Changing Whitetail Habits?

[~48_South~]

Just curious if anyone here has ever tried changing the habits of whitetail and if they had an success with it. For example most of your deer are showing up on your cams and what not under the cover of darkness to feed and bed down,now I typically check my cams around mid afternoon but what if I started waiting until late night to check them and do so regularly,do you think this would make them shift times that they come into my area ,daylight rather than nighttime, or do you think they would simply decide my property is no longer a safe area and move on elsewhere??? I have tons of whitetail activity on my cams, its just rare that they make the daylight appearance,and its not as simple as just tracking them down to where they are moving in the daylight hours because they are leaving my property around 6:30am and going elsewhere and come back late evening.

[DaveS]

Just curious if anyone here has ever tried changing the habits of whitetail and if they had an success with it. For example most of your deer are showing up on your cams and what not under the cover of darkness to feed and bed down,now I typically check my cams around mid afternoon but what if I started waiting until late night to check them and do so regularly,do you think this would make them shift times that they come into my area ,daylight rather than nighttime, or do you think they would simply decide my property is no longer a safe area and move on elsewhere??? I have tons of whitetail activity on my cams, its just rare that they make the daylight appearance,and its not as simple as just tracking them down to where they are moving in the daylight hours because they are leaving my property around 6:30am and going elsewhere and come back late evening.

Their internal clocks, weather and a few other factors dictate when they move, feed, breed ect.. I would not check my cameras daily. I think you''ll force them to change locations before you get them to change feeding and bedding times. Don't force your hand on them. You may just be setting yourself up for failure.

I alsways say (feeding times ect ect) let the deer dictate when to hunt them, not the other way around!

Dave S

[~48_South~]

Their internal clocks, weather and a few other factors dictate when they move, feed, breed ect.. I would not check my cameras daily. I think you''ll force them to change locations before you get them to change feeding and bedding times. Don't force your hand on them. You may just be setting yourself up for failure.

I alsways say (feeding times ect ect) let the deer dictate when to hunt them, not the other way around!

Dave S

Thats what I was thinking,they seem to have a schedule they typically go by, they show up about the same time every evening and take off about the same time every morning. The only thing is they dont seem to mind me checking the camera's for whatever reason, in all honesty I get more deer on it when checking it daily than when I let it stay out for several days Im sure thats a fluke however,now them not typically showing up during daylight hours could be due to me going down there but they act as though my sent is gone by evening or they just ignore it and come out anyways. Only reason I asked the question is I was reading another forum and a guy said he only had nocturnal deer and someone mentioned for him to try what I said in my original post and see if it got results,to which I have never heard anyone mention that strategy before so I thought I would ask.

Edited October 15, 2012 by ~48_South~

[DaveS]

You can try it. Personaly? I wouldn't, but that's just me. I'll work around "big boys" schedule. I wouldn't want him to move and live on my neighbors land.

That's just me. You ultimately have to decide....

Good Hunting

Dave S

[DaveS]

Thats what I was thinking,they seem to have a schedule they typically go by, they show up about the same time every evening and take off about the same time every morning. The only thing is they dont seem to mind me checking the camera's for whatever reason, in all honesty I get more deer on it when checking it daily than when I let it stay out for several days Im sure thats a fluke however,now them not typically showing up during daylight hours could be due to me going down there but they act as though my sent is gone by evening or they just ignore it and come out anyways. Only reason I asked the question is I was reading another forum and a guy said he only had nocturnal deer and someone mentioned for him to try what I said in my original post and see if it got results,to which I have never heard anyone mention that strategy before so I thought I would ask.

So how did the other guys change the deers habits, snd what was the result? I'm curious as well.

Dave S

[~48_South~]

So how did the other guys change the deers habits, snd what was the result? I'm curious as well.

Dave S

Thats the problem they never posted the results lol,and I have yet to be able to find where anyone has experimented putting that much pressure on whitetail and noted their success with it. With rut getting so close Im going to stick to what I have been doing and hope and opportunity on the big buck presents itself, after this season I am going to try some different things throughout next summer leading into fall and see how they respond to it simply for the sake of curiosity.

[tnhawk]

Learning their habits will likely produce better results than trying to change their habits.

[Rightwinger]

You need to note the directions they are coming and going with and set your stand or blind up there, not at your food plot. I've found it harder to get a shot, most notably archery, when I'm at the spot they feed at because they are not moving and see and hear everything. If you can get along the path to the food plot, you catch them moving and can standup or adjust your shot much easier.

The habits are about to change anyway, once the shots start going off, they start moving at different times anyway. More folks in the woods keeps them moving as well.