to my deer's nocturnal nature? I went up with feeder pens about 4 years ago on my 70 acres in SW Young county due to high occurrences of hog feeder visits, sometimes hours at a time. Seems like I may have simply substituted hogs for nocturnal deer and my daytime deer photos haven't appreciably increased these past 4 years. Am seeing some nice bucks at night but saw some before without the pens too. Is there any chance that by putting up the pens that I've given the deer a better reason to come onto my place at night whereas before they had to compete some with the hogs? I've tried adjusting the timers, etc. but that doesn't seem to have changed things.

If deer are nocturnal then IMO it is for a few reason. One is they do not live on your place and have to travel from a distance to get their, especially bucks. They live in selected bedding areas. One more reason is the heat we get during this time of the year till late fall. Third is they do not need what you are feeding them, they prefer what grows naturally.

last year I went up with a penned protein feeder as well, not sure if that has kept them nocturnal in nature too.

I have fed free choice protein 365 days a year for the past 2.5 yrs. I reset my corn feeders at 6 am. and 9 pm. now and have for the past 3 yrs after deer season ends up till late summer. I change them to daylight hunting times in late August. Every ranch I have managed in the past 25 yrs had been the same as what I described. If deer has to walk a 1/2 mile or more to a feeder then he is going to get their later after dark. Distance to water will great effect this IME. There was a study done down in South Texas with water and feed that showed some interesting results in feed consumption. The farther feed is from water or vice versa, the less that a deer will eat and drink per day. 21% and 29% less on water/feed.

I don't think so DQ, I have hunted all over the State of Texas and Amigo that FAILED attempt at a second lease up there was the craziest acting Deer I have ever seen...
I'm sure the fact a group of Kids that drug stands all over the place and had 3 areas set up didn't help.. BUT they had to be the most Nocturnal Skittish Deer I have ever experienced...it was baffling

Have you tried planting a field closer to where they travel from to the feeders?

I think human activity would contribute more to nocturnal activity for resident deer. I have deer that show up after dark as well and from TC's, I know they come from the place behind me, so traveling as STX said.

IMO, if in general they feel safe, they could be out anytime of day. If they have to ride the bus to get to your feeder, they could show up way after sundown as STX pointed out. I don't think your fences have one thing to do with it.

I think that is the key, the more time we spend on our place doing routine work like :stuff: the more deer we start to see during the daylight hours. They get used to the vehicle, both by sound and routine you have. Change vehicle and the deer will disappear for a few times. I am not talking working on feeder pens and filling feeders type work. Cleaning up the pasture of rocks and getting rid of prickly pear etc., ranch work is what they see daily, they come to expect it and are not scared of it.

I think deer are naturally nocturnal to an extent.......I think the older deer will stay off the main trails during daylight and mingle at night.......Just putting feed out that isn't natural can make some deer nervous and cause them to avoid it until a younger curious deer feeds from the feed first.....You may have better luck moving a camera on a trail near a bedding area without any feed.

I hunt in that area some and our deer are nocturnal after early season. Our hog population is down and our deer pics and sightings are way down. We have no pens as we have no cattle to deal with and enjoy killing pigs. I've killed no pigs there since 2012 and have only seen one buck worth killing. And he was smarter than me.

OK, I am going to say something the will fly in the face of what seems to be general philosophy- deer are not strictly nocturnal and don't go "nocturnal". They may be nocturnal at your feeder but that would be due to other factors. Deer are generally "edge effect" animals- edges where clearings/fields meet woods because of the diversity of food sources. They also work the "edges" of daylight- dusk and dawn. A deer cannot lay up for 10-12 hours during the day to only move at night- they can't go that long without eating, pooping, or peeing. Find the travel routes going to and from the feeders and set up cameras there.

The bedding area issue is probably the biggest factor. I have one stand that gets more daylight activity than any other and it is very close to a bedding area (not on my property of course The rest of the stands they can come from multiple directions and usually just at the end of shooting light so it leads me to believe they are out wandering before they get to the other stands.

The drought is what is killing our populations.

Try this to get more daylight feedings during the season. At least it works for me. I feed 3 times a day. 1st is 20 minutes before sunrise, ( not quite shooting light,) I feed for 8 seconds. then 15 minutes after sunrise for 2 seconds. This is only to ring the dinner bell again for the slow ones. Then an 1-1/2 hours before sunset for 4 seconds. What I am trying to do is not leave any corn on the ground during the night. The deer become very competitive during the mornings for the corn because they did not have much at all during the night. I also have deer waiting at the feeder for the afternoon feedings. I had to experiment to get the corn levels right for the number of deer feeding. I started with 4 seconds in the morning then went to 6, then to 8 because the deer were eating the corn so fast and leaving at daylight. I have no hog problems and no cattle. I know others will disagree with me, but I don't let them eat free anytime they want. I tell them what time breakfast will be served and they have learned that they have to be there if they want to get any. I do feed year round but cut it down to 4 seconds and 2 seconds per day during the spring and summer. this photos of the does were taken opening day this year. Sunrise was at 7:20 and you can see that at 8:40 there was almost no corn left. 4 small bucks had eaten first and kept the does away. All I can say is that I get daylight sightings
when others are not.

I believe deer are mostly nocturnal by nature, especially bucks as they age. I would be willing to bet 7 out of 10 photos I have of deer, much less bucks, are at night, dusk, dawn, etc... and that's on a large, lightly pressured ranch. I do believe you can exasperate the issue with too much activity in a hunting area. All that being said, I do have certain deer that seem to prefer daylight hours and see them quite regularly, but, they obviously aren't shooters.

Not really. On my lease in San Saba county even mature deer hit the feeders in daylight regularly. Jack and Young counties are weird though. You will get daylight pics up to the end of Sept and maybe early Oct and then they go into stealth mode.