Deer going nocturnal

[Southern]

In the USA, Eastern Whitetail deer will quickly learn the normal hunting hours of their human adversaries, and if they do not have a secure sanctuary, or if there is pressure all day, they will become very nocturnal, bedding down during the day and eating at night. You have to make them move, wait for them to get up to go for a drink, or use a coming frontal system or end of a storm to make them move for you.

As much hunting pressure as it seems there is in the UK with individuals shooting dozens of deer a year on a single farm, do you not see the same disappearance of deer there during daylight hours?

 

[palmer_mike]

Yes we do. In my experience with fallow deer especially.

 

[White Hart]

+1 on the fallow, having a very difficult time on one of my permissions.

 

[stubear]

I was stalking with SikaMalc back in December and we spoke about exactly this (and with fallow too), and its not been helped at all by the relatively warm weather we've had at the tail end of last year. The deer just feed at night and are couched up by the time dawn breaks.

Hopefully the cold weather of late has got them moving again as I'm back down in Feb hehe!

 

[tikka_madras]

Yes we do, as noted above particularly with fallow.

But the US is absolutely massive compared to the UK (c.40 times the land area) and I think the UK has a higher density of deer and eight times the population density of humans. My guess - and it is just a guess - is our woodlands (which tend to be small) will hold higher density populations of deer than the US so they're easier to find, and they tend to be nearer habitation so they're easier to get to.

Also, we don't have the hunter culture that the US has - we only have c.150k firearms licence holders in the whole country for 26m households, so about 0.5% of households will have a rifle whereas in the US about 20% of homes own a rifle. Overall, more deer in smaller more accessible areas and fewer people who shoot might be making it easier for us in the UK.

 

[Dorsettaff]

Sika also....pressure just forces them to come out later and later or move to areas where they are not disturbed!

I have spent many a frustrating morning and evening trying to pre-empt fallow....who always seem to be 15 mins ahead or behind me!!

 

[ejg]

Recon most of our deer are shot by poachers at night with a lamp, normal early morning/evening stalking pressure second.
I shoot most of my deer at lunch time.
edi

 

[Roncon1]

Sika also....pressure just forces them to come out later and later or move to areas where they are not disturbed!

I have spent many a frustrating morning and evening trying to pre-empt fallow....who always seem to be 15 mins ahead or behind me!!

I find it much more so with the Sika, I haven't found it as bad with the fallow on our ground but once the Sika start to get hit they go nearly go completely nocturnal so we have to hit them hard once we decide to start culling.

 

[woodmaster]

Not having my own ground, or being on syndicate ground often enough to form a solid opinion, I too witness what seems to be a lack of deer through December. I have put it down to the long nights/short days, where deer being sensible animals will just eat through the night when they have the upper edge over their predators. I also feel in recent years the weather has been fairly kind so perhaps the deer do not feel the need to risk eating in the day. However I do think that as Southern says along with others that deer will soon learn that the day is "extra" dangerous with human predators, and thus go nocturnal. With this in mind, how often would one have to stalk an area before the deer become nocturnal? It would be interesting to see how many deer people shoot on X number of acres? Out of those people who would say there deer are not under shooting pressure and are seen regularly through the daytime, and those who would say that the deer on there ground are nocturnal. (I understand with herding deer that the pressure may be due to neighbouring shoots or stalkers).

I doubt many will put a reply but I would be interested in some views.

 

[tozzybum]

Like Stu bear i was at Malc,s in December and all the Fallow were nocturnal probably saw about 40 deer in total all at night .All very frustrating but with the mad weather and a surplus of natural food there was no need for them to be out in the day.Berries and buds and lotsa rain to keep them bedded down in daylight

 

[Southern]

I have one 268 acre patch of partially cut land which I rent from a timber company for very little. It has a few houses nearby, and borders a large tract of woodland which is in a hunting club lease (1,300 acres ). I try to keep the pressure off my lease and let the shooting nearby move them to mine as a sanctuary, but my hunting partners hunt mainly at sunrise and sunset. So when the deer go nocturnal, and the temperatures drop into the 20s F, the other hunters drop off, and I still hunt or take a seat in the late morning so I can hunt through the middle of the day when the sun comes up and the deer get up and move.

 

[caorach]

The following thread on chasing game is very interesting indeed, the graphs on the first page were wrong (basically his calcs were somehow using 100 minutes in the hour) but once things are corrected it makes very interesting reading indeed:

Chasingame.com discussion forum View topic - Camera Data and Deer activity periodicity

Deer need to eat less in winter as something goes on with the metabolism plus there are only 6 - 8 hours of daylight depending on where you are so there is no reason for them to go out in daylight when they can lie up, save energy and go out when it is safer.

One interesting thing I've noticed with sika (trail cam info) is that in winter I only get photos after dark but in the summer months they seem to tend to prefer to move in daylight - even allowing for the very reduced hours of darkness it appears that they move little, or not at all, at night.

 

[devon deer stalker]

It's been a funny old year with the temperatures, not seeing too many out in the fields, so they could be nocturnal or just staying in cover as there is still plenty to eat in the woods.
So, the answer is, go where the deer are, i have been having some great stalking by doing ultra slow stalks in the woods, you find the deer either eating or in their beds.
You just look for a twitch of an ear!
Anyway i am done typing, off into the woods again!
Cheers
Richard

 

[Ray7756]

When I am out foxing at night with a mate on his permission we see loads of deer at night, go on the same ground stalking during the day and they are hard to find, but not impossible, so yes they are easier to find at night, just cant shoot them, but it does give us an idea of the numbers that are there
Ray

 

[SaOsborne]

The areas I hunt are open to public all day all year and as such I have found all species, Fallow, Roe and Munjac are all semi nocturnal, usually coming out on the end of twilight, giving max 5-10 min shooting time. Fallow are notably worse and will often not move until dark, same goes for the morning, though I do notice the animals (especially Roe and Munjac) will move later, often with the first 1/2 hour being quite, with the odd munjac, then roe appear, but as usual the fallow are gone as soon as visibility is good enough to shoot.
I as Southerner has observed then find a period of activity mid morning, then again mid afternoon, with a small herd of Fallow does at 14:30 seen the other day just over my border in the neighbours field (of course).
The cover being high so late this year has really complicated things and animals seem quite content to sit it out all day only emerging at very last light, it has made meeting the cull plan impossible so far, hopefully this frost will knock back the greenery.

 

[karlbird]

I help run a pheasant shoot on circa 800 acres. From trail cam info, mostly out for foxes, we have at least one family of 3 muntjac and most of the time they are active around 0300, with occasional pictures earlier or later. One week they were out at 1630 but generally it's the middle of the night. They are rarely seen in daylight, I think they live in a quiet wood area we don't have access to, right on our border. I have been succesfully feeding them fallen apples. Hopefully they will start to come out at dawn and dusk more as the nights shorten.

 

[North Stalker]

Recon most of our deer are shot by poachers at night with a lamp, normal early morning/evening stalking pressure second.
I shoot most of my deer at lunch time.
edi

The deer soon understand what a lamp means, Roe especially, a Doe with twins for example, unless you get all 3, they will not be keen for the lamp again and will run, not walk away.