I've come across some interesting info that challenges this well held belief. if you listen to episode 51 of the down south podcast, they interview a few biologists who have done gps collar studies and found zero correlation to the weather and deer movement. one study can be found here. https://www.noble.org/news/publicat...ing-gps-to-measure-fine-scale-deer-movements/ This seems to go against the common belief held by many, myself included. I think one important piece to note is confirmation bias, meaning that you plan your hunts around the weather you think you'll see more deer, and then when you do see deer, it confirms your belief. Interesting stuff either way, it really goes against the grain of hunting culture. what is everyone's thoughts?
In my experience, nothing else triggers daytime buck movement during the rut more than temperature. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
Directly quoted from the study you posted.... "Of the weather variables tested throughout our study (barometric pressure, precipitation, temperature, wind speed and relative humidity), temperature was the only variable showing any consistent effect on deer movements" Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
I encourage you to listen to the podcast. the author of the study says that the movement related to temperature can be dismissed by a margin of error related to the accuracy of the gps units. also, both of the scientists in the podcast have their work per reviewed, meaning, the data is legit. has anyone else been taking a critical eye to this long held belief in light of the data?
I wonder if anyone has done a study to see if radio collared deer behave the same as non-radio collared deer?
I've been running cellular trail cameras for a few years now and I still believe that temperature swings are the single biggest factor in deer movement. I can pretty much set my watch to getting an increased amount of photos on my cameras when a cold front moves through.
I think a hunter has to have those certain things they believe in no matter what. It doesn't matter if they are true or not bc it gives the hunter confidence or justified said hunters reasoning. I have always blazed a trail to the farm when I hear what I believe to be the magic words "high pressure front" and have had great experiences doing so. Did it have an effect on deer movement? I dont know. Did it have an effect on Okiebob movement? You bet it did! I sat in my stand all day and moved very little! If it's only purpose was to give me the hope that today was the day and gave me the encouragement to sit in a tree all day then it has done its job. But I do agree with one thing, could front's and colder weather during the rut really gets them up and moving in daylight.
Here are my thoughts on the matter, If someone BELIEVES something, then it has a positive effect on the individual. It does not matter if it’s true. It’s the placebo effect. I use scent control as the perfect example since science has proven we can’t hide our odor yet some people spend thousands of dollars to attempt it. If you don’t believe in something than your mind will not give it merit. It’s really as simple as that. I personally do believe the key to deer movement during the season is temperates and pressure. It doesn’t have to be “cold”, they just have to be falling. If it’s -7 in November the movement might be down, but if it’s going from 70 to 50 then I want to be in the stand. For pressure, 30 and rising is the magic number I watch for. My basis...experience between me and my group on those days and trail camera daylight evidence. If someone has a great hunt you better believe all the trail cams in the area will correlate that with bucks on their feet elsewhere. Obviously there is anomalies, I’ve had opportunities at mature buck when it’s been unseasonably warm but these hunts can also have unknown factors like location and proximity of food. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I've been running a dozen or so cameras, all year round for many years. I don't need some biologist (who I doubt even hunts) to tell me when deer move. I've literally got 10's of 1,000's of pics/data that I've collected myself over the last decade. Cold front's do cause an influx of movement...and any storm front from mid November through March will cause a major increase in movement/feeding frenzy.
Well, one thing's for sure, deer are always more on edge when it's windy. It compromises all the senses that keep a deer alive.
Hmmm... this is a tough one. I don’t know who to believe, someone who is been to school for at least seven years and has a PhD, empirical evidence, and how many years of experience in the field, versus a guy who has a couple thousand trail cam pics?? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I would have to disagree completely with that study. I am not a scientist either, but 18 years of bow hunting has shown me a few tendencies. Weather trumps everything. I say weather, not temperature specifically. Temperature is one part of weather. When weather changes, deer movement changes. the temperature relative to the average temperature definitely make a difference. Generally I have seen that cold fronts have a bigger effect on deer movement the earlier in the season it happens. IE a 30 degree temp drop from 90 to 60 in Early October will have every deer for miles on their feet. the same 30 degree drop in January from 20 to -10 may actually shut the deer down for a day till it warms back up.
This is also an excellent example of how data can be misinterpreted. You can draw the wrong conclusions from a data set. All the time I hear "the data doesn't lie"; actually it can be manipulated to get results to further an agenda. We see it all the time in politics. In this case, I don't think the authors are trying to be maliscious. Perhaps nearsighted... Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk
