Do you deer hunt all day or mornings and evenings?

One hour before first light until 10.Lunch then back out at 2.

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.

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Same for me in Arizona forty years ago. In over a decade of hunting the majority of my deer were taken between 1500 and 1800. In late morning I would find a place to nap just like the deer. When they began to stir in the afternoon I did also. There were times when I woke from late morning naps to find deer around me. Rather than being out of place I became a feature in the place. Miss those days.

I've been giving this some further thought and it occurred to me, (early this morning actually), that given my current age and condition perhaps the pre-dawn walk in the dark up the hill might not be the best choice these days.
I think I'll try hunting later in the day this season..?

When I was young, gung-ho, and hunting public land, I sat all day. If I didn't see deer early, I usually saw them around 2 pm. I'm now 79 and go to my stand just before legal shooting light, wait until 10:30 or 11:00, and come back again about 2 hours before dark.

I hate cleaning deer at night so I am much pickier in the evening.

Patocazador said:

I hate cleaning deer at night so I am much pickier in the evening.

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Yeah, also not a fan...

Mostly early am here. Back when I was hunting a lot, drinking with the bros was a factor too so after a case of beer, the evening hunt was usually scuttled in favor of continued drinking.

Been over seven years since I hunted or drank. Do miss the hunting. Don't miss the drinking.

For the last 10 years on my own land ( I'm now 75 ) I prefer evenings. I have 7 lanes cut into the woods plus 3 planted/tilled 2 acre patches spreadout over 125 acres. Surrounded by other tree land parcels owned by old guys like me. I enjoy the putting it all together each year more than the hunting anymore. I have 4 corn feeders I tend and 6 game cameras up and running. Every few days I ride the 4 wheeler to change out the memory cards and dab a little stump topper here and there. I have 3 elevated shoot houses set up at the planted patches and a 20ft tripod on the one patch. Keep my son appraised of the deer movement and text him a pic of what he should be after. Wednesday before Thanksgiving at 6:30am he took a good size 10 point right where he should be. He lives an hour from here. All the grandkids are scheduled each year for a hunt. Plus old steel mill buddies from out of state come in now and then and I put them on something. This year looks to be a great year for some reason. I hope the man upstairs isn't planning on giving me a great year as consulation prize??

Times change. I remember opening day of rifle at the family camp in state forest laying there watching the constant flow of headlights up the usually quiet road seemed to energize the night.

There were few houses, no established developments and most of the side roads were dirt. We always drove up the road and into an old CCC road that was lined with parked cars wherever one could be pulled off the road. You brought lunch and sat where you were told and nodded to all the woolrich tuxedos walking by spending my opening day off from school trying to grow antlers on all the deer I saw running by.

The growth of archery along with the reduction of the opening day crowd changed things but I kept wandering around the same places. My cousin has a camp near mine and is right up against the closest development. The family takes multiple deer every year off the ridge and swamp across the street from the houses.

Having reached the age where I qualified for my PA lifetime combo and my wandering days are gone, I have two stands literally behind the cabin using the one where the wind is in my face. I eat lunch in the cabin, nap some and spend the late afternoon in a stand. I see a lot more deer.

Most of the deer I've shot in the early am were doe. Buck from 11 am on, many around lunch time when others were walking around.

This year I walked back out at 3:30 and the buck fell at 4:11 with enough time to dress and drag onto the hitch haul for the quick trip to the local butcher.

Most hunts for myself and family are out before dawn till about 10-10:30am, back to my parents house over lunch, and back out about 2pm.

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

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When I was a kid, my dad would say, "we are staying out through lunch, because that's when the town hunters will be going in for lunch and moving the deer."

He was pretty much right too.

DM

When I use to hunt, I was a morning hunter. Decided I would be the camp cook, so, stayed in camp for that. Didn't mind it at all. Just really never cared for gutting and dragging out in the dark when I'm already tired. Morning hunter in my days out West.

I’m an all day guy here in mule deer public land county. Mostly because I don’t want to hike in twice, but also have been productive hunting bedded deer mid day

.45Coltguy said:

When I use to hunt, I was a morning hunter. Decided I would be the camp cook, so, stayed in camp for that. Didn't mind it at all. Just really never cared for gutting and dragging out in the dark when I'm already tired. Morning hunter in my days out West.

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I feel that, taken a few mulies on the mountain when I was blinded by my own muzzle flash in the evening. Makes for a long (but memorable) pack out in the dark. This year’s was a pleasant exception.

Depends on location weather and deer movement, I have 1 place right behind my house I’ll hunt mornings and evenings but also have a place that’s 2 hours away that’s a all day sit maybe come out for a small nap in truck lol..

i like to get in my stand an hour before sunrise

I often climb down out of my stand and snooze ( at the base of the tree) around 10:30-11:30

then, quietly climb up again before late afternoon

i kill more in the morning

In Kansas we get a 1.5 weeks for firearms. The two weekends naturally is when most of hunting is done. I like to sit in the morning, usually ends up being 3 hours or so even with a book. Then home for brunch and a nap. Early afternoon my family will do one or two deer drives through brushy pasture. And when the smoke clears whoever doesn’t have a deer goes out for an evening sit while the rest clean and hang deer.

Scout21 said:

I'm curious if you guys stay out all day when deer hunting.

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I do all my "hunting" in the off-season. Find the place the quarry regularly pass by . . . is there a better way? When season opens, that is where I go and wait - usually for an hour or less. Really not hunting, more like planning.

I do both, depends on weather and hunting pressure.

I hate waking up at 4am and freezing until 10am, so I no longer hunt mornings. I'm self employed and hunt my own property, so it's evenings only for me.

DM~ said:

When I was a kid, my dad would say, "we are staying out through lunch, because that's when the town hunters will be going in for lunch and moving the deer."

He was pretty much right too.

DM

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Truth. I used to notice that around 9:00am, I'd hear a lot of "boredom" shots, guys getting bored, shooting squirrels or pine-cones, and then going back to camp. If my partners and I would meet up around noon and decide to move/drive to another spot, there'd be guys sitting around all the camp-fires at their camps, drinking beer. I called them the "beer hunters"!!!

CraigC said:

I hate waking up at 4am and freezing until 10am, so I no longer hunt mornings. I'm self employed and hunt my own property, so it's evenings only for me.

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No reason to freeze anymore, but yeah, back in the day, jeans, cotton underwear, wool shirt and jacket, I sure froze a few times. Now getting too hot is the problem.

Peakbagger46 said:

I’m an all day guy here in mule deer public land county. Mostly because I don’t want to hike in twice, but also have been productive hunting bedded deer mid day

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And also, I'd rather be in the woods/wilderness or mountains than in a truck, or home doing chores. I'd rather be there than anywhere.

Depends on the place I am hunting and conditions, but usually all day. I will generally get to my spot pre dawn and sit tight until 10 or so. Then I will get up and look around, slowly and quietly. I have shot a few bedded deer in the middle of the day when they stand up to see what they hear. 2 or 3 hours before sunset I make sure I am in a good spot to sit and wait. This year's does were right about 9:30 AM, but more often I connect earlier in the morning.

I hunt the west coast (South island)NZ all year round from dawn to dusk its hard terrain, but game can be on the move any time so tread softly carry a big stick 338LM.

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

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As a teenager (13-14ish) my dad was in a club and we hunted all day, sometimes a quick return to camp for and hr or so mainly to eat and relocate. I clearly remember being in the woods and hearing 4 wheelers crank and drive off around 8-9 in the morning. I almost never saw anything until about 10 or so.
I also remember mentioning it dad and he told me to keep that to myself. Lol