[Byron Quick]

My stepfather is a contrarian when it comes to whitetails. He sleeps in, gets in the woods about 11 AM and seldom uses a stand. While scouting, he takes a rake and pruning shears. He'll clear a trail of several hundred yards of leaves, sticks and debris to avoid noise while walking. Use the pruning shears so that he doesn't have to brush against limbs. Then he takes two or three steps and waits a few minutes. Then two or three more slow steps and so on.

He claims that many deer are on to the morning and evening stand hunters. These deer move during the middle of the day when most folk are back at camp according to him.

Hard to argue with his results. He kills nice deer every season. He almost never hunts deer in the morning or late afternoon.

[mete]

In heavily hunted areas the deer will move when hunters leave the woods to go for coffee or lunch .One friend knows hunters habits better than the deer's and profits by it !! But deer don't sleep all day.Learn their habits.For example one time deer move in this area is between 12:30 and 1:30 ,that's the does . Bucks may follow does but can be seen almost any time. If I can't hunt early I just go out between 12:00 and 2:00 .Another movement is at 4:00 . You must learn the deer's habits !!! BTW I don't walk through the woods I sit and wait near their trails .

[redneck2]

First day I ever deer hunted in my life. Got an 11 pointer, 213 dressed. 11:30am

The only absolute during deer hunting is "there are no absolutes". You can scout all you want, but when hunters walk the woods all day and the rut is on, everything pretty much goes out the window

[killzone]

I usually take my time first two days and take my GPS with me and mark the spots I like on it > distance and angle too.I come up with path ways and draw an over view of my hunting check points so I dont have to re position for the rest of the hunt as much as I normaly would. I pick my favorite spots and watch for activity. I take notes and note what was interesting about that certain spot.(Even colors, land marks and the access) That way when I get back to my cabin I can picture a better image of which spot is hotter than that otherone,,,, Its more fun anyway. my notes also help me with my jurnal. For some it my seem complicated but I never had a hunt where I could not take anything .... Oh wait.... that is bull,,,, I've had a few... BUT doing what I do It almost never bothered me....that is forsure,,,
Best Regards
KZ

[birddog]

A friend of mine who is the most accomplished whitetail hunter I know, has killed most of his record-book bucks at mid-day. If you can, hunting all day is the way to go.

[Browns Fan]

Quote:
"He sleeps in, gets in the woods about 11 AM "

Sounds like my type of hunting! ;)

[Art Eatman]

I've done pretty good in the middle of the day. I was fortunate enough to hunt for several years on a ranch with lots of ridges of some 100 feet of relief above the valleys. Bucks tend to lay up on the downwind military crest, near a saddle. When spooked, they'd run uphill and upwind. "Real" bucks, anyhow; little bucks and does will run any old which way.

So, work a ridge where you can go crosswind or slightly upwind, just at the downwind edge where you can watch that area just below the crest. Kick Bucky out of bed, and if he's worth taking, bust him.

It can get busy; he's running, you may be running and shooting and cussing...

:), Art

[fisherman66]

Sounds like fun Art. You don't by chance hunt near or in Palo Duro Canyon?

[mustanger98]

It seems to me this noontime (10am-2pm) hunting would work real well where the deer expect hunters in the morning and evening. I've heard plety of times if you stay on your stand during that time you may see the biggest buck you ever saw. Thing is, where I hunt, they tend to expect me during that time and after 4pm. My Daddy killed a nice one early in the morning this last Christmas Eve because he was there when the deer wasn't expecting me in that spot.

[mustanger98]

Around here, the bucks just hole up in thick cover and that could be anywhere.

[Oldnamvet]

The bunch of guys I hunt with (and a lot of the others from the same area) get to their blinds at 0500 and then leave from 1000 until 1400 for lunch. They claim that the deer don't move during mid day. I pack a lunch and stay in my blind. Last time I filled both my tags during that time, one at 1215 and another at 1245. Just had time to field dress one and drag him up to my blind before the other showed up. When my buddies were coming back to the field, I was loaded up and ready to go back to the resort for a hot shower and a nap. All those guys moving around in the woods push the deer every which way. An opportunity for someone with patience.

[Art Eatman]

fisherman66, my present playground is down here near the border, sorta west-northwest of Big Bend National Park. Desert and mountain country.

Art

[Charles S]

All those guys moving around in the woods push the deer every which way. An opportunity for someone with patience.

That has been my experience also.

I have had great luck in the middle of the day.

Last year I shot my first buck with a bow. I made the shot at 13:15.

Charles

[Byron Quick]

Around here, the bucks just hole up in thick cover and that could be anywhere


All my experience with deer hunting has been in Georgia. Our bucks hide all kinds of places, not just thick cover.


Buck I hunted for a couple of years had gone completely nocturnal. I finally realized where he was spending the day. There was an old chimney in the middle of a field, with about a hundred feet of honeysuckle vine on the ground, and a few scraggly plum trees. He was spending all day lying in the honeysuckle with the plum trees camoflaging his rack. Just watching the world go by.

Drove by a buck one night that was watching traffic. He was leaning against a clay bank that had grass hanging down from the top over him. His left feet were curled up under him on the clay bank.

They'll hide in much lighter cover than you would credit until you've seen them there.

[Smoke]

If I want to shoot a deer, I just go out any time of day and pick the one I want.
Can be in and out inside 20 minutes. Ain't nothing to shootin' an old deer. :neener:

Smoke :evil:

http://home.earthlink.net/~rogerwparks/Whitetail7.jpg

[fisherman66]

Hey, your pretty good with photoshop!



Alright, that was jelously comming out.

My parents live in Lincoln National Forest in NM. I drive by field like that all the time. 30 deer is not uncommon. Of couse they are all protected in that National Forest.

[Sam]

I hunt the Lincoln all the time fisherman66. No one bothered to tell me it was closed to hunting. Where is that in the proclamation?

Out here deer have a habit of bedding down around mid day. I find it to be a good time to sneak up on 'em and everyone else seems to have left the field.

Sam

[scout26]

Man look at all those decoys !!!!

:D


(Very carefully ever so patiently waiting for the opening of archery deer season here in Illinois.)

[fisherman66]

Sam;

I'm not sure of the lingo, and perhaps I am wrong and it is just the village limits.

They live in Ruidoso.

[Sam]

In the village, hunting would not be good and is not allowed. Lincoln National Forest covers 1/4 of the state.
Hunting is allowed in NF but not in National Parks.

Sam

[MudPuppy]

I think it just depends on the area--I could be full of it, but it seems to me deer in areas that don't see a whole lot of traffic move a bit during the day, but if its an area with plenty of folks out and about during the day, the deer may still come around near dark or real early.

[fisherman66]

Thanks for the clarification Sam. I will check into that and out of state licences. A crowned elk mossied though their front yard one day. They have a really nice picture. Last time I was there a couple black bear tore down the hummingbird feeders. Lots of pictures of those guys too.

I get such an itchy trigger finger every time I visit.

[bean357]

Smoke! :what:

heh, heh...."decoys"

[20cows]

I believe your stepfather is using the method Elmer Keith called "still hunting," IIR. It was his favorite way to hunt. As a side note, Keith often smoked a pipe while doing this, so he could keep track of the wind direction. It requires a lot of patience. You can't be in a hurry.

(I don't think he did all the pruning beforehand, though.)

[mustanger98]

I "still hunt" too, from a blind (white pine limbs in fence mesh). In my part of the country, I don't have to smoke to read the wind for two reasons. 1) My shots will mostly be within 50yds if not closer; not far enough to really effect the bullet's flight. 2) I watch the way grass and leaves are effected by wind, as well as the flag I put out as a scent bomb when I was using scent lures (won't be using that this year because they ain't collected from deer in my part of the country and so smell different).

[pauli]

around here, the deer seem to think they'll blend in best if they're lying down on the edge of the road... ahem.

(on the flip side, none of the ones that i see trying it are getting shot at...)

[skynyrd1911]

I'm a beginner, but I took my first deer last year. Although it was a doe, she sure cooks up fine. One shot, one kill, with a 12 gauge, at about 1430 hrs. Windy as heck! I was walking down a path and there they were. Lucky, I'm sure, as I need to learn ALOT more. :o

[fisherman66]

Glad to hear it Skynard! I think does taste better (especially compared to a buck in rut.)

2:30 pm That's good to know.

[20cows]

In my part of the country, I don't have to smoke to read the wind for two reasons. 1) My shots will mostly be within 50yds if not closer; not far enough to really effect the bullet's flight. 2) I watch the way grass and leaves are effected by wind, as well as the flag I put out as a scent bomb when I was using scent lures (won't be using that this year because they ain't collected from deer in my part of the country and so smell different).

Wind deflection was not the reason. Keith was reading the wind to know which direction to keep moving. He always traveled up wind.

[mustanger98]

20cows, That's a good strategy. If you keep moving upwind you'll run into something that hasn't smelled you. If you're sitting in a blind, like me, you watch upwind too. I was reading an article by a guy who hunts in open country by using blinds- he said he saw more trophy-size bucks inside 300yds on the upwind side of his blind. He said all the trophy-size bucks on the downwind side stayed outside of 500yds, effectively out of range of most of us. Where I am, though, you just flat can't see that far.

Another problem where I am is that in late Fall, the fronts always turn goofy and the wind swirls more than other times of the year. It's real hard to stay downwind of anything when you're sitting still.

[20cows]

I "still hunt" too, from a blind :D

When I read Keith's book years ago, I wondered why he called his walk around style "still hunting." But he wrote the book and got to call it what he wanted to. (And he was good enough at it for me not to argue with.)

[JShirley]

I've had pretty good luck still hunting in the middle of the day. I've usually used a handier unscoped weapon at such times- last season I was able to hunt, it was usually my ghost-ring Mossberg 500.

[Don Gwinn]

Been thinking about ghost rings on my Ithaca 37. I dunno. Gotta go shoot that gun this weekend, I think; season will be here soon and I won't have fired the shotgun since last season. Not good.

I've had good luck around midday too, but mostly in the evening. Pike County deer like to be dressed in the dark. ;) We don't still hunt since the property we hunt is very small and the landowners and rich urban guys are walking draws all around us and missing left and right. We sit in stands and observe most of the day.

I'm excited about this year; by the time season rolls around, I believe I'll be about 125 lbs. lighter than I was last year. I've lost at least 105 so far, but probably more like 110-115. Last year, deer season was the time I chose to start a diet, not really thinking I'd stick to it. I remember climbing over a barbed-wire fence and thinking to myself "Hey, that wasn't too bad for a 400-pounder." When I realized what I'd just thought--and later when I was afraid to climb the ladder into my stand and chose to stay on the ground with very poor visibility--it really hit me what a slob hunter I'd let myself become. A fat guy who can barely drag himself a couple of miles into the woods and is afraid to climb into his stand? Sad.

Not this year. This year I'm still fat, but a lot less so. And this year I'm in better cardiovascular shape than I was 6-8 years ago in college.

[roo_ster]

DOn:

That's terrific. 125lbs/year. I'm cuttin' weight, too. Wanna go from 290 to 225-ish.

[Don Gwinn]

You can do that, no problem. 290 is about where I am now, and if I'd started this new life back when I first hit 290 instead of waiting so long, I'd be closing in on my target shape now.

Right now I'm 290 and have done one 62 mile bike ride. My long-term goal for the next two years is to ride 100-mile "centuries," weigh 200 and do five pullups at that weight.

Someday I may be able to afford to hunt Montana or Alaska, and I hate the thought that I could have that chance and be too fat to do it.

[NRA4LIFE]

About 5 years ago on my property in Missouri, I killed a small 6-pointer on opening morning. After returning to camp about 10:30 or so, an old friend of my dad's who never hunted with us before asked me if he could go use my stand. As I wasn't hunting anymore, I said sure and he trudged out there around 11:30. Not 10 minutes later he killed the biggest buck we ever got on my land (still to this day). A very nice 10-pointer.

[20cows]

Don Gwinn,

I'm 112 lbs. down myself. It makes it alot easier to get on a horse.

[JShirley]

Wow, Don. Good for you.

Wonder if I could lose 125 lbs? :D

[Byron Quick]

Wonder if I could lose 125 lbs?

You'd probably die at around the 80lb loss mark, John. You weigh what when you've been munching away? 155? You're a hobbit.

[PCGS65]

I'll be going out bow hunting deer for the first time sat. oct. 1st. I've already scouted a couple good spots in midewin tall grass prarie in Illinois. I found a spot under a medium sized bush where a deer lays down. I think I'll wait near that bush for when he's/she's tired. Only 3 days to go and I can't think of anything else. I sure hope I can sleep friday night. YAHOO! ;) :p

[Matt G]

John, you could lose it better now than when I saw you in GA a coupla years ago (how has it gotten that long?!?).

20 Cows said:
I'm 112 lbs. down myself. It makes it alot easier to get on a horse.Easier for you, but MUCH easier on the hores, no? :D

Don, I've got to say that you've inspired me. Gears are being put into motion.


Regarding hunting during midday-- I've done it a little, but typically, I use the midday for other fun activity, like kicking up quail, or going back to camp for lunch and chit chat and nap. The main thing is to use the trip for fun, rather than find yourself wondering why you've taken yourself out there to be tired, sleep-deprived, and dirty. :)

[GunGoBoom]

You're a hobbit.

Hey I resemble that remark!


Easier for you, but MUCH easier on the hores, no

Indeed, being a little guy makes it much easier on the hores when climbing on and off of them. :what:

Smoke, not fair!

Gonna try some of that mid-day hunting this year. Like that 11:00 start idea too. :neener: Usually, my SOP is get out before dawn, hunt til about 9:30 or 10:00 am, then get very sleepy, get afraid of falling out of the stand, so climb out of the stand, take a nap on the ground under the stand till about 11:30. Get up and hunt again til about 1:00. Take a quick 1-hour lunch from 1 to 2. Then hunt the rest of the day. But I think this year, I'll just pack some apples & granola bars in my pack and stay out all day, for the reasons mentioned here, AND because I've always felt like the smells which I acquire by osmosis at mid-day back in camp while cooking lunch & cleaning up can't possibly be a good thing. Last year, IIRC, the ONLY deer I saw that were not running away from me, due to me jumping them while they were bedded, were at 11:15 am, Noon, 3:45 pm, and right at dusk.

[JShirley]

Matt,

I've actually stayed about 155 just about the whole time I've been out (late '03). Got lazy briefly, bumped up 5 lbs...lost it...back to 155 again.

Darn it. Almost everybody else seems to have lost weight in Basic. I gained 10 lbs! :p

GGB, I also resemble that remark! :)

Here's proof...

[Mannlicher]

Where I hunt, I find myself in a tree stand when out before dawn. The location varies according to local activity, but I usually great the sun from a treestand.
After the morning hunt, its back to camp for a belly bustin breakfast, and a quick snooze. Then by 10am or so, its off to the swamp, or the piney woods to still hunt. Careful, slow, cautious walking. Stopping to look, and hear. This way I catch the deer on their morning move, whether its to find a doe or to go to water. If nothing happens by around 2pm, its back to the camp again, for an early supper, and then off to the tree stand again for the late afternoon hunt. When its finally pitch dark, I climb down, and go to the camp. Another feed, a nip, some talk around the fire, and then off to bed.

Thinking back on all the deer I remember killing, I believe most were killed during the still hunting, middle of the day hunts.

[GunGoBoom]

He'll clear a trail of several hundred yards of leaves, sticks and debris to avoid noise while walking. Use the pruning shears so that he doesn't have to brush against limbs. Then he takes two or three steps and waits a few minutes. Then two or three more slow steps and so on.

One problem with that type of stalk hunting is that, when going back and forth along your trail, you will, by definition, have the wind against you exactly one-half of the time. Whereas, if you set up on the ground or in a blind or stand, with the prevailing wind in your face, it will be in your favor the whole time you are hunting. Still, you can't argue with his results, as you say. Plus, it's 'active' hunting, which is of course, more fun (and not as cold). :)