Daytime Movements of Minnesota Deer: A Scientific Study, Autumn 2017

There will be a build-up of sightings on bucks and does in the daytime prior to the breeding phase of the rut. Increased sightings in daytime will correlate to dates we can then assert were "peak rut." A drop off of sightings will predictably lead to noticeable times of fewer sightings i.e. breeding days and nights. (In our area this is known as "lockdown.")Inclement weather will limit the number of deer seen on any given day. Sunny days with radiant heat and mostly cloudless skies will limit deer sightings at any point in the 49-day observation period. The rut will be occurring, give or take, somewhat noticeably as of the November 4th deer season opener, simply due to this being the common rut time in our area, despite an earlier, October-mostly rut last year. We will also test a past prediction from the Feist/Hannah 2016 study as follows: "Next year 2017] will be an equally good year to see bucks."