Seems like my small place in SW Young county outside of the peak rut has the majority of it's deer movement either very early in mornings, 6:30-7:15AM or very late in day, 5:45PM+++. Outside of that lots of deer pics at feeders in night, early morning, 7:00PM-5:00AM. This has been the trend since I purchased 8-10 years ago. Thinking planting wheat or oats annually could help. Protein feeding draws a lot of nighttime buck visits but not so many daytime pics. Got busted early this morning, 6:55AM by what I believed was a nice buck that came in behind me in the low light visibility. Just wondering if there are any secrets out there to increase daylight sightings. Surrounded by larger low fence ranches to my south and north, probably 500-1000 acres each with moderate hunting pressure around me.

We are very close to you on 3109. My season is over due to surgery but I think next year I may sleep in and hunt from around 10-3. We seem to see more quality deer driving back to camp from the blind after the morning hunt, or to the blind for the afternoon hunt. Not so sure the deer haven't patterned us.

My almost 6 decades of deer hunting suggest that real early and real late are when the really big bucks move. My big buck sightings this year have confirmed that. I used to call 5:30 pm and 7:30 am the “magic time”. That was 400 miles east of where I am now, so to correct for rotation of the earth, add 20 minuted to that.

And we called midday the “noon express”, though fewer deer would be seen. To all of that, factor in wind, rain, and temperature. And...the rut.

We pulled cards yesterday with almost no daytime deer pictures. Good to see one of our big bucks not broken up but very nocturnal. We're not even getting does during the daylight right now.

Protein & food plots are a 24 hr food source, neither will attract more daylight deer.
I always stop feeding protein during general season, where we hunt corn only late Oct - late Dec or early Jan.

Unless you have a high population multiple feeders on small properties split/divide the herd between them, even feeders on surrounding large properties effect what you'll see.
No reason to come to yours if there is 2 - 10 other feeders maybe in better/more secluded/less pressure spots within 1000 yards any direction.
I adjust feed time all through the season so that I throw 10 - 15 min before legal shooting light am, and about 1.5 hour before legal shooting light is over.
Are your feeders in large well built feeder pens? If you have pigs coming to feeders, the deer will go elsewhere especially if there are penned feeders anywhere near.
Are you sure your feeder/blind setups are in the best place possible on your property?

If you always rely on what you see come to a feeder in person or on camera that's all you're going to see.
Have you put cameras on travel paths, edges near dense cover? near low areas/creek beds? a road through mesquites? or just pointing at feeders?

Deer move a lot more frequently than most folks think until temps get into the 90's.
Deer pattern hunters better & faster than hunters pattern deer.
Sometimes bedding areas make lousy places to hunt, generally deer move out before daylight & return very near to or after dark.

Have you walked your fence lines looking for foot prints or unusual looking prints?
Local's that hunt non resident properties / poachers in the area use carpet on thin plywood strapped to their boots, or routered patterns on plywood, leaves a mark hard to detect most wouldn't notice.


I thought I made the offer before, after 8 - 10 years with not much luck, maybe a fresh set of eyes would help.

I call that last few minutes of shooting light "deer 30". It is usually about the time the wind lays, things get still and you see the big one. Pretty much every large buck I've killed outside the rut was after sundown.

Not sure what to tell you DQ. My suggestion would be setup a feeder that runs around noon in some heavy cover if you have it and don't visit or hunt it until late in the season. Once things freeze up and they've been pressured it might make a decent stand.

DQ as we discussed on the phone, this year I shut off my protein feeder November 1st. I hunted out in Eastland with a good friend for years that did this. He felt the free choice during the season made his deer more nocturnal than usual since they could feed at night anytime they wanted. Of course deer can still go to wheat overnight but he felt he saw more deer under this scenario. So far this year it has certainly worked on my place. Certainly seeing more deer and more bucks in my feeder pens eating corn since protein is not an option for them now.

I will fill that PF up on Jan 1 so they can get to that post rut as they will hammer that hard until spring rains and greenery show back up.

4W

Unusual year for us, Lots of deer at feeders in September. Had about 5 different shooter bucks on camera. I had 2 nice shooters opening morning of archery and passed as I didn't want to end season so early. 3rd week of bow observed about 3 different groups setting up around my 160 acres North, east and south. After seeing this I took a 10 on 10/24 that we had targeted as I felt too much competition was setting up So glad I did as the deer went completely nocturnal after opening of gun. I sat the whole month of November with m wife and we never had a shooter in day time. Had a number of spikes, 4's, and small 8's but no shooters. I believe that the deer sensed the increased activity and responded by limiting there movement. Most of the shooters we had in September showed on my cameras at night the end of November although less frequently then they showed in September

Deer 30 is go time round here. If they're rutting hard, I prefer the early morn

I protein feed using a timed feeder. During the season I cut the amount of feed back and only feed during the morning. It's made a significant difference in the amount of deer I've seen during daylight hours. On the off season I put out enough feed that a little is left in the tubes each day and the deer have more than enough to eat.

Hmmmmm....I like it