Deer that have been hunted hard will often retreat to a steep hillside that faces west. They will hide out there until it gets dark when they will come out and feed.
There is a DNR rifle range on the Apple Creek Wildlife area in SE Missouri. Several years ago I had been hunting a mile or 2 down the road from the range. There were people out there shooting all afternoon. At dark I started home and ran across a lost hunter and gave him a ride back to the range parking lot. By the time we got there it was pretty dark and as we turned into the drive the headlights swept the field between the road and the range. It was absolutely FULL of deer... I counted 26 before they spooked.
Remember, less than an hour earlier there had been guys out there shooting just yards away. The next day I hunted the hill just across the road and scored a kill. I think I was one of the few guys that filled his tag within range of a range and I did it 3 years running before I moved.
