morning hunts in early season

[headgear]

Hard to argue with you on that one Dan, the damage probably far outweights any odds of success. I will still give it a doe once in a while on a moon morning, and pretty much only hunt the beds that are exremely difficult to access without getting busted anyway so I know I am not messing up some of my better spots.

[GRUD]

Mornings are tough and I like to sleep.

There are only a few good moon mornings each early season / october, then you need the right wind on those days too. I took one good buck at first light heading back to his bed along his rub line. I also saw a monster early Oct in a fencerow with a doe, it was around the 10th and I really think this doe had come in heat early. So its worth a try once and a while but I dont want to burn spots unless the wind, weather and moon line up.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[BigHills BuckHunter]

If you dont hunt the bed early season, when do you move in then? Late/Mid October? I ask because I would think when the rut starts kicking in bucks could start moving around alot more and use different beds, not saying they wont use the one that we have targeted but I would think there would be a much smaller chance of them using that bed during rut.

[Badger]

I've never been a morning hunter or morning anything for that matter.

[Bigb]

I think one thing that this website has opened up my eyes to is how to morning hunt. I don't have the luxury of being able to hunt everyday or take a day off when the weather is right. My spot is 3 hours from my house so I have to plan out hunting trips and take days off accordingly. I hate to say it, but I feel like I need to utilize all my time away and hunt. That being said, over the last few years I have really just looked at the wind and gone to hunt the stand that is best for the wind that morning no matter where it is on the property. This year, I feel that we are just going to hunt spots in the morning on the very edge of the property within a couple hundred yards of where we park and leave the back 2/3 where the majority of buck sign is for afternoons when we can sneak in better. The morning spots this year are spots that rarely got hunted in the past but do have some deer sign. I think they'll be great spots to try and fill our doe tags and really just enjoy being out of the big city and listen to mother nature at her best. When you work and live in Downtown Chicago sometimes the silence of the woods is just as rewarding as a deer.

[BCam]

I think one thing that this website has opened up my eyes to is how to morning hunt. I don't have the luxury of being able to hunt everyday or take a day off when the weather is right. My spot is 3 hours from my house so I have to plan out hunting trips and take days off accordingly. I hate to say it, but I feel like I need to utilize all my time away and hunt. That being said, over the last few years I have really just looked at the wind and gone to hunt the stand that is best for the wind that morning no matter where it is on the property. This year, I feel that we are just going to hunt spots in the morning on the very edge of the property within a couple hundred yards of where we park and leave the back 2/3 where the majority of buck sign is for afternoons when we can sneak in better. The morning spots this year are spots that rarely got hunted in the past but do have some deer sign. I think they'll be great spots to try and fill our doe tags and really just enjoy being out of the big city and listen to mother nature at her best. When you work and live in Downtown Chicago sometimes the silence of the woods is just as rewarding as a deer.

I agree. Anything can happen when hunting. I know where your coming from (as far as hunting time goes) and if there are a lot of hunters around your area like mine, then deer are constantly getting bumped so you don't have to burn a good area doing morning sits. I have seen many big bucks get pushed around by wandering hunters late morning and if your set up in the right spot you can put yourself in a good position to shoot'm in spots they wouldn't normally be during daylight. Relying on a lot of luck some would say but you can't kill'm on the couch. Probably not a good tactic in low pressure or low density areas?

[dan]

If you dont hunt the bed early season, when do you move in then? Late/Mid October? I ask because I would think when the rut starts kicking in bucks could start moving around alot more and use different beds, not saying they wont use the one that we have targeted but I would think there would be a much smaller chance of them using that bed during rut.

When the conditions are right... Moon phase, a storm that lasts into the night and gets deer on a later routine.
I also choose to hunt a lot of bedding areas that are situated in a way that evening hunts are close to impossible.

[jlh42581]

Lets not confuse hunting the bed as being only a morning tactic. I know what youre thinking, how do I get that close to him without bumping him on an evening hunt. Thats where the tricks of silencing everything, moving like a wolf all comes into play. Its not that dan nor anyone else never hunts a bed in the morning but the theory is that if you do make it in there and he comes back early then you have two options... wait him out all day till he comes back through or leaves, or get down and probably spook him by really catching him off guard and blow any chance at an evening hunt.

The thermals are going to switch during the day and even if they dont the wind if you look at history of days shows that its rarely the same direction all day long without a front moving in.

[GRUD]

One fun morning hunt is to find public spots where bird and rabbit open early. A few open Oct 1 here in Indiana. A lot of deer bed in those fields and when the dogs run them out its fun to sit in the escspe routes.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[BigHills BuckHunter]

If you dont hunt the bed early season, when do you move in then? Late/Mid October? I ask because I would think when the rut starts kicking in bucks could start moving around alot more and use different beds, not saying they wont use the one that we have targeted but I would think there would be a much smaller chance of them using that bed during rut.

When the conditions are right... Moon phase, a storm that lasts into the night and gets deer on a later routine.
I also choose to hunt a lot of bedding areas that are situated in a way that evening hunts are close to impossible.

Looks like Im going to be keeping a close eye on the moon chart. For the morning hunts it seems like you have to have quite a bit come together to be succesful on a Mature buck. Wind, moon, food source, buck entry, rut etc. I would feel much more rewarded to harvest a morning buck coming to bed than an evening buck bed. Seems like more of a challenge.

[MN Legacy]

I don't really waste my time hunting morning untile late October into November. I just don't have much luck with it because most my areas the food sources are you closest to the road and you have to walk back to the woods or bedded areas and the deer are out feeding.

[Stump]

I think one thing that this website has opened up my eyes to is how to morning hunt. I don't have the luxury of being able to hunt everyday or take a day off when the weather is right. My spot is 3 hours from my house so I have to plan out hunting trips and take days off accordingly. I hate to say it, but I feel like I need to utilize all my time away and hunt. That being said, over the last few years I have really just looked at the wind and gone to hunt the stand that is best for the wind that morning no matter where it is on the property. This year, I feel that we are just going to hunt spots in the morning on the very edge of the property within a couple hundred yards of where we park and leave the back 2/3 where the majority of buck sign is for afternoons when we can sneak in better. The morning spots this year are spots that rarely got hunted in the past but do have some deer sign. I think they'll be great spots to try and fill our doe tags and really just enjoy being out of the big city and listen to mother nature at her best. When you work and live in Downtown Chicago sometimes the silence of the woods is just as rewarding as a deer.

I definitely hear you on this one! With 3 little boys at home and a busy life, I can only hunt the weekends. And of those weekends, a solid month can go by before I'm able to hunt an evening. I can't stand sitting at home waiting for a perfect time to go, because it might not. That 1 evening hunt in 1-2 months might come by and with my luck, it'll be raining with 20+ mph winds. haha

[dan]

Your odds in the morning might be very low... But your odds sitting on the couch watching TV are 0%

[Bigb]

Thanks BCam, I was hoping I wasn't the only one who feels like they need to hunt in the morning, I just really like to utilize my time when I'm down where I hunt. The pressure where I hunt isn't that bad during bow season. Only one guy hunts the neighboring 300 and two who hunt the other neighboring 300. That all changes in gun season but I'm trying to put together a plan of attack for that now.

GRUD, I agree with you 100%. Some of the people who hunt the public land near Chicago try to scout the deer and not the actions of the put and take pheasant hunting that goes on. If you can deer hunt the same time the pheasant hunting goes on and can pattern escape routes with the fields that get hit first with the hunters you can have success. When I have pheasant hunted a few public spots I start with same fields and consistantly kick deer up in CRP and watch them hit the same escape routes. One time when I was pushing a forest for pheasnt I found the spot where the deer were escaping. The tracks were everywhere and no one probably had ever hunted it because it didn't seem llike a likely spot to hang a stand since it wasn't in the big woods or the field edges where you would see all the deer hunters. You really have to think about what advantages you can take all hunting season long.