How do I Tell if Sign is “Nighttime Sign”

[Hunter260]

Without sitting in a tree for 4 hours preferably.... While this is effective, it is not efficient. Last 3 hunts I’ve been hitting public that I’ve not been to in order to test myself since I’ve already killed my buck. I’ve found some scrapes near what I think is bedding and set up on them, but haven’t seen a thing. Any tips?

 

[kyler1945]

Without sitting in a tree for 4 hours preferably.... While this is effective, it is not efficient. Last 3 hunts I’ve been hitting public that I’ve not been to in order to test myself since I’ve already killed my buck. I’ve found some scrapes near what I think is bedding and set up on them, but haven’t seen a thing. Any tips?

Without knowing where you hunt, how you hunt, or when you hunt, if I wanted to bet, I'd win money all day long that the sign you're seeing is laid down at night.

Why? Deer are nocturnal.

Does that mean they never move or poop during the day? Of course not.

The rule I go by - if I didn't see the deer making the sign while he was making it, or at the very least see another deer doing the same thing that the deer who may have left the sign is doing, I assume it's left at night.

Then I figure out why the deer were there (were they eating, drinking, sleeping, or mating?) And then I figure out where they come from to get to the spot they left the sign. Then I go as close as I can to that spot and hunt.

My advice would be if you think it's bedding, get as close to it, or in it, as you can. I err on the side of too aggressive and prefer to bump a deer or two before setting up. My preference is that they hear me, before see me, before smell me. It's been my experience that bumping a deer looking for a set that day, is no more harmful than setting up 100 yards too far out from where they're bedding. They'll come out at dark and catch your scent from your set, and probably not come out as early the next night, if they come through that way at all.


Option B is to hang a camera where the sign is getting laid down. Once the deer smell the camera and your scent from setting it, it may change their pattern. But the first time each specific deer comes through will give you a good idea of what they were/are doing.

 

[JoyRyd]

Without sitting in a tree for 4 hours preferably.... While this is effective, it is not efficient. Last 3 hunts I’ve been hitting public that I’ve not been to in order to test myself since I’ve already killed my buck. I’ve found some scrapes near what I think is bedding and set up on them, but haven’t seen a thing. Any tips?

Cheap trail camera?

 

[Robert loper]

In my opinion and how i think of a spot to hunt that has hot sign is this.
1st and most important.
how easily is the area accessible.
is it an easy walk to get to?
2nd Is it close to secure bedding?
even really good fresh sign outside of good bedding can be tough especially if the area is wide open. I see countless guys on the million youtube channels hunting these wide open areas and all i ever see on them is does and at times young bucks.
even in the rut a big old mature buck most likely will navigate his route through or right on the edge of some kind of thick cover.
Now this is in my areas i hunt its not everywhere , Once November hits hunting fresh rut sign is in my opinion unproductive.
fresh scrape mostly. Especially during the seeking phase. I think most scrapes found this time of the rut are what i called frustration scrapes where a buck for whatever reason makes a scrape through frustration, he might smell a doe or is checking trails in certain area.
bucks travel long distances during this time and very rarley recheck these types of scrapes.
The scrapes and rublines to hunt are the ones in high doe travel routes in beginning to late october.
During November throw out hunting specific bucks and buck sign. Hunt the does , they will be not to far as usual to the food sources.
Find the does and you will find the bucks.
i can not express enough. Pressure will dictate all movement. If the does are in an area with heavy pressure. They wont go far in daylight. That means The bucks wont either.
the past few years i have made alot of things so much more difficult for myself than it has to be. This year im just trying to simplify it.
look at a spot and say ok, guys are coming in from all directions. So when i see that. Basically I move on. If not most times the area turns out to be just a killin hours area.
hope this helps . Sorry so long.

 

[Robert loper]

In my opinion and how i think of a spot to hunt that has hot sign is this.
1st and most important.
how easily is the area accessible.
is it an easy walk to get to?
2nd Is it close to secure bedding?
even really good fresh sign outside of good bedding can be tough especially if the area is wide open. I see countless guys on the million youtube channels hunting these wide open areas and all i ever see on them is does and at times young bucks.
even in the rut a big old mature buck most likely will navigate his route through or right on the edge of some kind of thick cover.
Now this is in my areas i hunt its not everywhere , Once November hits hunting fresh rut sign is in my opinion unproductive.
fresh scrape mostly. Especially during the seeking phase. I think most scrapes found this time of the rut are what i called frustration scrapes where a buck for whatever reason makes a scrape through frustration, he might smell a doe or is checking trails in certain area.
bucks travel long distances during this time and very rarley recheck these types of scrapes.
The scrapes and rublines to hunt are the ones in high doe travel routes in beginning to late october.
During November throw out hunting specific bucks and buck sign. Hunt the does , they will be not to far as usual to the food sources.
Find the does and you will find the bucks.
i can not express enough. Pressure will dictate all movement. If the does are in an area with heavy pressure. They wont go far in daylight. That means The bucks wont either.
the past few years i have made alot of things so much more difficult for myself than it has to be. This year im just trying to simplify it.
look at a spot and say ok, guys are coming in from all directions. So when i see that. Basically I move on. If not most times the area turns out to be just a killin hours area.
hope this helps . Sorry so long.

 

[raisins]

I always assume that if sign is somewhere where the deer would feel exposed making it (main trail, open field) that it is probably night sign. However, twice this year, I saw bucks cruising logging roads and field edges where I thought they wouldn't be (too exposed on public land here).