Late-season deer movements: a ‘job change’

By December, most of South Carolina’s deer are primarily in a post-rut pattern, and biologist Charles Ruth said the change in deer activity from the peak of the rut to post-rut can be characterized as a simple job change.

“After the rut, deer are just looking to survive,” he said. “During October and much of November, their job was to reproduce, and they stayed on the move to complete that function. Once that is over, the main job is simply survival, and the food requirements of eating can be accomplished with a lot less movement than required for breeding.”

Ruth said the decrease in harvest late in the season is documented by harvest reports. He said it’s easy to understand once the breeding season winds down; with the primary need being nutrition, much of that can be accomplished at night.

“By December, deer in South Carolina have been pressured by hunters for an extended period, so they also avoid the risks associated with daytime movements,” he said. “Most experienced South Carolina hunters know that by Thanksgiving, the active part of the season is essentially over.”

Ruth said hunters can be successful, but they have to temper their expectations in terms of deer activity.

“Possible bright spots do exist in December,” Ruth said. “One is that not all of the breeding activity is over, and the opportunity to find a hot doe with multiple bucks chasing is possible. It not a high possibility, but you’ve got to be out (there) to experience it.

“Also, one thing hunters can look forward to is the blast of really cold air, maybe with drizzling rain and near-freezing temperatures,” he said. “The forces a deer to get up and move to get the food and nutrition needed to withstand that type of weather. It may be brief in terms of only a few days, but these cold snaps can increase deer activity during December.”

Ruth said that the Upstate mountain area has a rut that arrives much later than the remainder of the state, and it typically peaks in late November. With the timing of that specific peak, some good rutting activity will continue into December.