deer behaviour way off this year

[waterwolf]

As a bow hunter, my deer season starts early oct. pre ruts vary when they start and stop but by now the rut is usually in full swing.not the case this year . scrapes made in early nov haven't been reworked , no rubs. i see heavy tracks in my area but no evidence of buck activity. also the gun season was very quiet this year . i let a doe and her young twins walk past at 18 yds first nite and haven't seen a deer since.ive given up and moved to a new property giving up my doe tag, can't use it in the new area, it's that bad. anyone else feeling the sting of a bizarre season?

[ChrisK]

Not sure what part of the country your hunting but where I fish for steel up river there is nothing but rubs and scrapes everywhere I look. Makes me want to hunt again.

[mike rousseau]

I watched a deer rubbing its antler (only had one left) on a fence the other night.... Good 10-15 minute display...

[Sinker]

rutting hard here.....

[bucktail]

still nocturnal here but all bucks have been pictured with there mouths open the last 3 weeks. I am getting discouraged at the lack of numbers and daytime activity. Going to try again in a few hours.

 

darren

[dhickey]

Its been a long dry year you might have more luck after this cold spell moves through?

As far as the rutt ???

Slow at best this year. Lots of does no bucks.?

[turtle]

I hunted the first week of the rifle season in Haliburton. It was cold and clear and the rut was definately on. Possibly because the temperature dropped quickly and it didnt rain for a week after raining for a week prior. One of my group harvested a big buck (198 lbs dressed) who was just walking around at 9:30 am. The buck's neck was very pumped up. The second largest buck was taken again just walking around at the end of the day and within sight of several scrapes. I saw active scrapes but very little other deer sign as in years when the population was higher -for example tracks and poop of fawns and does.

[misfish]

I found lots of scrapes at my pops,it was crazy. The problem like said,the bucks have been nocturnal . The weathers been way to warm ,to make them have to walk around to warm up.

 

This snow and colder temps should get them going.

 

Good luck.

[K_F]

We had heavy rut activity here at the end of october. I got my buck with the bow, november 2nd, chasing a doe. His neck was huge and I had lots of good sign around the stand. My freezer is full so I haven't been out since. But we were seeing lots of activity at the time.

[Leecher]

We had heavy rut activity here at the end of october. I got my buck with the bow, november 2nd, chasing a doe. His neck was huge and I had lots of good sign around the stand. My freezer is full so I haven't been out since. But we were seeing lots of activity at the time.

 

Yeah that was a beauty buck Kyle Congrats again

 

waterwolf: From what I can gather of our week in the bush, the rut never fully developed this year due to mild temps Usually in the second of week of riffle hunt, deer are in full rut... we had cold nights but warm days -6C overnight and +4C during the afternoon. On Tuesday the 13th, temps went up to +16C Good for us but not deer First year we don't see snow on the ground while out in the bush

 

Also deer don't usually eat while in rut... well our feeder got decimated every other day.... during our week of hunting, we've put out 150lbs of carrots, 30lbs of corn, 25lbs of alfalfa beans and never seen any deer during the day like others said, deer got into a nocturnal behavior.

 

The last weekend of season end, we (the 3 of us) decided to make chases and on the Sunday, had a couple of close calls but no cigars Brother stumbled upon one that dissappeared real quick... and I, late afternoon heard lots of commotion coming my way but never could see it

 

All this to say, that it was a hard hunt to say the least Ah well... there's always next year

 

I could go on for ever but will stop... Friend's daughter got us a 4 pointer and it's all the matters now

 

Can't wait to get the meat from the butcher

TJunkie

[waterwolf]

was out today again near keswick, in the stand from 6 15til 11 00. took a break. back at it from 145 til dark. nothing moved though the area has tons of tracks and trails. a good 10 in of snow today but you'd think something would move toward the food source. nocturnal deer in a low pressure arera? must be. scratching my head here. congrats to those who did well ,good luck to those still at it . thanks guys for your input.

[Leecher]

was out today again near keswick, in the stand from 6 15til 11 00. took a break. back at it from 145 til dark. nothing moved though the area has tons of tracks and trails. a good 10 in of snow today but you'd think something would move toward the food source. nocturnal deer in a low pressure arera? must be. scratching my head here. congrats to those who did well ,good luck to those still at it . thanks guys for your input.

 

Your good til end of December... keep at it, one is bound to do a stupid thing Good luck ww! May you set your sights on a big boy

[fishindevil]

Well I drive to work at 4:30am and I can tell you the bucks are still nocturnal cause I see them standing or crossing the road a few days a week !!!!! Tons of deer in the Kawartha lakes area all my nieghbors and friends have all filled their tags !!!!! And have all hunted 10mins from where ii live on sturgeon lake !!!!! They are a nuisance around here !!!!!! And I see them on the way home all the time too ..... And these are all farm field fed deer just hunt a fence line anywhere around here and u will bag one for sure !!!!! I have to honk at them to get the dam things off the road......

[ch312]

if you're still not seeing any buck sign you're either hunting the wrong area's, resident bucks have moved off to find hot doe's, or they've all been shot in your area. the rut starts at roughly the same time of year every year regardless of weather or hunting pressure, but the deer will definitely behave differently if conditions aren't favorable. warm weather during the rut often means nocturnal movement and the rut still continues, but many hunters make the mistake of thinking the rut simply hasn't started yet because they're not seeing any bucks or chasing. you simply need to adapt to the "weird" rut in your area to fill your tag. this could mean hunting an area of the bush you've always avoided, setting up closer to bedding area's, making a drive with a couple buddies, or even using a decoy.

 

at this time of year, especially with this cold snap, you really should be in the bush as much as possible as deer will often be moving all day. get out there even if you can only make it out for an hour or two.

 

 

i'm hoping for some more snow asap so i can get out there to track a buck and put him on the ground with the crossbow.

Edited November 25, 2012 by ch312

[waterwolf]

Got off work early on monday so i quickly loaded my gear in the truck and headed for the hunting area. i knew it had snowed there sunday evening so this was gonna be a tell-all of what is on the property, can't hide much in 3 in of fresh snow. good sign ,i'll hunt it. not the case. sadly the doe i had seen with twins earlier this year is now missing one. another single set of tracks trailing them a few hours more recent, great! was quite happy to find a scrape,but that was shortlived.checked areas where we've usually found most of the buck sign this year, just the one scrape.the first snow always mixs things up a bit but not much to go on.

 

New owners of the property were kind enough to let us continue to hunt the land {bonus}but have restricted us to certain areas because they are now living there full time,understandably.

 

I grabbed a stand i'm no longer using and hit the road. i'll give it a try in two weeks ,but for now i'll try another area i have permisssion to hunt near keswick. this ain't over yet!

Edited November 28, 2012 by waterwolf

[ch312]

Got off work early on monday so i quickly loaded my gear in the truck and headed for the hunting area. i knew it had snowed there sunday evening so this was gonna be a tell-all of what is on the property, can't hide much in 3 in of fresh snow. good sign ,i'll hunt it. not the case. sadly the doe i had seen with twins earlier this year is now missing one. another single set of tracks trailing them a few hours more recent, great! was quite happy to find a scrape,but that was shortlived.checked areas where we've usually found most of the buck sign this year, just the one scrape.the first snow always mixs things up a bit but not much to go on.

 

New owners of the property were kind enough to let us continue to hunt the land {bonus}but have restricted us to certain areas because they are now living there full time,understandably.

 

I grabbed a stand i'm no longer using and hit the road. i'll give it a try in two weeks ,but for now i'll try another area i have permisssion to hunt near keswick. this ain't over yet!

 

forget about rubs and scrapes until next season because the majority of doe's have been bred by now and bucks are thinking more about food than breeding at this point. there's probably some doe's around that haven't been bred yet and any bucks in the area will be looking for them and possibly even chasing still.

 

at this time of year i'd be hunting the doe's and their feeding area's in hopes of seeing a buck chasing any remaining unbred doe's.

 

 

 

don't forget that the controlled hunt can really screw with the deer in small and/or heavily pressured area's.