Whitetails and Weather

[DaveH]

For those of you who are interested in what science has to say about how whitetails respond to weather changes, you may want to check out the following link to a 3-part podcast on Penn State University's Deer-Forest Study website.

https://ecosystems.psu.edu/research...Feed:+deer-forest-blog+(The+Deer-Forest+Blog)

Also, note that you can sign up for PSU's blog posts which usually go out about once a week. https://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=deer-forest-blog&loc=en_US

Interesting research!

 

[Rodney]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Jgetch]

I just listened to the first episode and my entire outlook just got blown up.....

Excellent info and thanks for posting.

 

[Deerslayer31]

Thanks for posting I will listen tomorrow

 

[Jgetch]

I made it through all three. I have questions and since I have no where else to ask them I’ll ask them here. After I listened to the first episode I was ready to abandon all thoughts of weather and moon affecting deer movement in any way. Then I got through the third episode and I feel like there has to be an anomaly. There has to be something that isn’t being taken into consideration between the research and what we all see happen. So here’s where I think the discrepancy may be:

From what I could gather from relistening to the first episode the studies were concentrating on total deer movement per day/hr etc. Anotherwords how often and how far does a deer move in a 24 hr period. The results of that were that there is no discernible difference in deer movement based on weather meaning that the total distance a deer moved in a day is not affected by things like weather or the moon. Ok.

This doesn’t mean that these deer didn’t move more often at the “right” times or “right” areas for hunters within their daily movements with respect to weather. Anotherwords just because daily activity remains unchanged based on weather doesn’t mean that the timing and place of that daily movement isn’t affected. Of course I haven’t seen the data. Apparently it is available but I think I’d rather wait for an intern to do a number study.

The interesting take from this series is, IMO, that there is absolutely no weather based excuse not to go hunting besides “I don’t want to hunt in this sh**”.

Great listen. I’ll probably listen again and I hope they revisit this as the studies progress.

 

[TNSTAAFL]

I made it through all three. I have questions and since I have no where else to ask them I’ll ask them here. After I listened to the first episode I was ready to abandon all thoughts of weather and moon affecting deer movement in any way. Then I got through the third episode and I feel like there has to be an anomaly. There has to be something that isn’t being taken into consideration between the research and what we all see happen. So here’s where I think the discrepancy may be:

From what I could gather from relistening to the first episode the studies were concentrating on total deer movement per day/hr etc. Anotherwords how often and how far does a deer move in a 24 hr period. The results of that were that there is no discernible difference in deer movement based on weather meaning that the total distance a deer moved in a day is not affected by things like weather or the moon. Ok.

This doesn’t mean that these deer didn’t move more often at the “right” times or “right” areas for hunters within their daily movements with respect to weather. Anotherwords just because daily activity remains unchanged based on weather doesn’t mean that the timing and place of that daily movement isn’t affected. Of course I haven’t seen the data. Apparently it is available but I think I’d rather wait for an intern to do a number study.

The interesting take from this series is, IMO, that there is absolutely no weather based excuse not to go hunting besides “I don’t want to hunt in this sh**”.

Great listen. I’ll probably listen again and I hope they revisit this as the studies progress.

I only listened to the first podcast. I think your idea/question, which is a great one, was addressed at one point in there somewhere. I remember the biologist discussing how technology had advanced so much (radio collars became GPS collars) that they now can pinpoint specific movement times. There still seemed to be no discernable pattern related to weather.

Fascinating stuff. I'll have to listen to the other two. I'm a relatively new hunter and I don't have all of the received wisdom of elder generations. Probably makes it easier for me to more readily embrace new data like this. Either way, in the end I hunt when I can, not when the weather cooperates.

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[Jgetch]

I only listened to the first podcast. I think your idea/question, which is a great one, was addressed at one point in there somewhere. I remember the biologist discussing how technology had advanced so much (radio collars became GPS collars) that they now can pinpoint specific movement times. There still seemed to be no discernable pattern related to weather.

Fascinating stuff. I'll have to listen to the other two. I'm a relatively new hunter and I don't have all of the received wisdom of elder generations. Probably makes it easier for me to more readily embrace new data like this. Either way, in the end I hunt when I can, not when the weather cooperates.

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I agree. They did mention that they can pinpoint specific movement times. However, the analysis wasn’t about specific times of movement but rather the total amount of movement in a day.

 

[TNSTAAFL]

Gotcha. My mistake. Just had a memory of them talking about time. It does seem like there has to be some explanation for the difference between hunter experience and science. Perhaps your suggestion is a part of that.

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[Jgetch]

Honestly I have no idea if I’m correct or not. Just something I was thinking about. When one of the researchers mentioned possibly doing a study on hunter behavior and how that affected the deer and why two hunters can consistently enter the same area and one of them consistently outperforms the other spiked my interest. An in depth study of how our behavior actually effects the deer population as opposed to how we perceive our influence would be very interesting. I think this whole matter is very interesting and it’s good to see that there are people working on answering these questions even if it is really just side projects off of separately generated data sets for other purposes. If someone is collecting useful data for our purposes it mid as well be analyzed from our perspective.

 

[DaveH]

Glad you guys enjoyed the podcast. I've been subscribed to the PSU Deer-Forest Study emails for somewhere just shy of a year. If you are interested in whitetail behavior, I encourage you to sign up. Few of us can afford to do our own whitetail telemetry studies so this is a great way to tap into what's being learned....for free.

Note that the PSU study takes place in the Rothrock, Bald Eagle, and Susquehannock State Forests in Pennsylvania. These areas are generally comprised of somewhat rugged terrain that's heavily wooded. That doesn't necessarily mean that the study isn't relevant to deer in your area but certain aspects may be less of a factor. You will find that there are similar studies being done in Georgia and Mississippi. I have not yet looked into them yet but would assume they are taking place in other types of habitat.

Through the years, whitetail hunters have sought to formulate a knowledge base that will enable us to anticipate deer movement. That knowledge base we each have accumulated is either factual, anecdotal, mythological, or some combination thereof. Studies such as this help us sort some of that out for ourselves and possibly modify our own behavior.

 

[mattsteg]

I agree. They did mention that they can pinpoint specific movement times. However, the analysis wasn’t about specific times of movement but rather the total amount of movement in a day.

Where, how fast, how frequent, etc all matter a lot. The nature of movement vs. Total volume seems important.

 

[GCTerpfan]

I made it through all three. I have questions and since I have no where else to ask them I’ll ask them here. After I listened to the first episode I was ready to abandon all thoughts of weather and moon affecting deer movement in any way. Then I got through the third episode and I feel like there has to be an anomaly. There has to be something that isn’t being taken into consideration between the research and what we all see happen. So here’s where I think the discrepancy may be:

From what I could gather from relistening to the first episode the studies were concentrating on total deer movement per day/hr etc. Anotherwords how often and how far does a deer move in a 24 hr period. The results of that were that there is no discernible difference in deer movement based on weather meaning that the total distance a deer moved in a day is not affected by things like weather or the moon. Ok.

This doesn’t mean that these deer didn’t move more often at the “right” times or “right” areas for hunters within their daily movements with respect to weather. Anotherwords just because daily activity remains unchanged based on weather doesn’t mean that the timing and place of that daily movement isn’t affected. Of course I haven’t seen the data. Apparently it is available but I think I’d rather wait for an intern to do a number study.

The interesting take from this series is, IMO, that there is absolutely no weather based excuse not to go hunting besides “I don’t want to hunt in this sh**”.

Great listen. I’ll probably listen again and I hope they revisit this as the studies progress.

There have been some other studies done that look at the timing of movement in relation to weather and they didn't find a correlation to time of day movement either. The Down South hunting podcast is doing a three part series right now where he is interviewing all side of this debate. I have listened to the first two but, I don't think the third is out yet.

Pretty much all of the gps studies show no correlation to weather and deer movement, it is pretty baffling because there is so much anecdotal evidence that says otherwise. Also, the study by Bob Sheperd where he collected data for something like 20 years or more (cant remember exactly) shows a significant statistical relationship between hunter deer sightings and weather. I can't help but wonder if we are asking the wrong question. Maybe the question isn't whether deer move more or less. Maybe the question should be 'Why do hunters see more deer during specific weather conditions'?

 

[Rodney]

Seems to me if the amount is the same then the question would be where and why they move in relation to weather.

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[redsquirrel]

'Why do hunters see more deer during specific weather conditions'?

That is a great question. One answer is that many hunters do not go out during adverse weather conditions. It is too hot or it is rainy are excuses I hear often.
Another thing to consider is that even if you're in a great spot it doesn't mean you're going to see a deer every time but if you don't see a deer that will factor into your opinions.

I find this conversation interesting. I'm fascinated by the moon's influence right now. Despite reading a couple arguments that deer move better during daylight under the full moon, I have trouble believing it. It seems that every time there is a full moon I come out of the woods getting skunked.