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Bucks only moving after shooting hours?

M

mprooch

Active Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2021
Messages
158
Location
MA (zone 10)
I'm a new hunter and have been really excited about the rut; however, I'm seeing nothing during the day lately. Plenty of bucks and does in the area I hunt, confirmed by trail cams. I've been really cautious about wind lately thinking maybe I've been getting busted. Any thoughts or advice other than keep at it? It'd be called 'getting' instead of 'hunting' if it were easy and guaranteed, right?
 
Massachusetts-- It's about 125 acres total--heavy swamp/bog and I'm hunting the edges where there has been a lot of rubs, trails, and earlier in the season does. I've been trying different locations mainly based on prevailing winds--can enter from east or west to set up favorably. Most of the at night movement has been in the past 10 days/two weeks.
 
I think a lot of it has to do with hunting pressure. I had good buck movement during the day in the early season, but lately they’ve been coming under my stand after dark when I’m about to come down.The best thing I can think of is stay close to potential bedding areas. That way as soon as they start to move your there.
 
Thanks. Have been a few more folks hunting on adjacent plots as the season has progressed, most reporting the same things. Shotgun season opens next week here, too. Wonder if that'll bring in more pressure?
 
For sure! Use those gun hunters to your advantage. Set up early and hope when they come marching in, they push deer to you.
 
What temperature has it been the last ten days? There was a warming trend in Midwest that had a significant impact on deer movement during daylight. Despite the desire to breed.
 
This past week temps here in Pennsylvania were in the mid to upper 60's. I was not seeing deer movement till the last 15 min of shooting time.
 
We had a little warming spike here in the past few days (daytime high 50s, low 60s--nights in the 40s) after having some clear and cold weather with overnight temps in the high 20s low 30s.
 
The bucks in my area (private) have been nocturnal all season due to hunters on adjacent properties setting up directly in the bedding areas and cutting off any daylight movement of deer. When you have a minimum of five guys, sometimes seven on three sides setting up in, or near the bedding areas/swamps that pressure effects everyone around them. I used to be able to set my watch to the deer movement this time of year but they’ve decided not to move until the middle of night and it’s been that way since October 1st. I won’t see anything until mid to late December once the neighbors go back down state.
 
mprooch said:
I'm a new hunter and have been really excited about the rut; however, I'm seeing nothing during the day lately. Plenty of bucks and does in the area I hunt, confirmed by trail cams. I've been really cautious about wind lately thinking maybe I've been getting busted. Any thoughts or advice other than keep at it? It'd be called 'getting' instead of 'hunting' if it were easy and guaranteed, right?
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There's a lot more buck movement in the mornings during the rut than during the evenings.

I like to hunt along areas a buck will cruise to look for does or near areas where does bed (thick stuff). I'm not hunting full days, so I like to hunt morning to around 1 or 2 pm and then go home.
 
shamus275 said:
The bucks in my area (private) have been nocturnal all season due to hunters on adjacent properties setting up directly in the bedding areas and cutting off any daylight movement of deer. When you have a minimum of five guys, sometimes seven on three sides setting up in, or near the bedding areas/swamps that pressure effects everyone around them. I used to be able to set my watch to the deer movement this time of year but they’ve decided not to move until the middle of night and it’s been that way since October 1st. I won’t see anything until mid to late December once the neighbors go back down state.
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Expanding on your post with my thoughts in case it helps OP.

I don't hunt right in bedding areas but usually the more open areas that are downwind of them and where I can slip in and out without making a huge mess.

If you are hunting the same area over and over, then you can't just be super aggressive all the time from opening day like those guys are doing. Maybe one time sneak in closer when the rut activity is super high and the weather and wind are great. And then leave the area alone for a while.

They need to learn how to chip away at their area. It's fun to hunt large areas of public because you can be super aggressive like this and then just move on.

That's where youtube hunters confuse folks. You have The Hunting Public that is super aggressive but moves on to new spots constantly. If you do that on your 100 acre farm, then unless you are successful right away then you will blow out your area. Then you have Jeff Sturgis that gives advice as if everyone is hunting a small piece of private, managed land. So he is super conservative. He did the public land challenge a few years ago and sat in a blind in a field and left early because he wasn't seeing anything, but everyone else was.

You have to mix up your methods depending upon your situation.
 
Thanks all. Super helpful like always. For clarity, this is all private land I have permission for and it's mainly pressure from private owners that are adjacent. I failed to mention some portion of it has recreational hiking trails and it's not uncommon to see hikers and bikers in later morning. I think if I can get the right wind there is a huge thicket of dense brush that I hunted early (and took a doe from) that seems like prime bedding area. I can try setting up near there--I know of a few spots that are what @raisins described--some semi-open areas near those thickets that could be good if I get weather and wind right.
 
mprooch said:
I'm a new hunter and have been really excited about the rut; however, I'm seeing nothing during the day lately. Plenty of bucks and does in the area I hunt, confirmed by trail cams. I've been really cautious about wind lately thinking maybe I've been getting busted. Any thoughts or advice other than keep at it? It'd be called 'getting' instead of 'hunting' if it were easy and guaranteed, right?
Click to expand...
You’re hunting the wrong spot. Keep hunting and keep learning brother!
 
Topdog said:
If somebody could market a surefire way to kill nocturnal bucks they would have more money than Jeff Bezos.
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I dunno, being able to lose 5 billion overnight and just shrug it off is pretty ludicrously wealthy. The US Hunting and trapping industry is only like $880 million. He could buy out the whole dang industry on a whim.
 
Topdog said:
If somebody could market a surefire way to kill nocturnal bucks they would have more money than Jeff Bezos.
Click to expand...

Well, the good ol' boys in my area have it figured out. A spotlight :) I wish more of them got caught doing it, but we have less than 1 DNR officer per county here, if you don't count the ones that are just traffic cops on the local waterways (especially a few big lakes).
 
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