October lull

The perception of a lull has many contributating factors. If attention is paid to the surroundings many thing are changing. Foliage in the woods is changing, more areas are visible with that change, easier for the hunter to see and far more easier for the deer to see you. Crops are ripening and harvest has started. Food sources are changing. Hunter pressure is on the increase. Sitting the same stand or stands too many times alerts the deer. Duck, goose, grouse and squirrel hunting put added activity in the woods. All contribute to changes in deer movement, adapt to those changes and see deer once again. 

Lots of people talk about this lull and everyone has a different guess why it occurs.  To me its brain chemistry, could be rut induced or daylight induced but I dont think any deer makes this conscious descision of going nocturnal based on its perception of hunting pressure which is  not a universal occurrence nor does it occur everyday to every deer.

I see deer all year long.  It's just that my land and the land around us is pretty pressured so the smarter mature deer become nocturnal on occasion.  I tried to switch it up a little this year.  I haven't even been out yet and our land has had very little pressure so far.  I'm going to give it a go next weekend and see if anything changed this year

I have always thought that the second weekend in October was a lull. This is why. Many second October weekends are very warm , sunny and calm. A perfect example is when my son was 15 , in 2012 youth hunt it was 81 degrees in Price co. It was windy but sunny. We didn't see a deer all weekend.  I have also noticed many times this weekend is Indian Summer "ish"  . I could be mistaken however, it never was my best weekend to see deer.

It just means the deer are pressured.  We hunted yesterday and had deer around all day, but it was our first time at that spot too for the year.

I use the term at times but more to describe the time of year since so many people use it.