time spent moving vs. bedded

[NCdeerguy]

For the most part we catch most deer action in early morning and evening, and various periods throughout the night with our cams and light-shining[:D] , while drivin of course lol. What I'm curious about is, how many times does a deer get up and move and how many times does it bed, and for how long? Ex. when a deer gets up to feed and drink in late evening, does it stay up all night moving around until early morning then bedding again for most of the day, or are there a few moments of movement during the night AND day, with several "naps" in between? What are your observations/convictions on that?

[bowboxer]

just my 2 cents. what i have seen a deer will bed for one two hours, they got to eat just like us. but when the hunting pressure is on they will find the thicks cover closest to food that they can and get up about every two hours or so.i watch a group of does one day bed for two and half hour got up ate and bed again and never went 50 yards.

[woodsalta]

I was told that they will get up every 5-6 hours to feed, then they will bed down to chew their "cud" like a cow.

[buckhunter21]

I guess this all depends on the time of year, but on average, a deer will get up 4-5 times a day and feed.  The times during the middle portion of the day are spent mainly around the beddding area eating whatever they can...They don't move much, and that's why we hunt in the mornings and evenings (on average).  Obviously weather conditions and the time of year will affect this.

[NCdeerguy]

Thanks for the input. I actually took off work wednesday to hunt and chose to hunt right in the middle of a lot of thick cutover and some briar thickets deeper into the property, barely got through there with my climber; I took 2 hours total setting up trying not to spook anything- set up at 5:30am. Caught lots of deer coming in to bed before shooting light. Was planning on pulling an all-day sit, but a six pointer got up and walked right to me at 1:30 and I got him-a nice deer for this piece of property. So, yeah your input was varified