Interesting info on "nocturnal" bucks
- Thread starter peytoncreekhunter
- Start date
BSK
Well-Known Member
I completely agree with Dr.s Strickland and Demarais that there is no such thing as a buck that is completely nocturnal, as in never moves during daylight. However, as all of us know, mature bucks tend to do most of their long-range travels at night, and their daylight activities are much more limited than nighttime activities.
The two attached graphs are from a study I conducted to aid hunters on a particular property with what times of the day older and mature bucks are moving from a hunting perspective. The data comes from trail-cameras over an 8-year span. I wanted the data representative of what the hunters would be hunting, so I limited to the data to a hunted situation. The data comes only from the months the deer on the property are being hunted (Nov and Dec). The data comes from the rut months, when mature bucks are most likely to be moving during daylight (that's why the property is hunted in Nov and Dec). The trail-camera locations were limited to the type of locations hunters hunt, in that no trail-cameras were placed in thick bedding cover. On the study property, hunting pressure is much greater than surrounding properties, hence hunters do not pressure bedding areas to keep from driving bucks onto less pressured surrounding properties. But outside of thick cover, every possible type of terrain, food source and rut sign camera set-up was used.
On both graphs, the two vertical black lines represent approximate daylight hours (in this location, being approximately 6 AM to 5 PM). Notice with older bucks (2 1/2+), although they are photographed at all hours of the day and night, photographs are at a minimum mid-day and hold consistently high during the nighttime hours. The only times older bucks are as active during daylight as they are at night is during the first two hours of daylight and the last hour of daylight. When looking at just the data for mature bucks (4 1/2+), the daylight movement is far, FAR more limited. They are up and moving during daylight, but at a rate only about 20% of their nighttime movements, and no hour of daylight sees the same movement as even the lowest hour of darkness.
So yes, mature bucks - even hunted ones - move during daylight, but in a hunting set-up situation (outside of thick bedding cover), their activities are far more limited than at night.
The two attached graphs are from a study I conducted to aid hunters on a particular property with what times of the day older and mature bucks are moving from a hunting perspective. The data comes from trail-cameras over an 8-year span. I wanted the data representative of what the hunters would be hunting, so I limited to the data to a hunted situation. The data comes only from the months the deer on the property are being hunted (Nov and Dec). The data comes from the rut months, when mature bucks are most likely to be moving during daylight (that's why the property is hunted in Nov and Dec). The trail-camera locations were limited to the type of locations hunters hunt, in that no trail-cameras were placed in thick bedding cover. On the study property, hunting pressure is much greater than surrounding properties, hence hunters do not pressure bedding areas to keep from driving bucks onto less pressured surrounding properties. But outside of thick cover, every possible type of terrain, food source and rut sign camera set-up was used.
On both graphs, the two vertical black lines represent approximate daylight hours (in this location, being approximately 6 AM to 5 PM). Notice with older bucks (2 1/2+), although they are photographed at all hours of the day and night, photographs are at a minimum mid-day and hold consistently high during the nighttime hours. The only times older bucks are as active during daylight as they are at night is during the first two hours of daylight and the last hour of daylight. When looking at just the data for mature bucks (4 1/2+), the daylight movement is far, FAR more limited. They are up and moving during daylight, but at a rate only about 20% of their nighttime movements, and no hour of daylight sees the same movement as even the lowest hour of darkness.
So yes, mature bucks - even hunted ones - move during daylight, but in a hunting set-up situation (outside of thick bedding cover), their activities are far more limited than at night.
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