Deer only coming out at night?

M

mardanlin

New member
I just bought an auto feeder to help with this problem, but I was wondering if anyone has other suggestions. I've attached an overhead photo of my spot and here's a quick explanation :

The square is where I've successfully shot several deer last season, but it has since been altered and they aren't crossing that clearing as much anymore. The circle on the left is the pond which I imagine is their main water source. The circle on the right is the clearing that I've had my trail camera at this year and I've seen lots of great deer, but only 2 have come out during daylight. The rest come out around 11pm-4am.

Any help would be appreciated because I'm hoping to still use this spot this season.
 
Don't assume that deer are getting water in that pond. As long as there is good dew each morning and the plants are green, deer need very little extra water. Except in arid areas, they can normally get all they need from surface water on the ground and on plants without having to expose themselves at an open pond.
 
In my experience this night activity results from too much human activity and inadequate security cover.
In 2012 I saw a very big 8 point typical 3 days before rifle season and heard from the farm renter he'd busted the same buck twice the week before. This buck was never seen in daylight that season. I later killed a slightly smaller buck as he was sneaking toward the middle of 160 acres of CRP to bed where no human could approach w/o notice. That buck had been seen several times before shooting time near that area but never in full light.
 
It might take the deer a while to make your feeder part of their travel pattern. When we bought this place, I put out 3 feeders. I'd check them a couple of times a week. The corn pile under the feeders was pretty big, and getting pretty sour. Then...one fine day all the corn was gone and kept being gone. The deer and pigs had found the corn. And then the rabbits, coons, and squirrels found it. Then the crows found it. Then the bobcats and coyotes found rabbits, coons, and squirrels at the feeders. Pretty soon each feeder had it's own little ecosystem. I feed year round to maintain things. And, during the deer season, I've taken to throwing corn out by the back pond. The deer took to that particularly well, though I don't do that year round. Even so, they get right back into the feeding pattern very quickly. I guess it's because they all have an ingrained memory that makes them check for corn.

So...give it time, and put game cameras at the feeders. You'll want to see what shows up when.
 
Sometimes changes we perceive as small will spook or cause animals to change their habits. It could be as simple as having equipment in a different space, a predator may have moved into a nearby area, or they may have found food or a different lay-down area elsewhere.
 
stand

Don't know how much heat you have, but right now, a fair amount of deer movement is late to avoid same. Not all, heck, sometimes you see nursing does out in the heat (their eating for two or more) but hot weather limits deer movement some.

Looks like you've got a lot of buildings and activity too, that will effect deer patterns as well, as others have noted.

I've NEVER had any luck hunting over a water source, even in the worst drought years we've seen here.

Based solely on your pic, I'd scout about 1 'oclock from the pond, SW by the compass figure, on the funnel/bottleneck between what looks like some type of ROW and the lakeside. That pond should funnel deer around either end.
 
The reason I thought the pond was their water source is because the square is where I've seen TONS of deer cross, both ways. This made me think they were going to or leaving the pond but I was way up on the ridge (to the right of the square) so I couldn't tell for sure.

I may try a tree stand this year and set up overlooking the yellow square. I'll do some scouting today and see if there's signs.

Thanks for the help guys.
 
Deer become nocturnal because of pressure. Either from hunting or other human activity. Deer change movement habits because of pressure, other human activity in the area, changes in cover or changes in bedding areas as related to feed areas. Areas with lots of human activity that deer are used to are less prone to make them change a pattern. Areas with relatively little human activity will take very little.

Your picture does not show what changes have taken place close to your stand. You also do not state how much other human activity takes place. I had a bow stand that for decades was a consistent spot to see and take deer. Because of where it was, I only hunted it during the week. One year, it just went dead. Wasn't till after the season I found out the neighbor kids were using their field close to it for riding ATVs on the weekends and had completely changed the movement of the deer there. A year later, when the deer had become acclimated to the ATVs, the deer resumed their previous pattern.
 
There's really no human activity back there. The long clearing with the square and the GPS marker is a Duke power clearing so I'm sure they do maintenance on it from time to time. The pond used to have kids play at it in the summer, but those "kids" are in their late teens/twenties now and rarely come to their grandparents house (the ones who own the pond) so if anything, human activity has declined.

To the left of the yellow square they have cleared a big brush field and planted some trees so I thought that's what was moving them.
 
deer tend to get more nocturnal the closer we get to hunting season. some people attribute this to shorter days and the animals just haven't adjusted yet, but I like to believe that they know that hunting season is upon them and the adjust their activities to offer the most protection.

there's really nothing you can do to alter animal's habits. if your feeder goes off at noon, and all of the animals are asleep at noon, then the feed will still be around at midnight when they are active, they'll just frequent the feeder then. it sometimes takes years for animals to discover normal feeding times and show up exactly when the feed is dispensed.
 
Deer only come out at night?

Welcome to my world. If you can figure out how to solve that one, you'll be a billionaire.

I didn't know there were deer that DIDN'T only come out at night.
 
The area in the picture is relatively small. Thus deer in that small area can be influenced by activity or pressure from surrounding areas. Hunting small parcels can be very frustrating because there are so many influences you cannot control. This is what I meant when I said travel relative to feed and bedding areas. Since the picture shows more than one residence, I assume there are others outside of the picture itself. Thus the pressure could be from dogs left to roam freely that you have no knowledge of. Could be another hunter two farms away has a food plot or feeder that has altered their patterns. Could be the neighbor after a recent heart attack taking a daily stroll along the power lines. Odds are, the clearing of the brushy field may have removed a bedding area and thus changed their travel route to the feed area. As was said before, except in dry areas, deer rarely need to drink water and if the pond is the only attraction to the deer, then until it gets dry, they need not to use it. If some of the trees shown in your pic are mast trees, they may be an attractant if mast is produced. Mast trees do not always produce, so some years they offer no attraction. Part of the fun of hunting deer is figuring out why they are or are not there.
 
Vampire Deer??

vampire-deer-preview-290x160.jpg
 
Get the following book:

"A Practical Guide to Producing and Harvesting White tail Deer" by Dr. James C. Kroll.

Best book on white tail deer.
 
The black tail deer around here are all nocturnal and have moved in town. Because of this I've pretty much given up deer hunting.

Now if I could hunt them in my yard over my strawberry plants, I could get all I want...

Deer seem to love strawberry leaves, try planting some and see if it helps.

Tony
 
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