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Ski: How much does hunting pressure drive bucks nocturnal?
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<blockquote data-quote="Ski" data-source="post: 5811550" data-attributes="member: 20583"><p>My belief based on experience and trail cams is that deer movement cycles naturally and is repeatable annually like clockwork. Doesn't matter if I'm there hunting or not. The cycles happen. I also do not believe deer vacate their ranges because they encountered a hunter. Sure I believe a deer will avoid a stand site if it's been hunted too much or the deer experienced something traumatic there, but it's not leaving the area. It lives there because it has nowhere else to be. A given area has finite resources that can support only so many deer for so long, so deer naturally are spread about the landscape. They're extremely thin in areas with low resources and congregated in areas with high resources, but any given place will equalize at it's capacity. And hunting pressure doesn't factor into it. You can't chase all the deer out of your area because there's no room for them anywhere else, and other deer will not welcome them. </p><p></p><p>Deer are prey. They're born to be hunted & eaten by predators. It's literally their place in the ecosystem. That doesn't mean they're going to sacrifice themselves up to slaughter. If you hunt a spot so much that the ground stinks of you then a deer can only assume that it's a predator den. They're going to avoid it. But they aren't leaving the area. And they don't wig out over hunters to the extent that they leave & never come back. Being hunted is part of their life. It's what they're built for. They'll evade imminent danger then settle right back down. Being hunted is such a part of their life that it's normal for them. I would even argue that the more their senses allow them to evade danger, the more comfortable they become in a given area. Otherwise nobody would ever kill a deer on public land, let alone an old buck. Why are those deer there if they're being hunted so constantly? Because it's their home and they have enough familiarity with it to trust their senses in keeping them alive. Private ground is no different. Deer don't know the difference in land ownership. </p><p></p><p>That's how I see hunting pressure. I don't think it's nearly as big a deal as hunters tend to believe. More than anything I believe hunters fail to adjust more than the deer do. Deer are always on the move and reacting to their environment whether it be drifting in pursuit of food, searching for mates, or evading danger. Hunters on the other hand tend to be static & complacent. They find or create a good spot and set up camp. That spot becomes their permanent go-to. Then when deer learn to avoid it the hunter thinks hunting pressure chased all the deer away. Rather than hunt with more careful thought or mobility, they continue sitting the same spot, which constantly reaffirms to the deer that it's a predator den. IMO hunting pressure affects hunters more than it does deer.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ski, post: 5811550, member: 20583"] My belief based on experience and trail cams is that deer movement cycles naturally and is repeatable annually like clockwork. Doesn't matter if I'm there hunting or not. The cycles happen. I also do not believe deer vacate their ranges because they encountered a hunter. Sure I believe a deer will avoid a stand site if it's been hunted too much or the deer experienced something traumatic there, but it's not leaving the area. It lives there because it has nowhere else to be. A given area has finite resources that can support only so many deer for so long, so deer naturally are spread about the landscape. They're extremely thin in areas with low resources and congregated in areas with high resources, but any given place will equalize at it's capacity. And hunting pressure doesn't factor into it. You can't chase all the deer out of your area because there's no room for them anywhere else, and other deer will not welcome them. Deer are prey. They're born to be hunted & eaten by predators. It's literally their place in the ecosystem. That doesn't mean they're going to sacrifice themselves up to slaughter. If you hunt a spot so much that the ground stinks of you then a deer can only assume that it's a predator den. They're going to avoid it. But they aren't leaving the area. And they don't wig out over hunters to the extent that they leave & never come back. Being hunted is part of their life. It's what they're built for. They'll evade imminent danger then settle right back down. Being hunted is such a part of their life that it's normal for them. I would even argue that the more their senses allow them to evade danger, the more comfortable they become in a given area. Otherwise nobody would ever kill a deer on public land, let alone an old buck. Why are those deer there if they're being hunted so constantly? Because it's their home and they have enough familiarity with it to trust their senses in keeping them alive. Private ground is no different. Deer don't know the difference in land ownership. That's how I see hunting pressure. I don't think it's nearly as big a deal as hunters tend to believe. More than anything I believe hunters fail to adjust more than the deer do. Deer are always on the move and reacting to their environment whether it be drifting in pursuit of food, searching for mates, or evading danger. Hunters on the other hand tend to be static & complacent. They find or create a good spot and set up camp. That spot becomes their permanent go-to. Then when deer learn to avoid it the hunter thinks hunting pressure chased all the deer away. Rather than hunt with more careful thought or mobility, they continue sitting the same spot, which constantly reaffirms to the deer that it's a predator den. IMO hunting pressure affects hunters more than it does deer. [/QUOTE]
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