In general, it seems that many members here believe the warm weather restricts early pre-rut activity into the hours of darkness (only), at least on the westside. When the temperature is above 60 degrees or so, deer are content to sit around (stay bedded) and conserve energy. They don't need to eat to sustain body heat, and when they do eat, it is during times when temperatures moderate (evenings-mornings). For deer in general, it is my understanding that the majority of rutting behavior happens at night. If the weather is cold, wet, or otherwise necessitates increased feeding activity by does, then their increased daily feedings will have bucks up and moving more during daylight, especially so as the peak of the rut nears,or if a doe or two enters an early estrus.
At this point in the season, or in the next week or so, if the weather stays warm we will likely begin to find evidence of very active deer: numerous tracks indicating running and sliding (chasing type behaviors) etc. in the forest that are suddenly present in the morning where there was none the night before. There's not a lot you can do about deer only moving only at night except to hunt bedding areas during the day. At some point though, bucks cannot overcome the urge to mate. They know that somewhere out there is a doe coming into heat. They smell it from miles away. They will get up and search her out, day or night, hot or cold. That is why the last couple days of October and the four days of late buck,which surround the peak of the rut, are the best days of the season (at least that's my take on it).
