Right before season began here in KY, it seems that the bucks I have on camera have turned nocturnal. Is there anyway to draw them out or any advice on catching them out during shooting light. Seems they are coming in at around 2:30am now.
In my experience to answer your question vaguely, no, not where the camera is. The good news is some times they are still killable. From what I've seen if you are only getting night time pictures, your camera is in the wrong place. I will send out a web of trail cameras to try and pattern a buck to figure out where he is coming from or where he is going based off times and dates from the various trail cameras. Often times this time of year deer only have to move 100yds or less from bed to water to food. I'd start moving trail cameras around to try and start patterning the deer a little. Be cautious though, you don't want to intrude directly into their bedroom and possibly push them off or change their pattern all together again.
Stan, is this a small tract that would prevent you from following the good advice in post #3? If so, the rut might be the only thing that will give you a day time sighting imo.
Yes it is. This is the only place on this property that I can hang a set, and up until this past week I have had these bucks on this camera during the daylight. I was having them between 5-8 in the morning and 5-8 in the afternoon. Does are still acting and moving the same but the bucks have switched to nocturnal between 2-4am. (By the way My name isn't Stan, my last name is Stanfill. No Biggie.)
i also recently had this happen, however it happened right after I moved a blind in.. bucks showing 6-8 pm, perfect then I moved my blind in and they are SKITISH.. and not showing up until 2-3 am, hopefully they will start to adapt
Moon phase and horrible weather are largely to blame for what you’ve seen. The deer have mostly transitioned into their Fall coats now so this +100 heat index crap is going to suppress movement to the coolest hours of the day for the most part. Daytime movement is probably minimal and confined to a small area near primary bedding. To me this seems to always be even more true of larger bodied deer. It is also quite possible that acorns have started falling somewhere. If your target buck is able to bed in a place where he feels secure and eat acorns very nearby then you can probably forget about him for a while.
there are no acorns where we live, just Ag fields, the field edge I am hunting though is not being cut down this year, it is an alfalfa field.. and yes there are plenty of large trees
That makes sense. Do you think it is likely that when the weather cools off, they would return to this spot during daylight?
Depends on why they left. If it was just the heat or moon phase then yes. If it was hunting pressure or a newly available food source then probably not like they were before. There is so much going on right now that it’s difficult to say anything with certainty. You just have to look at all the details and piece it together. You may or may not have acorns falling, corn fields getting cut, bean fields turning, nearby hunters putting out corn, nearby hunting pressure, bachelor groups splitting up, etc. You definitely have shedding velvet, transition to Fall coat and unseasonably warm temps. My bet would be acorns. They are usually the culprit when deer disappear in September.
GET AS TIGHT TO BUCKS BEDDING AREA AS POSSIBLE WITHOUT SPOOKING HIM.IF YOU CANT DO THAT WAIT FOR THE RUTT TO GET HIM ON HIS FEET.
