October Lull???

[cevans]

Anybody else experiencing the October Lull? Where I hunt the deer in the past week they have vanished and just aren't moving too much. in 7-9 days my trail cams even have only had 3 pics of deer on them where as before, they were all averaging 25-30 diff. deer every 3-4 days when I checked them. Not even pics at nite on them either. We go thru this every year when mid Oct. gets here and by the end of the month everything breaks loose again. I blame a lot of this to falling leaves and nuts falling out of the trees as I hunt the oaks but haven't even been jumping anything either moving around and checking areas as they are deep in the woods and swamp where I hunt. I know it will pick back up again..just wanted to ask around and see what kind of reponses I get. Happy hunting to all.

[galamb]

Yep - South-Eastern Ontario.

Someone turned the "deer tap" OFF.

Went from seeing 5-6 deer a day at the "feed pile" to a lone doe in the past week (but the coon's have moved right in )

[Talltines]

Here in south NJ the bucks have gone with only a spike and one shot of a nice 8. Usually get 30 to 40 shots of this and one other small 7 pointer but as of a week ago boy they are not around. Does yes but the bucks have slowed down. Maybe fattening up on acorns for the RUT that is on the way to carry them through the next 2 months.

It's just a couple weeks away till they will be back

Brian

[kd8jgu]

Not saying I am an expert but here the moon phase does make a difference
Deer here have went from every morning and every evening before sunset to sunset to sunrise today was the first deer I have seen in day light since 2 weeks ago new moon is Friday so hopefully that will help for me

[UPSMAN]

My only lull is that I can't be in the woods. Today was opening day of rifle in Georgia. @ more weeks before I hit the woods.

[xcaliber]

I almost ran 2 over on the way hunting. Have not had a sighting in my stand since last Saturday.

[RexKay]

Ya same here.. Them deer just vanished..all week, 12 pics.....they'll be back soon I hope!

[cevans]

Not saying I am an expert but here the moon phase does make a difference
Deer here have went from every morning and every evening before sunset to sunset to sunrise today was the first deer I have seen in day light since 2 weeks ago new moon is Friday so hopefully that will help for me

I was hoping and waiting to see if anybody else had the same thoughts as to why the deer sightings was way way down. And I personally think its same reasoning that the moon phase is at a low past few days, and going to change by this coming weekend. Lets keep watching the deer movements and see if this is the reasoning behind it as I think it is. I also think deer restrict their movements as to the immense falling leaves and acorns dropping as it makes them jittery with all the action that the woods is going thru kinda screwing them up and making them alittle nervous too with their sight and hearing playing games with them. Another thing we have going on right now is the activity of harvest by the farmers changing the fields and depleting the cover they have been used to. Here in my location,,farmers have been taking too long to harvest fields cause of the weather (wet) instead of 3 days to cut a field down below me,,it took them 8 and they dragged it out due to wet corn taking a few semi loads per day instead of slamming it like they normally do. So many fields are not harvested either as they are behind.

I think moon phase tho is a definite contributor. It will change for the better as time progresses. Heading to the stand now. Good hunting.

[Doe Master]

I have witnessed this very thing year after year . I haven`t been able to ask a deer so I am just assuming . But it seems when the leaves fall from the trees they get real skittish for about a week or so until they get used to being all of a sudden exposed .
I went from daytime pictures to only night the last week .

[Limbs and Sticks]

Food source change, beans are done with corn still standing and their in corn the pretty good, the little rain we had here saved the clover, acorns and clover are where were seeing them know. A little chasing going on from spikes nothing happening yet to mount to much.

Wes

[IronNoggin]

My only lull is that I can't be in the woods.

In the same boat. Most years I'll have several dozen days in already...
A stubborn chest cold turned into Severe bronchitis. The med's are VERY Strong, working (slowly) and have me Dead Tired all of the bloody time. Two weeks into this crap & counting...

And, my sister passed away this last week. Not completely unexpected, but even so, Very Much a Shock.
Family is wandering this way over the next few to help send her off. Be around until after next weekend... Then, Hopefully, I can get back out to the Church Of The Woods for some desperately needed Solace...

As for the original topic...
It is very common here for the deer to "disappear" shortly after the September opening, and be basically MIA for the majority of October. Especially so for the bucks. These little Timber Ghosts certainly live up to their name through this time period. Although the moon phase may play somewhat into this, methinks there are a couple of other reasons - at least here...

The "stupid" ones get taken out relatively early, whereas those that have survived a season or two QUICKLY catch on and pull the vanishing trick. More pressure any area has, the more this becomes evident.

Secondly, the bucks are starting to get a little "testy" with each other. While some of the younger Ladz will hang out together, those Big Old Boys seem to prefer Solitude above all else at this time. That, and they have little use for the Ladies at this point.

Soon that latter will change. Areas that seemed damn near devoid of deer will suddenly realize a huge increase in presence. And of course as the Ladz get interested in The Prom, they generally drop their guard... in the case of Blacktails, only a little though...

Suspect by the time I get back out there, The Prom will be in it's early stages, and we will see the deer presence jump dramatically as it does each and every fall...

Going to sneak out for a brief reprise tomorrow, and set out another cam. Hoping the same Tuesday afternoon. Then, another lull as I deal with what I must...

Best of Luck in the coming weeks Folks!

Nog

[amythntr]

....Didn't see a deer in the Northern NJ woods during the early morning Saturday...my brother in law saw two doe right before dusk but no shot...his trail cam indicated a couple of doe and a couple of bucks (one the nine pointer he has been hunting for 2 years) but only at night....the only daytime visitor was a 700lb yogi just laying and eating at his corn pile...even stuck his eye in the camera and took a couple of swipes at the cam...

Anthony

[Fred T]

I,m miffed as well.The 3 weeks before season opened I was seeing deer every evening in the alfalpha field I'm hunting.Also lots of great pics on the trail cam. Some nice big bucks.
I set up the ground blind a couple of weeks in advance anticapating lots of shot opportunities come oct.1.Zilch nada.Other than a doe and her fawn and a pair of distant doe's they have seemingly vanished.

[MJK]

It's been real windy in Central NJ and I think thats why the deer seem to have disappeared. With all the leaves blowing around and the noise from the wind they are all hunkered down and not moving during the day.

[Talltines]

MJK. Yeah it has been very windy here in NJ. I guess they are a bit skittish