Whitetail Deer Hunting tips - Weather Patterns to look for!

When it comes to whitetail deer movement, the weather has a tremendous impact. And although we have no control over it, we can control how we respond to it. Watching weather patterns, especially cold fronts pushing wind and rain or snow is a great way to whittle down the best time to be in the woods! So here are a few whitetail deer hunting tips that'll help you though the october lull.
Whitetails tend to be cyclic feeders. They’re ruminates, meaning that their digestive tract is broken into multiple phases. I’m sure you’ve heard about the four chambered stomach, but this isn’t entirely correct. They are actually four separate organs that preform different functions, or stages, of digestion. The rumen is the largest of the four and acts like a grocery basket. When a deer is feeding this is where they’re putting the groceries. So a feeding bout is equivalent to running through the grocery store throwing things into the cart. It isn’t until later that they actually chew!
If you’re a prey animal this is a great strategy for reducing the time you’re most vulnerable to predation. Deer can ingest a large amount of forage quickly then, in the safety of their beds, leisurely regurgitate and chew what they previously collected. The time spent processing the groceries, aka rumination, is part of where that 5 hour cycle stems from (the other part has to do with fermentation in the gut). After a feeding bout, deer need a few hours to process what they’ve collected.
There are several things that can disrupt or shift the normal feeding cycle. Hunting pressure, other disturbances, moon phase, etc. all play a part. But these are things we can’t often predict. The weather on the other hand is fairly predictable and probably trumps the other factors anyway. Extreme weather with storms and high winds will keep whitetails in their beds beyond that 5 hours. When the weather finally does break, they’re hungry and anxious to get out and feed. Obviously when the deer are up and power feeding, is when you want to be in the woods!
To find these fronts, just keep an eye on the weather forecast. You’re looking for obvious fronts that bring a drastic change in the weather. Big drops in temperature, wind speed, rising pressure, decreasing rain or snow, etc. The best time to be out there is right when it breaks and for maybe a day or so afterward.
Being out there and in a good location when it breaks might mean putting on your rain gear and heading out while it’s still blowing. Who's up for a little deer hunting in the rain? If you're willing to do so, you'll be less likely to spook deer on the way to your stand and more likely to intercept one as they move from their bedding areas to food sources. And slipping into a food source close to a mature bucks bedding area durring the tail end of a storm is a great way to get a crack at a big buck!
Watching weather patterns is a great way to narrow down the best hunting times no matter what part of the season you're hunting - early season, through the rut and after!
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