In my 38 years experience, on gamelands most hunters are path beaters. Now go find the spot where you think how am I going to get a deer out of here?

The Biggest buck taken on a military base that i use to hunt was a 12point and was taken right outside the Biggest camping area "were you are Not Allowed to Hunt" was taken between 12-1pm! People said he lived in an thick area in the No Hunting/ camping area & and someone spooked him Out ! I had seen him before laying under a tree as i was eating lunch just inside the No Hunt zone like he knew what the bounderies were for the No Hunt zone!

Josh and Dan, the best hunts I've had was in a misty rain. Happy Father's Day fellas, keep up the good work and videos, we greatly appreciate it.

Great discussion! 40 yrs w/wild whitetail, 20+ as lineage buddy hip to shoulder through their lives, yes sunrise is bedding time. 3-4 hr ruminate, snooze..10'ish is time to eat more, lovkng the shadows when can, back to rest till eat again, their "social business hours" begin after "first" feeding of their day as they see it, @ lowering to setting sun, bedding for dark, observing others as ruminate/perhaps sleeping some more, dealing with social interactions, sleep, ruminate, eat, cycleing eating, ruminating/rest till sunrise bedding.. What my deer do, we have a solid routine, we can always find each other.. deer like consistency..survival tactic to know what isn't going according to routine!

My neighbor up in the big woods of PA shot a tagged buck that was 91/2 years old and it was first tagged 14 miles away. It was shot on public land quite the buck !

3 of the biggest deer I’ve seen was late October, 2 at 9am one at dusk and they all were in high wind, the wind blowing doesn’t give them a direct direction where trouble could come from so there on there feet

The Deer Program at Mississippi State recently concluded a multi-year study using collard deer, with an emphasis on bucks. I've been in correspondence with the two primary faculty members in charge. The challenge in reaching any sort of conclusions is the vastness of the data. Sometimes making sense of the data in any comprehensive study like this can take many years. However, one point between the two projects really stands out: In the MSU study there were several/many bucks that traveled MUCH farther from "home" than what the PA study seems to suggest. If memory serves, there was one buck that traveled something like 100 miles during the year. They tracked him walking through towns, swimming the MS River into LA or AR, then back to his home range in the MS Delta. However - as far as I can tell - the most prominent buck characteristic was moving and hiding when deer season starts. I can't wait for the findings to be published. I think The Hunting Public did an interview with the two primary researchers.

Wind direction and velocity are interesting factors. One situation in my hunts in Texas regions where prevailing winds were dominant: I bow hunted for a week with little or no deer action. The four hours, or so, where there was a lull in wind (dead calm) the deer appeared everywhere. After wind commenced, the deer disappeared. Just saying. Also still hunting in heavy wind, allowed one to walk upon bedded deer.

I can attest to the last point. The only deer I took only public land was during gun season and I was a mile back. Ran in to a couple guys who were also hunting and said they jumped a doe near the road but that was it. However, they never went off the main trail really and that was the difference.

I would be interested to see a difference from state to state. I was a guide for yrs, I can tell you from experience that during deer season the deer will pattern the hunters, especially when hunting same areas week to week. The smarter more mature animals were there when we weren’t. I mean it just makes sense… That’s why the rut is such a big deal, it makes it possible for mediocre hunters to kill a trophy.

I totally agree that does will strategically drop and calf those fawns near humans/buildings if they have the option! I'll go one further to say that if the fawn is a buck, they remember this spot and most check it heavily during the rut!! I don't have collars but 7+yrs of trail cams so it is pretty much a science at this point!

I hunted Minnesota for 35 years archery and killed or had chances between 10 am and 2 pm than any other time period. I had some monsters come within 20 yards but sometimes something would go wrong. I loved it when hunters would go for lunch. Never had much luck in wind and when I did they were very skittish. Halloween day was my favorite day to archery. I would never leave my stand on that day and had the most action bar none no matter what the weather was like.

I love opening morning hunting. I hunt below bedding areas. I just wait for the other hunters to run the deer to me. Sometimes I zigzag caution type along ridges the evening before opening day. knowing a hunter will follow it and drive the deer to me. Hunt smarter not earlier.

I've always found Deer move in the wind in the open and bed low spots with small cover and easy exits

I shot one of them 8 years ago when i was 6 and was featured in a Deer and Deer Hunting article for it, look up Paul Thoburn shoots collared white tail deer

From decades of hunting same 150acres in Indiana, after October 20th on I do jump quite a few deer walking to any stand in mornings but I've seen more bucks between 830am-10am than any other time. Half my bucks were in the AM and half in PM

I hunt Ohio and Indiana. I won't hunt a morning until October 20-25. Good information guys! Also, we had a buck make it to 11.5 years old. My son named him Rhino when he was 3 years old just like the buck. Last pic was summer of 2020 at age 11. He was a legend.

To add this, my hunting partner on a piece of property we hunt together here in NC, had on his camera in video mode caught a big Black Bear chasing 2 bucks. So they do pursue mature deer, they just don’t catch them that often. Those 2 bucks got out way ahead and was catching their breath a second at the camera and were looking back, and then they bolted again and the big bear came running by in pursuit. He didn’t catch them because I saw them all year last season.

So a majority of these deer came from the valley where my camp is. Myself and my dad ran into the PSU students many times over the years out collecting the deer. One time they actually parked at our camp to meet up. It was all state forest land on actual mountains. There is videos over topo maps showing the bucks movements over months and they don’t move that far. My dad actually found one of the collard does that died and walked the students doing the study to its location to get the collar back.

I’d love to see a study like this on the deer in the gulf coast area!

I hear more gunshots the week before gun season here in pa because everyone waits till last minute to sight their rifle in. Always knew deer could tell when hunting season start.

It isnt the most optimal way. But hunting mornings is more for me vs actually hunting. Being realistic i know i can go out at 4 to a deer stand on my property and get a deer almost any evening. But. Theres just something magical about mornings for me, seeing the world come alive. Hunting mornigs for me is like a drug. The majority of my big bucks have been around the 8am-10am time frame. Can confirm though where i hunt. Early bow season there are deer everywhere. When i go out first day of gun season its a ghost town untill last light. Its a massive change.

Deer have a collar put on there neck and after a year or two they will wear and fall off. I have seen deer and have video's of them from my stand with collars. Northern Pa some of the deer traveled up to 15 miles during the winter. Most bucks are seen the last hour or so before dark. Interesting study. Bear and coyotes killed about the same amount of fawns.

Large bucks love windy days. They are fat bulky with large racks and windy days help them move quickly through the timber.

Josh NH studied bears a few years back and bears took equal number of fawns in spring compared to coyotes. each predator got about 39% of total number of fawns killed. And the bears (so smart) became much better/faster at killing and eating fawns thru the drop season. One sow took something like 142 fawns in the six week birthing season.

The doe and fawn comment is interesting. There is a spot in my local public land that you always see deer when driving in. It's close to the road and at the edge of a swamp. It's the perfect spot to shoot a doe in early season before the whole state opener.

My husband and I read that article. We would be interested in what their tracking map looked like too. We thought that there are a lot of different things that would factor in regarding how these deer behaved. Terrain, agriculture that's around, weather, number of predators, how many hunters, etc. Could you apply the results of this study to Wisconsin without knowing all the factors?

Where we go snowmobiling in Northern New Hampshire I had witnessed deer looking both ways before crossing a road , I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see with my own eyes. It's a great experiment with collars but deer act a little different every where in the country in my opinion.

In September or early October last year we had a hell of a windy day I went out counted 17 deer that day and most were does did see a few bucks And this was on a hillside they were all coming threw a bottom by a crick

A ton of black bears here in Harlan Ky, if they kill deer then there won’t be any deer left lol. I love listening to you guys. Reminds me of my dad and all our cousins everyone t they got together.

There's been many study's that say moon phase has absolutely nothing to do with deer movement.

Do you have a link to the study? I would like to see the breakdown of data. Thanks!

I think the comment about black bear references other studies on predators too for a long time now the PAGC has said black bears were the number one predators for deer due to their killing of fawns

I love hunting heavy wind . I hunt elk more than deer but it has its advantages . Predictable direction , sound cover ext .

They does “flop” in a circle !!! What a realistic way to say it lol

That's why you get your but in your stand near their bedding areas at 4am to 4:30 am and the bucks come walking under my stand at 6am hour before daylight. I hit the antlers and grunt right at day light and it's usually lights out. I live in WV but in Ohio I do the samething and the deer come in right at day light bed down and never leave they lay on the sides get up pee and lay right back down until dark.

MSU deer lab also stated in their study that moon phase showed no significant evidence that the moon affected deer movement.

They did a bear study in Pennsylvania and it killed more fawn than adult deer, the study was done years ago

I always see way more deer when its windy

My experience deer moved good in wind cause rather be up so they can see cause can’t hear predators coming. My biggest bucks bad wind no one else hunting

Windy days I think they suspect weather approaching and are moving to better cover or known food near by, not grazing.

Hey guys I live in pennsylvania southwest corner This study starting to make sense I don't have black bears. But lots of bob cats You will get a big buck on camera Seems like he disappears But from what the study saYing He made it through in staten area

I kill most my bucks on private land either right after first light or 9am-11am. I usually stay in the stand until mid afternoon and move to an evening spot depending on traffic.

👍🏻👍🏻

Dan is my favorite hunter

We don't see as many on windy days prolly because it's blowing your scent everywhere amd farther

The potential issues with hunting buck beds in the monrings is defintly true, but there's a significant number of top tier big buck hunters who have killed the majority of their big mature bucks in the morning near buck beds and not in the evening. So, they obviously have figured out how to hunt near those buck beds without spooking them.

Maybe most deer are taken by black bears because the deer get sick or are injured and the bear is just the last one to get them.

4 of my 5 biggest bucks were killed between 11am and noon

Be a bad idea to collar a fawn. Feel like it would get too tight as the deer grows.

I always thought that going in after a little bit of light so i dont bump them out. If deer are in the field i can wait until they leave. Most of my bucks have been killed after 10 am..... biggest(161" 5 year old was 11:40....... 150 inch ten 4 year old killed at 200pm another 4 yr old was at 1:00 pm and another was close to lunch time. My point is never early morning.

Your trying to pattern the deer and they are patterning you too !

That almost completely disagrees with the results from the MSU study, but almost totally agrees with what Dan preaches, wierd!!

Couldn’t collar a fawn. The collar would choke them before a yearling.

? What is a link to the study that does not require paying a subscription to read?

Thats interesting about the morning activity. l'm in Ohio and i have killed the vast majority of deer in the morning between 1-2 hous after sunrise. Including 2 of my 3 biggest bucks. I know this is anecdotal though.

JOSH TIP About promoting memberships. Most of your audience don’t use emojis so cut that angle out. Promote the memberships as this supports you guys to keep these shows going and bringing use more deer hunting content. I think that would be more productive. Great show as always!! Keep at it.

Dan said if he had private property he would have a rule NOT allowing hunting on opening morning for his deer camp. Let me understand this, if you can NOT hunt Opening Morning then you won't allow them to have a morning hunt EVER? Dan would you BAN hunting on your private property for ALL morning hunts?

black bear killing deer makes since if you stop and think some of these deers were probably wounded by a bad shot and the bear got them in their beds or when they laid down. we have black bear in my area and if you shoot a deer in the evening and have to track at night. you can come up on a black bear on your deer

But how many people passed up deer because they saw the collar and were not sure if it was legal to kill or not? Could change the percentage of deer that survived the season by alot.

How do you just brush over the fact that moon phase had little/nothing to do with movement? There's 1,000 deer in this study - these deer are not an anomaly!

Maybe the 9 year old buck had very small antlers

I’ve killed 75% of my bucks from 10am to 2pm. It’s high pressure public so I feel like it’s just adaptation.

Windy days are always my best days. I have killed all of my big bucks on windy days.

I probably won't get a response from this, but seriously Dan you would BAN hunting on your private property for your deer camp on Opening Morning. Why not go a step further and BAN hunting for every single morning for the whole season. I totally respect so many of your views and agree with most of them, BUT to ban morning hunts? I vehemently disagree with you.

? Study done in spring, summer, fall or winter?

The pa bear season puts a damper on rifle hunting because they drive the majority of public land. Thank God I archery hunt. Lol

Every Deer that lives “longer” .. um…had at one point reached the age of four…So, to answer your question: After the age of four, yes, that particular animal lives longer.. lol.

? How long does it take to grow a black mustache with a grey beard?

Taking the fun out of nature

Dont agree with the daylight i hunt every morning now that im retired killed big bucks last 7 years in mornings

Lol PGC... trust them like Biden

Yet another collared deer study debunking moon phase influence on Deer.

I hunt this area

You also can’t rule out the possibility that the study is secretly done by peta and they’re trying to ruin hunts 😂

I think this study was done by anti hunters, lol... Trying to contradict everything we hunters have thought for so long. Throwing us off their trail

I have to read the article to be sure, but they also did a fawn study(not sure if it’s the same) the study found that bears killed more than coyotes in the counties which had both, but state wide coyotes probably took more fawns overall

I need to read the study I personally have preferred morning hunts Just can’t track a deer after dark if hit and I’m concerned about coyotes and spoilage