What affect if any would snow have on Texas Hill Country deer behavior? Would they bed down or would it make them move?

? Snow in the Hill Country?

No idea since I've never hunted in snow...it would sure make then easier to track for stalk hunting I would think

if they're anything like me, they'll do this really fast high step tip-toe when running out to grab the paper in the mornings.

aside from that, it's business as usual.

Cant speak for Texas cause I never hunted when it snowed. But here in Virginia, yes its business as usual with a little advantage in seeing tracks of various wildlife. Its been my experience that deer eat when their hungry early AM and evening, snow and rain does not affect movement they still eat.

I have hunted in Southwest Va. George Washington NF with a foot of snow on the ground. Find the food source, game trails and dress and prepare accordingly. Now this is in Va. West of the blue Ridge Mountains.

Here around Charlottesville and East of the the Blue Ridge they use dogs, which I equate to cat fishing with a trot line (to each his own). Snow, no snow or rain, the dogs will find and run the deer if there around regardless of weather. Just pull up a seat, poor you some coffee, and wait for the dogs and noise of a scurrying deer coming your way.

I've hunted in Montana most of my life, and it typically doesn't affect movements at all. Only time I've seen it do so was when really heavy snow, like whiteout, was falling.

40% chance snow sunday night in Hunt TX.

In my limited experience in south Texas, once the temperature drops below 30 or so, deer will bed down. The best hunting seems to be during the warmest part of the day.

Deer up here love snow. It really gets them moving.

Texas deer, on the other hand, are ******* and will probably wreck their automobiles and post pictures of a dusting on Facebook.

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Texas deer, on the other hand, are ******* and will probably wreck their automobiles and post pictures of a dusting on Facebook.

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Now that's funny.

We were hunting outside Del Rio in 85? When the great snow storms hit and it snowed as far south as George West. When the front hit it was windy with sleet and the deer bedded up in the canyons.

When it turned to snow and the wind died they started moving as usual and actually moved more throughout the day. It was really cool to be hunting in that much snow. It was the first time I had ever seen snow.

I think they are affected more by the wind than the snow, just like any other time that it is very windy.

My 2 cents from hunting in the snow at 14 yrs old!

I have found that snow certainly will not keep them from moving. In my experience, the colder it is, the more deer eat (i.e. move around) in order to obtain the needed calories to stay warm.

Snow implies cold temps, and thus deer movement. I will certianly be in the stand.

When I was younger (maybe 12 or 13), I hunted a lease around Mason. One morning I killed a doe, and between the time I shot her and the time I went to go get my dad it began to snow. This young boy from SE Texas thought snow was the coolest thing ever, until we realized it had covered up the blood trail from the deer I shot. Snow sucks.

Hunted in 1-4" of snow the last few years in West Central TX and deer move well in it.

Really like hunting in it as you can pick a deer moving at a 1000 yards out w/naked eye in it.... Really is an advantage.

Really think this cold blast (possible ice/snow in Coke Co this weekend) in combo with Rut, should produce best bucks of season for daughter to put one the ground this weekend.

_89

still a toss up but it doesn't seem as if this time any of us will really be seeing any snow accumulations.



but we all know how inaccurate these forecasts can be, so there's still a chance we get a ton of snow! haha

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In my limited experience in south Texas, once the temperature drops below 30 or so, deer will bed down. The best hunting seems to be during the warmest part of the day.

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last week when the cold front moved through in Crockett county, Ozona, they were moving all morning long and the activity gradually faded as temps rose into 40's and everything was bedded down by 50's in the afternoon until it was perhaps an hour and a half before sunset.

its always pretty different though because the wind was pretty non-existent.

hard to really say what effect the wind will have on deer in south texas or anywhere else compared to the west Texas winds that stay pretty constant and howling.

oh and the fact that the canyons cut up pretty much through the middle of us, that makes it a bit hard to get a read on them because the better browse is up on the tops and not in the canyons. end the end it makes it a fun thing to observe your entire life, kinda just like fishing, to see if you might find a clue or condition that gives you a reliable predictor on the animals.

I guide hunters in the Rocksprings area and have for several years. Have been there through several light snows and cannot say that it changed the deer movement at all. Also, I have never before heard of deer bedding down when temperature gets below 30 degrees. We had some of our best hunts in the teens in temperature, at least for four legged deer. Maybe the above poster is talking about 2 legged " dears "

I'll try to read through some of my whitetail book collection and see if there is any expert opinion on this to help out my fellow texag hunters.

Might take a while because I need to see if I have any of the books nearby. I'd need to look through at least a few of them first before saying much but some are slow scientific research type books with lots of valuable info to sift though and some are guide writings with their experiences that arent really applicable in general settings.

My experience hunting deer in Texas in the snow, Sucks! They are not used to it and will not move their usual patterns.

Oh, and spring turkey hunting in the snow (in the Hill Country) really sucks!!! We hunted them in Brady about 5 years ago and the birds disappeared. Had 4" on the ground the first morning of the hunt. It was really cool to see bluebonnets in the snow, though.