Thread: Fallow activity in winter, different than summer?

Got a newbie question about deer habits in winter. The usual story in summer I’ve heard is that deer start moving around to feed in the morning and in the evening, and they usually bed down in the afternoon. Does this general idea still apply in winter? Going to be looking for fallow in the bush and the weather is looking like there is going to be heavy rain , so not sure if it would be worth getting real wet by slogging around in the bush all afternoon, or if I should focus on evening/morning and keep comfortable/dry in the afternoon. If it is worth looking all day in the rain I am happy to go for it though.
Rain is great for keeping scent low and keeping steps quiet, but it is a real pain as someone with four eyes. Keeping those lenses clear is annoying. As a side question, anyone know of a good product for keeping eyeglasses and scope lenses fog and droplet free?

Peaked cap and poncho for the eye glasses and scope....deer are where you find them, keep moving around until you find them...wet or fine they are still there somewhere, unlike us they don't go home to a dry house at the end of the day.

Get in there and hunt them all day. If its drizzling they will be moving. If its pissing down then will be bedded under cover but they will still be there. Much more fun looking for them then sitting waiting to go look for them

Fallow can be easier to hunt in the rain than in the dry. What they don’t like is cold wind.

If it is raining hard, then meh, not much fun for the hunter or the hunted. Fallow go into thick cover in heavy rain (and very hot sun) and you’ll be hard pressed to find them without bumping them. But intermittent rain and showers, or steady light rain, they’ll be feeding on and off throughout the day in cool winter weather.

One of the things about starting out is to simply get out there and learn the deers’ habits. Time on the hill in different weather and seasons at different times of the day is always valuable. Fallow are totally different to reds in their habits, they can be harder or easier to hunt, depending on how you approach the problem. They don’t move around as much as reds and tend to stay within quite a well defined home range, which once you’ve worked that out, can make finding them relatively straightforward.

As fallow are primarily grazers they like to be near grass. If the country is gullys along streams with the grass above, they will often be just inside the top bush edge in the rain, depends on the country. Walk fast until you find sign then hunt.

In winter they love shelted places with no wind,lots of grass n sun.

they LOVE sunlight.....agree about hunting in rain,the deer dont have anywhere else to go,maybe have favourite leaning tree/log to stand under out of worst of it...but they will still be at home.
a warehouse widebrimmed hat like schoolkids have now will cost less than $20 and will also keep rain from dripping down your neck,rian on and off during day has always been good conditions for me.seems deer get wet so want to move into open to dry out,NZ bush is special when its raining but its plurry WET ,a light nylon rain jacket UNDER polarfleece isnt bad compromise,outer fleece gets wet,but you stay dry and its not noisy.
put your polarfleece long trousers on and pull them down OVER TOP of your gaiters n boots, that way water runs down fabric instead of down into your boots. take cooker or thermos and stop for hot cuppa it is amazing how much that will perk you up on cold wet day,more than one deer has been shot coming to investigate the noise of burner heating up a brew.

Ended up sucking it up and hunting in the morning rain. Ended up with a young little fallow. She and another girl were hunkered down in a dry twiggy area right beside a ridge with minimal feed around so i guess they wanted to rest dry that morning. they stood up and looked at me when I came into their view so took the shot then. Not used to animals not falling instantly so thought i missed when the deer ran off, but then found some gory splatter and so started the blood trail tracking, was about 75-100m away. The little thing was a fighter despite a lung shot. Also didn't know that fallow barked until today. Heard a loud weird bark quite close to me before i found the girls and it gave me a big fright.

I wore polyprop and fleece under a water resistant coat. Didnt want to use the coat because the coat is a bit noisy, but didn't want to get too wet. Figured the noise of the coat would be muffled by the rain on the vegetation. It has lost its waterproofing after a while so it got a bit waterlogged by the time I got back to the hut. The idea of putting rain jacket under fleece is great @Micky Duck, will try that at some point. I didnt have any water resistant trousers (despite getting caught in the rain all the time) so i bought a pair of manitoba wingshooter trousers right before i left to the blueys. Those kept me very dry but there was some noise friction between the different trouser layers when the outer layer got moist. I dont have gaiters, need to get a pair. Shoes get filled with moisture twigs, and dirt all the time

For glasses fog i bought an antifog gel from the scuba diving shop. Worked well enough. Had a small towel handy in pocket to wipe scope lens and glasses from water droplets.

Originally Posted by Trout

In winter they love shelted places with no wind,lots of grass n sun.

Yep, sheltered place is where i found them this time.

Bloody awesome.

absolutely STOKED you got one...enjoy the venison you surely have EARNED IT.......
YOU GO GIRL!!!!!!!
had funny encounter with a fallow deer today...was walking along quietly looking for wallabies,had shot 4 already and nearly back to wagon,look ahead and see what looks like fat wallaby behing light vegetation screen,but Im not 100% sure as cant quite make out outline,or head or tail,move slightly to get better view and fallow stands up and takes off...I was looking at its bum as it was bedded down.... was quite happy to just see it there.
enjoy that venison,dont eat any for 48 hours unless you eating today...or it will be tough.

@Micky Duck has a good idea re polar fleece over waterproof gear, years ago I got a deer while wearing an old jersey over an oilskin parka to stop the scratchy noise when pushing through scrub, deer was totally unaware of my presence. (Polarfleece and Goretex wasn’t invented back then!)

Oh that's awesome, happy for you mate. Well done.
It proves one thing for certain...you don't get them sitting in the hut !!!

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Congratulations, great effort.

Thanks for sharing that trip report...

Well done.
Highlights the importance of following up your shot, thats an impressive blood spatter.....often there can be little or no blood at the site and the blood trail may not start for 30m or so. So yes always follow up the shot.

Good stuff Jessica. Well and truely earned. Have shot fallow in a howling southerly before.


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