Capitalizing on deer movement patterns will increase your chances at seeing a harvesting more mature bucks. Many hunters know the two main times that deer move. . . early morning and late evening. This is true, but there is more to it.

During early bow season, the deer will usually move right before dark. Bucks will usually start making scrape lines during this time. The problem with hunting these scrapes this early is that the bucks are visiting them after dark. At this time bucks hang together in bachelor groups.

As the season progresses and the temperature cools off, the deer will begin to increase movement. I usually start seeing more movement in the afternoons at this time. This is a good time to also start hunting scrapes because various bucks will begin to start checking them out for many reasons.

Deer movement, especially bucks, will greatly increase in November. As the rut approaches, bucks will start making mistakes as the importance for finding hot does increases. This is your chance to capitalize on these mistakes. I usually like to hunt high in areas where I can see a lot of land to increase my chances of seeing bucks passing through.

As the season ends and food becomes scarce, deer movement patterns are highly predictable. Deer will flock to available food sources and often move to keep warm. Food plots and harvested crop fields are great areas to hunt during this time. Deer will scrap these areas clean of any food that is left.