Serious deer hunters are always “in school.” In an effort to better understand our quarry and get into a deer’s head, we never stop seeking information about deer behavior. In this regard two of my favorite reference books on whitetail facts are, in this order, “Whitetail Savvy” by Dr. Leonard Lee Rue III and Hunting Top End Bucks by Ralph S. Norris. Dr. Rue is a nationally recognized deer scientist, while Norris is an accomplished big buck hunter with a lot of practical field savvy when it comes to buck behavior.

While pondering the question, “How do weather patterns influence deer movements?”, I sought answers in these two reference books. Surprisingly, Rue does not write much about weather and deer. He does, however, show with good data, that deer movement peaks are 2 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.

Norris is a little more detailed. He writes: “The best days to be out in the woods hunting are overcast, drizzly rain, after a storm or the day preceding a front. Rising or falling barometer pressure will cause big game to be active and feed.”

Recently a high school student from Bingham, Collin Miller, caught my attention with a school project study that he has done on weather and whitetail movement. His study is quite specific and tracks the way in which different weather elements affect the activity level of deer.

Using a weather station and some game trail cameras, Miller says that he “tracked data for wind, moon phases, barometric pressure, barometric stability, temperature and precipitation. Out of them, the variables that stood out as having the most significant trends were: barometric pressure, barometric stability and wind speed.”

A caveat: Miller’s study was limited to bucks only. And, while he has no scientific credentials, his amplifying data — his charts, graphs and trail cam photos — are impressive and, to my mind, worthy of serious consideration.

Some of Miller’s findings:

1. Deer are really sensitive to barometric pressure. They don’t like a steady barometer. They move most on an unstable barometric pressure.

2. More than 50 percent of his deer sightings were on a rising barometer!

3. The reading on the barometer has a tremendous effect on the movement of bucks. Most of the deer sightings occurred from a barometer reading between 29.6 and 30.6. Almost 50 percent of the deer sightings occurred at pressures between 30.1 and 30.2.

4. Wind speed is also a factor in deer movement.( Miller cautions that this variable may be “herd or land specific.”) Deer were sighted most between winds speeds of 0 to 10 mph. His findings suggest that deer don’t like winds in excess of 15 mph and, conversely, are also inhibited in their movements by no wind at all. Forty-one out of his seventy-four buck sightings took place when the wind was at 5 mph. Miller theorizes “At 5 mph the wind makes enough cover noise for them to travel but also is not too loud to impair their hearing.”

Food for thought, all you deer hunters. I hope that you join me in commending Collin Miller for his undertaking and his mature, thoughtful approach to it. His entire study, complete with charts, graphs and photos will be published in the September issue of the Northwoods Sporting Journal.

The author is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide, co-host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network (WVOM-FM 103.9, WQVM-FM 101.3) and former information officer for the Maine Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. His e-mail address is vpaulr@tds.net. He has two books “A Maine Deer Hunter’s Logbook” and his latest, “Backtrack.”

Copy the Story Link