Do you deer hunt all day or mornings and evenings?

During muzzleloader season , the first week of November , the rut is usually in . I set all day during the 2 week muzzleloader season . I usually kill most of my bucks early , but I killed my biggest buck around noon . After muzzleloader season they run dogs . In my hunting club, we come out at lunch and usually turn the dogs out in another area . We have to hunt with the group . Sometimes we hunt the same area and you can sit all day if you choose , I don’t .

Scout21 said:

I'm curious if you guys stay out all day when deer hunting. I've always enjoyed heading in for lunch after the morning hunt. I'll come back out for the last few hours of daylight, which is usually the time that I get my deer.

Click to expand...

I do both. If it's the rut. You better stay all day. If it's normal time. Figure out their patterns and sit accordingly. I have one spot that sees about a dozen deer by 10. But you won't see any after that.

Our rifle season is post rut, with the 2nd week sometimes seeing the "2nd rut".

Locally; my neighbor's and my place, I hunt mornings and evenings. When I travel out to western KS, mornings and evenings, but when the winds up a bit we'll still hunt and push draws mid day.

I really, really, don't have the patience to sit in a stand all day.

For Eastern style hunting in a stand or blind - Some some. I usually hunt pretty casually during most of bow season until rut, grabbing up half days or morning/evening sits with a lunch break. Rut, I hammer pretty hard. Then in KS, we get 10 days of rifle season, so I hit those pretty hard as well. I pack lunches and snacks, bring a book and some bingeworthy shows on my tablet, and just chill through the midday lull.

But…

I’ve shot a lot of deer between 10a and 2p - they don’t evaporate just because the sun is high.

I've found that around 11AM is the best hunting, that's about the time other hunters get restless and start moving around getting the deer moving

Most hunting shows are based on glassing, spot and stock, and waiting.

I certainly don’t. Which to me is perfect because most hunters hunting that way is one of the reasons my success rate is near 100%.

The last two elk I’ve shot, archery, in the last two years were both shot at about 11:30 am.

TN whitetail.
If we were on BLM land it was stalking for the day, or until tags were filled.
Hunting my friend's 150-acre farm, it was morning or evening. Had a few stands and special spots with good pasture views.
The farm was next to the wildlife. Good hunting and a tractor to retrieve the deer and hang in the barn.

Dawn to dark. That's why I carry so much CRAP! I'm not just out there to get something, I'm also out there to be out there. 50-50%!!! I could never sit in a blind or stand all day, that's for sure. I creep around slowly, sit and watch trails, explore, etc. Also have favorite "spots", or natural ground blinds, that I "enhance" a bit, and I'll move from spot to spot, blind to blind. Might spend an hour at most in each spot or blind. If dressed "scientifically" in high-tech layers, and good Morino wool, some hand warmers and toe warmers, I never get cold. I do get too hot sometimes. But for sure, I cherish any day I can spend in the woods, and can't imagine going home or back to camp for any reason, other than getting sick, injured, or pouring rain. !!!

hdbiker said:

I've found that around 11AM is the best hunting, that's about the time other hunters get restless and start moving around getting the deer moving

Click to expand...

Also when you start hearing "boredom shots", where the bozo's will shoot their rifles at a squirrel, pine cone or whatever because they got bored, and are heading back to the truck.

Ranger99 said:

I'll hunt as long as I can until I have to
have a bm,

Click to expand...

Too much information! Although, when ya gotta go, ya gotta go. What I hate is when some hunter did his business, and just leaves it and the toilet paper sitting there. Gross. Too lazy to bury it...SLOBS!

I think it's pretty safe to say each Hunter adapts to his or hers domain . Also worth mentioning is RESIDENT or NONRESIDENT and Terrain hunted in . Familiarity breeds something right . Time becomes a factor when hunting and not just that day but total hunt time allowable again given the circumstances of where you hunt .

I read one of the members Post's about freezing his butt off ,then there's the other side of that coin !.
Hunters who've hunted out in Western States , KNOW about that !.
Years ago while hunting in Utah freezing at night and frying by 10:00 AM , I was thankful I brought Safari pants ( MY term ) for Convertible Pants.
Over on the Dark Continent it's not the cold but the THORNS & BUGS which have you covering at Dusk . IF one doesn't cover you're more than likely to look like you were in a larger USA City's Urban Knife fight , Naked with your hands tied behind you !.
The savanna has more pucker thrusters thorn bushes acacia and bramble ,than #5 Arizona Sonoran Deserts I've visited .

BushMaster-15 said:

I read one of the members Post's about freezing his butt off ,then there's the other side of that coin !.

Click to expand...

Way back in the day, when I was young, dumb and poor, I remember hunting in jeans, cotton long-johns and a surplus Air Force parka. T-shirt and a button up cotton long sleeve shirt. I sure did freeze my butt off a few times. I'd go out before dawn, and then later when the sun would come up enough to throw some patches of sun-shine, I'd find one of those patches and just stand in it, and soak it up.

These days, no reason to be cold. All the high tech under-layers, the knowledge of layering which I had no idea of back in the day, light but warm coats, morino wool long-johns, hand and toe-warmers, just no reason to be cold. Every once in a while, on super cold days, and climbing up a steep old logging road, I've had to strip down to bare-back, and soak in the cold to cool off. And hang my layers on the bushes to dry off from the sweat!! but that's better than being cold.

Ugly Sauce said:

Too much information! Although, when ya gotta go, ya gotta go. What I hate is when some hunter did his business, and just leaves it and the toilet paper sitting there. Gross. Too lazy to bury it...SLOBS!

Click to expand...

Yeah. I did try to word it discreetly.
Unless you're hunting all rocks and
gravelly terrain, it takes about a half
a second to kick a hole in the dirt
and kick the dirt over your business
after you're done. Yes, lots of lazy
pinheads leave beer cans and cigarette
butts, and food wrappers and solid
waste strewn all over the landscape
every place I've ever been

Most of the time its out early to the deer stand. Ideally I am there 15-30 minutes before first legal shooting light. I usually stay on the stand till around 9-9:30 give or take a bit depending on weather and activity. We usually all coming in about that time for a late breakfast and cup of hot tea. My brother often takes a nap but I am not a napper so I usually get back out by 11-noon. I then spend the middle part of the day stalking through my favorite heavy cover haunts with the ultimate goal of ending up at one of my favorite evening deer stand by ~3:00 or a little after in the afternoon. I then sit in the stand until last legal light and head in for dinner.

Ranger99 said:

Yeah. I did try to word it discreetly.
Unless you're hunting all rocks and
gravelly terrain, it takes about a half
a second to kick a hole in the dirt
and kick the dirt over your business
after you're done. Yes, lots of lazy
pinheads leave beer cans and cigarette
butts, and food wrappers and solid
waste strewn all over the landscape
every place I've ever been

Click to expand...

Oh you were most discreet. Probably something not discussed much, although the art of "pooping in the woods" should be something everyone should know. Of course some just don't give a....wait a minute. Some just don't care. Even in rocky terrain, or ground one can't really dig in, one can pile rocks and debris over it.

Over the years, around here, there are far fewer cigarette butts. Kind of rare to find one now, used to see them often. And, I used to pick them up, carried a baggy just for that purpose. Still do. Not many beer cans anymore either, some now and then, I've seen more pop cans these days. And water bottles once in a great while. Pick them up too. Candy wrappers and such I also pick up, these days there's not much and can actually keep my hunting areas clean by doing that. Hopefully there are others that do.

I don't and can't understand the mentality of people who leave trash in the woods and wilderness. Or turds and toilet paper laying on the ground.

It depends on what my surveillance is showing me and how I intend to hunt. I have gone out after others get back to camp from their morning hunt before but that’s when the deer were showing up at my spot.

If I am hunting all day, it’s going to be over 1000’s of acres, not sitting in a box. That sounds more like solitary confinement to me.

Even if I am only going to be in a blind for a couple hours I always have a book in my back pack or if there is cell coverage in the area, a tablet. Gives me something to do when I am done looking at the deer I don’t want to shoot.

jmorris said:

Even if I am only going to be in a blind for a couple hours I always have a book in my back pack or if there is cell coverage in the area, a tablet. Gives me something to do when I am done looking at the deer I don’t want to shoot.

Click to expand...

Electronics, media, cell phones are things I go to the wilderness to escape, but I can see where you are coming from, it's okay. !!! Now a good book on the other hand, I love doing that. Read for a minute, then look, listen and scan for a minute, repeat. ! Really enjoy reading in the woods.

All day for me. When I hunted WY it was pretty easy to do as there was no "stand" sitting or anything like we do in MI. Now, having hunted in MI 25+ years we mostly stand sit, for for sure sit in a stand mornings and nights. The hunting property is a 20 minute drive from the cabin so we head out with a packed lunch about 5:45 am and get back after 6:00 PM. Its a long day. Like others I find deer do move all day, and I have gotten my biggest deer mid-day.

-Jeff

Ugly Sauce said:

Way back in the day, when I was young, dumb and poor, I remember hunting in jeans, cotton long-johns and a surplus Air Force parka. T-shirt and a button up cotton long sleeve shirt. I sure did freeze my butt off a few times. I'd go out before dawn, and then later when the sun would come up enough to throw some patches of sun-shine, I'd find one of those patches and just stand in it, and soak it up.

These days, no reason to be cold. All the high tech under-layers, the knowledge of layering which I had no idea of back in the day, light but warm coats, morino wool long-johns, hand and toe-warmers, just no reason to be cold. Every once in a while, on super cold days, and climbing up a steep old logging road, I've had to strip down to bare-back, and soak in the cold to cool off. And hang my layers on the bushes to dry off from the sweat!! but that's better than being cold.

Click to expand...

Been there done that! Once in CO. for Elk by the time I got to where I was going I was soaked with sweat, I stripped down to bear skin and draped my undergarments over a branch to dry out.
We would wake up to 3-4" of snow and by 12:00 would be down to a t shirt (75-80).
We were at at 10,000 ft.
In PA I would hunt from dawn till dusk in a nice stand, I had shot them at 7:30, 2:30 and 4:30. I do prefer the early morning over the others though!
Gutted, skinned and cut up, ready for a cocktail by late afternoon!

We hunt Deer for 4 hours in the morning until about 10am, hike the 1.5 miles back to the truck. Warm up, have lunch then hunt from 2pm to 4:14 (legal hours).

My son was out all day. He missed an 8 point at 50 yards in the am. He blamed it on the scope. I think it was buck fever. Any way he came back and took out his 6.5 cm. He saw a 12 point later. But could not shoot. Someone was in the line of fire behind the deer.

The last 2 big bucks that I have taken were in mid-day and in the same 5 acres, but most of my hunting now days is afternoon. It depends on the rut phase too. Pre-rut when the bucks start making scrapes and rubs, I might have a chance to pattern him. I'll set cameras and if I have a good buck on camera moving in the mornings, I might drag my butt out of bed early.

tactikel said:

We hunt Deer for 4 hours in the morning until about 10am, hike the 1.5 miles back to the truck. Warm up, have lunch then hunt from 2pm to 4:14 (legal hours).

Click to expand...

You might be missing something. Two years ago I happened upon a big 9 point at noon. Then last year I shot a big 11 point fifty yards from the same spot. It was 12:45. The best buck that I have on camera in daylight this year was at 2:45. Moon phase, weather fronts and hunting pressure all effect deer behavior. When I think that I have them figured out, they show me that I am not as smart as I think I am.

I’ll hunt morning and afternoon typically

I have always done better in the morning .Late afternoon the deer do move around at my place as well but i have taken the best bucks in the early am!