Thread: Turns Out Deer Like Sleep In Too!

Righto fellas, got a bit of a yarn for you.

I’ve been running game cameras for over 5 years now — rain, fog, possums, rats, cats, dead batteries, wrong setting, theft, everything that goes with it, the usual. Finally decided to sit down and crunch the numbers on when the deer were actually showing up. This data consisted of red deer movements in various locations at various times of the year.

No moon phases, no weather charts, no fluff — just what hour they appeared on camera.

I figured it’d back up what we all know: dawn and dusk are the go. Get in early, sit tight or stalk slow, wait for movement. Standard bush playbook.

Turns out... maybe not.

Around 9am being the winner! a clear peak in feeding movement in my findings

shit I might have to start sleeping in!

Interesting. I have seen and shot the majority of my red deer might morning from memory.

Good on ya! Just give us a bit more of an explanation if you don't mind as to how you have come to this conclusion, as in , where were the game cameras positioned in relation to the deer's known feeding and bedding areas please? From this is your conclusion based on the activity in winter feeding areas, or the movement to/from bedding and feeding areas, is this a snapshot of autumn movement; just requesting please a bit more detail to help us put this data to use?

maybe you simply caught them on their way home --- they been way out in open -- well its possible

Originally Posted by Puffin

Good on ya! Just give us a bit more of an explanation if you don't mind as to how you have come to this conclusion, as in , where were the game cameras positioned in relation to the deer's known feeding and bedding areas please? From this is your conclusion based on the activity in winter feeding areas, or the movement to/from bedding and feeding areas, is this a snapshot of autumn movement; just requesting please a bit more detail to help us put this data to use?

Hey Puffin,
Take the data with a grain of salt, as I certainly wouldn't want anyone to start basing their hunting times around my findings I guess its more useful to myself as it is relevant to the areas I hunt

A little more information for you as request.

Times of year: almost all of the months, though a lot of the photos start around November through to July
where? NI, Bush clearings, open gully bottoms, river flats, main arterial game trails, wallows.

I've always believed in the 10 am deer. Catching them moving as the sun shifts around before they park up until late afternoon.

Might be coincidence too.

your data though good completely depends on where the cameras are placed to make a conclusion.dawn/dusk is where the deer show themselves in open areas(where most hunters will sit and watch).the bush/cover they will be active at all times of the day and that 9 am slot is more than likely what Barry said a move through area on the way back from feeding areas.can you confirm if most of the deer in that 9am time zone were feeding or passing through?Great intel there and thanks for sharing it, figuring out longnecks can be a brain bending past time.

and Yesmate they change for weather a bit to - buggers are only predictable to a point - when I worked back of Gisborne we had a crop in - was getting hit so we sat on the hillside where they were coming in and out to the crop from a big scrub block - they did not show at daylight coming of the crop and we were about to go home when I spotted a set of ears sticking up in the crop- buggers had decided to lie down in the crop and stay there - got high up and shot several of them