Hunt deer long enough and odds are you know the frustration of hunting a stand, thinking that you are going to be covered up, only to not see a thing. Timing can often make or break a hunt, meaning understanding when deer tend to move the most in a particular area or during a specific time of year is key to success. So, when do deer move the most?
Whitetails are crepuscular animals, meaning they are most active during the early morning and late evening hours. While deer generally move more during these hours, other factors such as food, weather, time of year, and rut all play a role in when most deer decide to move.
When Do Deer Move the Most? The Science Behind Deer Activity
As we previously stated, whitetails are crepuscular animals, moving the most at dawn and dusk. Spend any amount of time deer hunting, and you will notice this very quickly. So, why exactly do deer move most during dawn and dusk?
A whitetail’s eyes are adapted for low light conditions, making the twilight hours of the day ideal for deer to move while keeping the advantage of sight, while also putting some predators at a disadvantage. Studies, like those conducted by Mississippi State University and the Wisconsin DNR, have proven that deer movement is at its highest during these time frames.
The Mississippi State University studied the hourly movement of GPS collared bucks by time of day and rut phase. They found that the average distance moved per hour by adult bucks across a 24-hour day peaked during dawn and dusk, even during the rut.
The Wisconsin DNR took a different approach to analyzing 1.4 million trail camera photos. From the 1.4 million photos, they also found deer to be more active closer to sunrise and sunset than at any other time of day.
Understanding Deer Feeding Patterns
For the majority of the year, a whitetail’s daily routine revolves around a bed-to-feed pattern. It’s easy for us as hunters to think that deer just feed during the evening and at night because that is when we see the majority of deer congregated on primary food sources. While the majority of the movement and feeding is done during dawn and dusk, whitetails still move and feed several times throughout the course of a day.
During my time in the woods hunting deer, I’ve noticed three primary deer feeding times. Daybreak, late morning, and an hour before sunset, with the primary feeding time being right before dark.
At daybreak or first thing in the morning, I typically see deer feed on opportunistic food as they move back to their bedding areas for the day. These food sources could be anything from browse, green vegetation, or mast like acorns that are easily accessible along their route to bedding areas.
The midday or late morning feeding times are sometimes tough to pick up on due to deer not moving very far while feeding. Oftentimes, they will just stand up from their bed, almost like you or I needing to stand up to stretch our legs, and feed on food close by before bedding back down until later in the day.
Lastly, we have the feeding time that hunters are most familiar with, from roughly an hour before sunset to a little after last light. This is the period of the day when deer will move the most and travel farther distances to eat in higher quality food sources like crop fields and food plots.
Editor’s Note: It’s important to note that while we’ve mentioned three primary times that deer eat, these times are not set in stone. Deer could feed more or less throughout the day depending on several factors.
Factors Influencing Deer Movement
Earlier, we noted that while deer are crepuscular, moving most during dawn and dusk, there were several other factors that influence deer movement. Seasonal changes, weather, and hunting pressure are all factors that can increase or decrease deer movement during daylight hours.
Seasonal Shifts and the Rut
Throughout the majority of the season, bucks tend to stick to a consistent routine of spending the majority of the daylight hours in their bedding areas, often thick cover, and moving to the food sources where they plan to eat at last light or night. However, these patterns start to change when the velvet comes off and the rut nears.
Just before and during the rut, bucks will start to move more. At first, it’s to establish dominance over an area through making rubs and scrapes or sparring with other bucks in the area. Once the rut is in full swing, bucks are constantly on their feet, either looking for a hot doe or chasing one that is about to come into estrus.
Weather: Temperature, Fronts, and Barometric Pressure
The weather also plays a major role in when deer move. During the fall and winter months, a dropping barometric pressure can often indicate an incoming front(rain or snow) and a drop in temperature. Deer are able to pick up on these pressure changes and will often get on their feet and move to feed before the bad weather hits.
While an approaching cold front can increase deer movement, other types of weather can significantly decrease the amount of deer that move during the day. Extremely hot temperatures, downpouring rain or snow, and extremely high winds are examples of weather that could suppress movement.
Human/Hunting Pressure
Here’s a question for hunters reading this article. When you access your hunting area, do you always enter the area from the same direction? Or do you take into consideration the wind and what it’s doing while you are walking to your stand? To be completely honest, most hunters don’t put one second of thought into this. Heck, I used to fall into this category of hunter.
Human intrusion and hunting pressure can quickly change the habits of mature bucks in your hunting area, often causing them to not move far from bedding cover until last light or at night. Keep this in mind when hunting and try to keep your presence undetected to catch a mature buck on its feet during daylight hours.
Final Thoughts
Understanding the habits of deer can not only help you determine where to hunt throughout the course of the season, but also when to be in the stand. Deer hunting success, especially for those of us focusing on mature bucks, often boils down to collecting as much data as possible so that we can make sure we are in the correct tree when our target deer decides to move in shooting light.