Temperatures and water questions

[Guest azshooter]

I have a few questions on behavior, and wondered if anyone could help.

 

What temperature range do coues like to be in, i.e., if it's in the 50's, 60's or 70's will they want to be on the sunny side of the hill or the shady side of the hill? Or another way of looking at this would be what temperature is the break point, where they would prefer to be either cooler or warmer? How sensitive are they to this, i.e., are other factors such as wind, water, and feed more important than temp?

 

What are their preferences as far as how high up the ridge do they want to be? I believe they typically bed near the bottom of the canyon mid-day, but what about at 1st light, where are they most likely to be?

 

How differently do bucks act regarding water. That is, will they starve themselves out for water if there is a lot of hunting pressure, or do they just water at night instead. I see does watering during the day even with lots of hunter traffic in an area.

 

Thanks

[CouesWhitetail]

AZShooter,

 

You ask a lot of great questions. I don't know the exact answers, but I can give you what I think based on my experience. Hopefully some others will chime in too.

 

The temp range that I think Coues will be out in the open alot is about 40-55 degrees, when they have their winter coats on. I find that when it's cold enough for me to have to wear a coat, hat and gloves, then there is much more deer activity. If I am comfortable in a tshirt, then the deer will be less active and in the shade. So I would say at about 60-70 degrees they start wanting to be shaded a lot. And when it's near freezing out, then I have seen them delay getting up in the morning until the sun has been up for an hour or more. I think temperature is extremely important to these deer. There movements seem highly dictated by it. However, finding a place that is 50 degrees in the Arizona summer is pretty impossible. Luckily they lose their winter coats and get much thinner hair on in the summer. Maybe some of you summer bowhunters have a better feel for their summer temp range. I know they can be seen coming to water at mid-day in 100 plus temps.

 

You ask about wind, and it is very important. Windy conditions will restrict deer movements regardless of temp. I think this is because they feel less secure since they can't hear predators coming. Also, scent gets blown around so much it's probably much harder to detect and figure direction it's coming from. They get extremely nervous if they have to be out in the wind.

 

Preferences for ridge height is variable. Their decision on where to be is more dependent on habitat type and temp. than on height up a ridge. The place I am hunting this December is showing this. I have deer on low parts of some ridges, right next to place where deer are almost at the top (all at the same time). And there are ridges where the deer are scattered all the way up.

 

At first light, I try and look for open areas that are near thicker areas. If they have been bedded and have just gotten up, that's where they will be. Look for a patch of trees or brush, that has some open grassy areas near it. Deer will frequently be in the same area at the same time of day, day after day. So if you have an area where you have seen a group of does or bucks in before, there is a high probability they will be there again the next day. This isn't always true, because factors such as wind and temp change things up quite a bit.

 

In general the deer will be in the more open southern and eastern facing hillsides in the morning, and on the northern/western facing slopes in the late morning, early afternoon. But this isn't always true either. It really depends on what type of shelter they need at the time. I have seen deer bed and feed and bed again, spending all day on the same north facing slope. Again, wind and temperature drive where they will be. If the wind is out of the south, then they will probably be on the northern slopes. If it's cold out, they will probably be on the southern exposures.

 

For your last question, you ask about bucks and water. Bucks definitely change their behavior in relation to hunting pressure. So yes, they may go to feeding and watering at night, if there is enough pressure. If we hunted does that hard, they would do the same thing. When bucks feel threatened, they will restrict their movements and stay in thicker brush.

 

Hope that helps! Thanks for the questions.

 

Amanda

Edited January 1, 1970 by CouesWhitetail