters with mature bucks in the coming days as the cooler weather hits.
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Justin,, I have noted everything you posted.. Great info there. The moon phase improves significantly in the coming week. I plan to hunt the next two days because the wind will be perfect and I wont doo any harm. Who knows, the changing weather could get him to roll in just once. thats all I need..
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Originally posted by SouthernCamo View PostI am no expert but I say do the math, we are less then 30 days from the first peak in rut cycle for Etx, therefore your 4/5/6/7 yo bucks are doing what? Taking inventory of their rut range, marking territory, and galvanizing their positions in the great heirarchy of the largely unseen and ever present social balance of the woods. If juvenile bucks are role-playing with their horns know the real performance is well underway in the woods.
Simultaneously bow hunters are entering the woods and gun hunters begin to increase their presence either scouting or making last minute preparations to their blinds and feeders, regardless there are an exponentially greater number of two leg predators in the woods now vs July/August. While I appreciate that accorns are dropping I contend that the combination of pressure increasing and the pre-rut biological demands on the bucks in 90 degree plus weather pushes them to increase night activity out of necessity and energy conservation.
The last relevant factor in my mind is the lunar phase, anyone notice when the two majors were today? I attached it. I could careless about minors and the second major was in the middle of the day, in my opinion everything suggest ETX deer movement should be taking place at night right now.
Just my opinion, I hope we are all pleasantly surprised by encounters with mature bucks in the coming days as the cooler weather hits.
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Where are you finding this peak info from? I’d like to use it myself for my NF adventures.
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Do you guys really believe in moon phases? I mentioned it in another thread about hunting all day, I run cameras pretty much all year and have very few pictures of deer between about 1030am-230pm. I can't even remember if I've ever had a mature buck on cam in the middle of the day, ever.
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Originally posted by jshouse View PostDo you guys really believe in moon phases? I mentioned it in another thread about hunting all day, I run cameras pretty much all year and have very few pictures of deer between about 1030am-230pm. I can't even remember if I've ever had a mature buck on cam in the middle of the day, ever.
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I’ve never really went based off of moon phases but I’ve seen plenty of big mature bucks on their feet in the middle of the day. The majority of them were in Junction, but figured I’d throw my anecdote in lol.
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I know down in Liberty county the bucks went nocturnal 2 weeks ago. Does will still creap in about 30 minutes before dark sometimes. This is with no pressure on them at all. Not a tree or shrub in the yard that hasn't been shredded during the night time hours. Down where I corn it is surrounded by scrapes and that old familiar smell of mature bucks. This coming weekends cool snap will send them over the edge. The lease I used to be on a few miles from the house the best time to hunt was always 2nd and 3rd week of October and most mature buck activity was mid day when hunting during this time. It was not uncommon to see 15-20 bucks per hunt with multiple chases. By the 1st week of rifle season(when most people would think peak rut is) deer activity would fall off and you would see the occasional nice buck chasing a doe but buck numbers would fall off to 3-5 bucks per hunt.
Since I have been living at my current location for 6 years I have been able to watch and study deer pretty closely. Some of my data has been from daytime visuals and other data using night time optics. 1st cycle of rut mid October, 2nd cycle is around rifle opener, 3rd for the does not bred and yearlings around thanksgiving. I believe this is due to the daylight hours getting shorter not by the moon phase. Also a lot of the breeding activity happens at night however the buck will stay locked down to the doe for approximately 48 hours. December bucks not shot start coming back home looking for groceries. Also got to witness first hand on many occasions GarGuys corner effect, and the numbers of deer that you are unaware of that get up and reposition during a change in wind direction is awesome to see.
So the next 10 days it would pay to be sitting in a tree stand watching over scrapelines and high doe density areas.
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Originally posted by GarGuy View PostJustin,, I have noted everything you posted.. Great info there. The moon phase improves significantly in the coming week. I plan to hunt the next two days because the wind will be perfect and I wont doo any harm. Who knows, the changing weather could get him to roll in just once. thats all I need..
Ha Steve you know I am taking notes not giving them when it comes to you and EastTx bucks!
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Originally posted by jshouse View PostDo you guys really believe in moon phases? I mentioned it in another thread about hunting all day, I run cameras pretty much all year and have very few pictures of deer between about 1030am-230pm. I can't even remember if I've ever had a mature buck on cam in the middle of the day, ever.
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Its just one of many variables that can influence behavior, and something to take into consideration when trying to understand changes in pattern. I can say that when the weather conditions support daytime activity I have personally observed activity that would support lunar influenced timing.
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Originally posted by jshouse View PostDo you guys really believe in moon phases? I mentioned it in another thread about hunting all day, I run cameras pretty much all year and have very few pictures of deer between about 1030am-230pm. I can't even remember if I've ever had a mature buck on cam in the middle of the day, ever.
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Originally posted by Capt.Bryan View PostI know down in Liberty county the bucks went nocturnal 2 weeks ago. Does will still creap in about 30 minutes before dark sometimes. This is with no pressure on them at all. Not a tree or shrub in the yard that hasn't been shredded during the night time hours. Down where I corn it is surrounded by scrapes and that old familiar smell of mature bucks. This coming weekends cool snap will send them over the edge. The lease I used to be on a few miles from the house the best time to hunt was always 2nd and 3rd week of October and most mature buck activity was mid day when hunting during this time. It was not uncommon to see 15-20 bucks per hunt with multiple chases. By the 1st week of rifle season(when most people would think peak rut is) deer activity would fall off and you would see the occasional nice buck chasing a doe but buck numbers would fall off to 3-5 bucks per hunt.
Since I have been living at my current location for 6 years I have been able to watch and study deer pretty closely. Some of my data has been from daytime visuals and other data using night time optics. 1st cycle of rut mid October, 2nd cycle is around rifle opener, 3rd for the does not bred and yearlings around thanksgiving. I believe this is due to the daylight hours getting shorter not by the moon phase. Also a lot of the breeding activity happens at night however the buck will stay locked down to the doe for approximately 48 hours. December bucks not shot start coming back home looking for groceries. Also got to witness first hand on many occasions GarGuys corner effect, and the numbers of deer that you are unaware of that get up and reposition during a change in wind direction is awesome to see.
So the next 10 days it would pay to be sitting in a tree stand watching over scrapelines and high doe density areas.
You nailed it, the rut is defined by the females going into estrus, the rut doesn't move year to year, the observation of rut behavior is what changes year to year.
Man the stuff we think of to rationalize deer behavior is amazing...I say Fiddy is a dead deer walking I give him 3 to 5 days tops to share his genetics one last time then Steve is gonna put hands on those chocolate horns!
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Originally posted by jshouse View PostDo you guys really believe in moon phases? I mentioned it in another thread about hunting all day, I run cameras pretty much all year and have very few pictures of deer between about 1030am-230pm. I can't even remember if I've ever had a mature buck on cam in the middle of the day, ever.
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I do. I’ve hunted a good bit with lunar calendars and time zones in mind. I’ve seen lots of big bucks in person and on camera on those late morning or midday sits as well as on camera. Most of the time these deer are cruising or on a doe vs feeding on hand corn or in an oat patch.
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