Penn State Deer-Forest Study

The Rut Tracker has been updated as of 10 November. We will try to update the tracker on Sunday, Wednesday, and Saturday.

Quite a few readers have asked whether bucks travel more at night or during the day in the rut. With over a decade of data, we can certainly try to answer that!

To tackle this question, I have to calculate the distance traveled between successive locations. Then to make it simpler, I narrowed down the dates over which we look at distance traveled to the peak rut movements of bucks which is November 1-10 of each year.

For bucks, we end up with 22,989 distances. I divided these distances into either “Night” or “Day”, in which daytime was sunrise to sunset.

So based on buck movements from 2013-2025, here’s what I found:

During the day, bucks moved an average of 2,352 meters, or 1.46 miles.

During the night, bucks moved an average of 2,531 meters, or 1.57 miles.

A tenth of a mile is less than 200 yards. Jeannine has a longer walk to her mailbox. In a past post, we talked about how bucks are moving 24/7 but not fast. Slow and steady wins the race.

November might be the rut but it’s also seasonal depression season with days are shorter than the nights. That 200 yards might simply be because they have more hours to move?!

Another way to make these calculations is distance per unit time (speed!). What do we see then (assuming we have about 10 hours of daylight and 14 hours of dark)?

During the day, bucks travel an average of 235 meters per hour (257 yards/hr).

During the night, bucks travel an average of 181 meters per hour (198 yards/hr).

So bucks travel about the same distance during the daytime and nighttime, but faster during the daytime. Remember, these are not high speed chases because they have to do this for over 30 days with little food and limited sleep.

Check out this graph of speed from October 1 through late November. Interesting the speeds are more similar after the peak of the rut.

Interesting, but I wonder what females do… given they play a bigger role in producing the next generation. Any guesses?

-Duane Diefenbach

6 comments on “Night vs Day”

Very interesting. bs

Kenneth Shee says:

November 12, 2025 at 10:52 am

I remember a fall turkey hunt in central PA.I was sitting between the roots of a tree overlooking a ravine.Above me was an old stone foundation overgrown with brush.After sunrise a 5 point came slowly up the ravine.He appeared very tired.Reminded me of Sunday mornings when I was a teenager.I played a dirty trick on him.At about ten yards I yelled “BOO!”He went vertical and dashed back the way he came.

Through the years no doubt we’ve all seen bucks chasing does from mid-October to mid-January just about every year. I have for over 60 years of deer seasons. Of course, during the middle of November it is always way more common. Question. Do you have data on other eastern USA states as to the timing of their rutting season. Their north and south distances change the amount of sunlight as well as the weather conditions. Then there are many other factors also, relating to food and cover conditions, hunting season, etc. Would be interesting to know what they document as their months and week for rutting seasons.

Michael Marenic says:

November 12, 2025 at 1:18 pm

Long time fan of your blogs. Thank you for posting them.
My guess is the does travel area, distance and speed changes very little during the rut compared to other times of year.
I seem to remember a past post where you said something along the lines if you want to be found stay put.
Duane Diefenbach says:

November 12, 2025 at 7:29 pm

In 2011 Steve Shea and I wrote a chapter for an update of the book “Biology and Management of White-tailed Deer” where we queried biologists across North America about the timing of the rut. Except for the Gulf Coast states the rut peaks in November. We created a map of the timing of the rut. I would say that most states do not have the data that PA has to back up these dates (see Diefenbach et al. 2019) but it is pretty standard that for much of the US the peak rut period is late October and November.

I am a Pennsylvanian who also hunts from my Adirondack camp during the rut. I typically target November 12 as my go to date for hunting up here. I am up there right now. We have snow and super conditions this year.

I enjoy still-hunting and without a buck also being afoot, one has little chance of getting close to one for a shot. Because of that, I’ve often wondered about the amount of movement a buck makes during the day versus the night.

Thanks for answering that question.

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