Deer Movement Data from Frank

So while we're up at Simpson's, two other deer were checked in - an 8-pt buck and a doe about the buck's size.  Now it's about Noon.  So we get to chatting the other hunters up and ask about the time the deer were killed:  10:40 and 11:00 this morning.  What???

We're leaving the woods by about 9:30 and these deer are moving during the late morning?  What's going on here?  Conventional wisdom suggests that the deer should be bedded down, chewing their cud and resting from all their night time feeding activities.

Frank backs this story up by saying that the deer he's checking in (Frank's business is an Indiana State Deer Checking Station) are being killed between 11 - 3.  And, he sees this same phenomenon during gun season.

Get this, Frank checks in hundreds of deer each year.  He has DATA that we could use to become better hunters.  You're darn right I'm going to listen to what he has to say.

Frank's betting that the deer have figured the pattern out that we hunters come in early and leave by 10.  I am not so sure that I can anthropomorphize deer like that.  Side bar - let me save you the trouble of looking that up.  To give human characteristics to animals or inanimate objects.  So what I am saying is that I do not believe the deer have the same thought characteristics as humans to be able to tell that we leave the woods at 10 am.  Can't swallow that one.

So then, why are the deer being shot late in the morning when they should be sleeping?

One piece of data I have from my wilderness training is that the deer will be active during the moon's zenith (highest point of orbit) - or another way to think of this is High Tide (of course we don't have high tide in Indiana!).  So I checked the charts.  The zenith for us right now in Indiana is 9 pm +/- an hour.  So let's say between 8 - 10 PM.  That's not it.  Ok, let's check Low Tide.  Nope, as you guessed, that's 9 am +/- an hour.  But, we're closer on this one.

This is a stumper.  Maybe I don't need to figure out WHY the deer are moving then, maybe I just need to be in the woods then to increase my chances at bagging more deer.  That makes perfect sense.

Suggestions?  You buying the 'deer thought' bit yourself?

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