Deer tend to move at dawn and dusk. (Ross). Deer, mostly bucks, move at dawn and dusk whether it is 20 degrees out or 80 degrees out. Weather does not affect when they move during the day. If a hunter is going to head out to the stand, than dawn and dusk would be the times to make sure he or she should be in their stands. Deer can and will be shot during the day, but the best chance to catch a buck walking on a path by a stand would be when the sun just rises and when it is almost hidden behind the earth. Breeding season is a major affect to this cycle though making deer move all day when they are in rut. This is because a buck is trying to find a female and will be on the prowl for long periods of time. The reason for them moving at dawn and dusk more is because deer tend to feed more in the morning and in the afternoon. Studies by the QDMA, or Quality Deer Management Association, have shown that the deer they track have shown this sign to move early and late the most.
The second thing deer have a habit of doing is to form a “home”. This is a couple mile area where a deer spends about 90% of its time. This is a great thing to know because watching for deer throughout the year can help to figure out if any deer have made a home in the area. According to the article, “Behavioral Patterns of Whitetail Deer”, deer do of course take an almost vacation type trip at times too. It is impossible to predict when a deer will take this vacation, or how far it will travel on this vacation. A deer’s vacation can be anywhere from a month or two to a couple weeks. The only tricky part about a deer’s home is that a doe or buck would unlikely lay down in the same spot two consecutive nights in a row. This is to throw off any predators from just waiting for the deer to come back, so the predator doesn’t have an easy meal for the next couple of days. A deer will find several areas that are great for dosing off for a bit in this home area, but will never fall asleep for long periods of time. This keeps them alert most of the time. Deer usually feel comfortable in their home area, so if some deer tend to be seen in the same area all year it is most likely the deer made a home and feels more comfortable in this area rather than any other.
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Zach-Rausch 
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