Seeing a lot of deer activity in the heat of The day…I know the answer, but why when it is so hot and it goes against conventional wisdom?
Deer In Heat/Middle of the Day
- Thread starter CBU93
- Start date
Just a guess but headed to or from water sources?
Often wondered... Worked Mon-Wed at camp and saw more in middle of day than any other time. Everyone that I saw was by itself as well.
skipperbrown
Well-Known Member
I read in some study of radio collared deer that they get up and move around about every 4 hours. It's not uncommon for us to see at least one deer moving around whenever we drive to town.
New moms and fawns moving when predators are least active?
Think food. During spring into mid summer everything is growing green almost everywhere except deep forest. In the woods the greenest thing is the canopy, which is way above a deer's reach. That canopy blocks sun to forest floor so not much growing on the ground. But in the open where sun hits, everything is lush green. So that's where deer will be.
In late summer everything begins turning woody and/or dying. By fall, acorns are about to drop and branch tips will be shedding old leaves to sprout new buds that will become leaves next spring. Fields are now barren of green. So deer move inward, following the food. And they find the highest concentration of food in thickets where there are plentiful bud tips within reach.
By winter's end all the acorns and buds have been gobbled up just in time for spring to flush the world with green again. And the cycle repeats. Next time you're sitting in a stand watching a field in November, or in the big woods where you can see a hundred yards every direction, and you're not seeing deer, think about food. Deer move just as much in daylight year round regardless of season. Their stomach demands it. The only thing that changes is where they move.
In late summer everything begins turning woody and/or dying. By fall, acorns are about to drop and branch tips will be shedding old leaves to sprout new buds that will become leaves next spring. Fields are now barren of green. So deer move inward, following the food. And they find the highest concentration of food in thickets where there are plentiful bud tips within reach.
By winter's end all the acorns and buds have been gobbled up just in time for spring to flush the world with green again. And the cycle repeats. Next time you're sitting in a stand watching a field in November, or in the big woods where you can see a hundred yards every direction, and you're not seeing deer, think about food. Deer move just as much in daylight year round regardless of season. Their stomach demands it. The only thing that changes is where they move.
TheLBLman
Well-Known Member
Another thing . . . . . .
Once soybeans get to a certain height, they actually offer deer a good place to bed in the shade, meaning they may have little need to ever leave a soybean field. They eat & bed there. What's more, there is little human disturbance out for them out in a soybean field.
Many, many years ago (probably late 70's), I remember one July stumbling into a bachelor group of 11 bucks utilizing a soybean field. They were spending most their time in the field @ 200 yds from a county blacktop road. Every time I heard a car coming, before either I or the deer could see it, the deer would lie down. Once the car passed, the deer would stand back up, then resume feeding. This happened quite a bit right in the middle of the day.
Have since noted deer behaving like this in many places during summertime.
Once soybeans get to a certain height, they actually offer deer a good place to bed in the shade, meaning they may have little need to ever leave a soybean field. They eat & bed there. What's more, there is little human disturbance out for them out in a soybean field.
Many, many years ago (probably late 70's), I remember one July stumbling into a bachelor group of 11 bucks utilizing a soybean field. They were spending most their time in the field @ 200 yds from a county blacktop road. Every time I heard a car coming, before either I or the deer could see it, the deer would lie down. Once the car passed, the deer would stand back up, then resume feeding. This happened quite a bit right in the middle of the day.
Have since noted deer behaving like this in many places during summertime.
And they say deer don't have cognitive ability! Suckers are smart.
TheLBLman
Well-Known Member
Suckers may be more adaptive than smart 
But sometimes smarter than those hunting them.
But sometimes smarter than those hunting them.
Swampster
Well-Known Member
I saw a buck and (I think) a doe mid-day Monday. When I first saw them they were only 50 yards away in the middle of the bean field and didn't spook when they saw me. They just retreated to the tree line, but stopped there and watched me.
