Experience with deer movement in bitter cold?

[MNbuckhunter]

I'm wondering what you all have experienced in hunting bitter cold temps? Like -25 wind chills or thereabouts? Looking at the forecast in my area, we might be below zero 99% of the time until Tuesday. Below zero highs basically for a string of days starting tomorrow. Will the deer hunker down more to conserve energy? Or will they be all over the standing bean plots?

 

[gundog870]

If u can take it get out there! Every deer in mn was on its feet at 3:00 behind the storm it seemed

 

[DannyBoy]

I agree. The bitter cold should set up well for evening food source hunts. Its not like that nasty late muzzy season we had in 08 or 09 where there was a long string of sub zero temps and a pile of snow covering up all the food. Food is readily available and therefore energy efficient for deer to move to feed. Only caveat being strong winds tend to shut movement down on the few properties I hunt. I will be braving the cold these next 2 evenings!

 

[KnuckleDragr]

I have never seen extreme cold make deer hunker down. Wind ....yes. If anything they should be on their feet periodically throughout the day browsing around their bedding areas.

 

[Hardwood11]

In Minnesota they will hunker down at times...

eventually they will have to feed, any standing corn, or brassicas. Evenings only in MN

 

[Liv4Rut]

It seems the first 2 days or so of brutal cold the deer may hunker down a bit. After that they got to eat. My favorite time to hunt is a week after the brutal cold hits and stays.

 

[revup]

The orange army will get them moving

edit: whoops, didn't notice you were in MN.

If the winds are high, they will be hunkered down. Most wind will start to calm down in the evenings, and they will get up to hit the food hard at night.

 

[Deer Nut]

It seems the first 2 days or so of brutal cold the deer may hunker down a bit. After that they got to eat. My favorite time to hunt is a week after the brutal cold hits and stays.

This has been my observation also over the years.

 

[60plus]

One of the best times to hunt them if you can handle the weather. They can become very predictable. If your after an old Buck be patient, they can hook up with a bunch of deer in bad weather on a food source, and become vulnerable, but usually the last ones to arrive, sometimes with just a few minutes of legal light left to shoot.

 

[flugge]

I saw more deer feeding today between 9-11 than I have in a long time... However, this was one of the Whitetail Freaks properties I went past... clearly that is a pocket that has a few more deer than the rest of the state... lol