Whitetail Deer Hunting and Waterfowling in November

February 19, 2009 by admin

By Andrew Gegelman

Deer on the move. Photo by the ND Game & Fish

Here one day gone the next, this seems to be the perfect slogan when you are pursuing mature whitetail bucks. In my opinion, there is a lot of confusion as to why one day deer will move heavily and the next you have a tough time finding any. It has changed within the last few years with the rise in the numbers of deer in North Dakota, but still if you are watching the same spots night after night, why do you see three deer one day and twenty three the next? Hopefully I will be able to provide some insight into the mysterious world of whitetail movement.

At this time, it is very difficult to figure out why deer move certain days and not others. There is extensive research being done in the United States trying to figure out what triggers deer movement. There are four factors that could possibly affect deer movement. The first factor is wind. Most people would guess that when the wind is howling, chances are the deer probably are not moving. I normally follow that theory, but it depends on where I am hunting. When hunting along corn fields, I have seen deer on the move in 30-40 mph winds. I am not sure why, but my educated guess is that it has something to do with the noise that dry corn makes. This causes them to leave the shelter of the standing corn to get out into the open so they can hear predators better. My other thought is that when the wind is blowing hard, they have a more difficult time using their powerful nose to smell danger. On still days, or days where the wind is light and variable I have had very little success also. On these still days your scent is either going some unknown direction making stand selection difficult, or it is going in all directions making it equally difficult.

A second factor affecting deer movement is temperature. As the season gets into the rut the the temperatures are colder and the deer have started to grow their winter coats. When it gets later in the year and you have an increase in temperatures more than 15-20 degrees above normal highs, there will be a definite decline in deer movement. Look at it this way, if you were to put on your winter parka and bibs when the temperature was warm how much would you want to move around. There is some research that shows that buck movement is almost zero when daytime temperatures are above 50 degrees. The deer just don’t want to move when it is warm out.

Precipitation can also increase or decrease deer movement. I harvested my first buck in velvet with my bow on a day where it was sprinkling all afternoon. But when the rain starts coming down heavily deer pretty much sit tight until it lets up. This could be a great time to be sitting in your stand, just after a heavy rain has passed and it dries up. Deer are very likely to move before and after storms. I like to watch the forecast for at least two to three days in advance, to see what the possibilities of severe storms are. If there is a good possibility of severe storms one to two days from now, this is a great time for a lot of deer to be moving.

Finally, barometric pressure has some impact on deer movement. I have seen that when the barometer is moving there is an increase in deer activity, but when it is moving up there is an even higher level of deer movement. To keep all of this information straight, I like to keep notes of when I am scouting and hunting. I write down the number of deer I saw, differentiating between does and fawns, and shooter and non-shooter bucks. After a couple of seasons of data you will detecting some triggers in deer movement.

The season is finally drawing closer, and the forecast looks good for the opportunity of shooting a good buck. But don’t forget with the high deer population, harvest some does to keep your opportunity to harvest a good buck high.