Hunting in the AM

[NCmedic]

Hey everyone, I'm new to deer hunting and have always been somewhat confused about morning hunts.

In the evening, deer seem pretty predictable because near sunset they begin to move towards a good food source. So if I'm correct, you set up a stand in between bedding and their food source you'll be successful in taking a deer.

In the morning, from what I've read, I've always believed that the deer would be heading back to their bedding area after feeding all night. I've read that mature bucks are usually back in their bed before the sun comes up but do does and younger deer tend to feed more in the early morning and take their time heading back to their beds?

I was curious because most of my morning sightings of deer occur around 9:00 to 10:30 when sunrise was at 6:45. I've always thought as soon as the sun was up it's bed time.

I know most of you guys are talking of mature deer on this forum but I'm still trying to gain an understanding of deer in general before I start really diving into the behavior of a mature buck. I have several places to hunt and I always have a hard time selecting a stand location in the morning because I'm unsure of where to set up and why.

Thanks!

[Southern Man]

I've always seen does and young bucks take their time goin back to bed in the morning and like you have seen them as late as 10:30 doin it. I've also seen them bed early and be up again feeding on browse or acorns around 10 in the morning before bedding again for the rest of the day. The only time I've seen mature bucks move in the morning was during the rut.

[P&YBuck1]

I don't have the links handy from his forum but some mornings can be good depending on moon phase and also weather conditions. The theory of thought for this is the buck based off a specific moon phase or weather condition maybe later then normal getting to their bed so you can sometimes intercept them on the way back. Also, like NCmedic said rut is another exception.

You can do a search on this site for other threads talking about this. Lots of good information available.

[matt1336]

Moon shmoon, in general you're going to be more successful and see more deer in the afternoon. That is until the rut kicks in. I love to hunt mornings during the rut, late mornings are really good too. If you need to hunt early season mornings, be careful not to burn your afternoon stands up in the am.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[BassBoysLLP]

Moon shmoon, in general you're going to be more successful and see more deer in the afternoon. That is until the rut kicks in. I love to hunt mornings during the rut, late mornings are really good too. If you need to hunt early season mornings, be careful not to burn your afternoon stands up in the am.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

X2!

I'd rather use that time and get in early for an afternoon hunt

[NCmedic]

I've tried to keep my morning and evening stand locations in different areas unless I was still hunting and scouting at the same time.

Another thing about hunting in the morning that I've had trouble with is access. Trying to slip in between bedding and food without disturbing the deer still feeding...

[ Post made via Android ]

[MOBIGBUCKS]

I've tried to keep my morning and evening stand locations in different areas unless I was still hunting and scouting at the same time.

Another thing about hunting in the morning that I've had trouble with is access. Trying to slip in between bedding and food without disturbing the deer still feeding...

[ Post made via Android ]

Yeah man that is a tough one. I'd like to hunt more mornings but the risk isn't worth the reward until the Pre-rut/Rut begins. I think you just have to choose your battles in the early season. I'd really love to go out on Sunday morning but a South wind with all of the crops up does not equal a safe entrance and exit to where I want to go. Sunday afternoon is a different story though

[NCmedic]

For the ideal morning setup. Would you want a wind blowing away from or perpendicular to the food sources and try to intercept the deer in the wooded area before they reach their bedding? Sometimes i worry about wind blowing my scent towards bedding but are does groups more forgiving of human scent near their bed? Obviously this is hunting for meat versus trophy so I'd be willing to take whatever comes through that's a good size.

For trophy, it sounds like morning hunting is useless until pre-rut/ rut when the bucks are cruising doe bedding areas, right?

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[Stanley]

Great topic for sure. I think it would be silly to say morning hunting isn't as good as evening hunting. Lot of really good bucks have been killed in the morning. Everything depends on "situation". Lets face it big bucks spend most of daylight hrs on their stomachs. In fact, all bucks spend the better part of daylight hrs on their stomachs. This is until the rut kicks in then bucks spend a lot more time on their feet.

If you want to kill a good buck on purpose, hunting in the morning could be productive before the rut kicks in. Bucks are much more pattern-able before the rut kicks in that is a given. More bucks are killed in the evening than the morning but there are a lot more hunters hunting evenings than mornings. During the rut morning and evenings mean very little as all times of the day are good.

So by my thinking and experience hunting in the morning pre rut is much more productive than in the rut. The best time to catch a buck on its feet is 1/2 hr after day break. sitting on the food source won't cut it, you need to be closer to the bed to be consistently successful. This where most hunters make their mistake,"too close to the food source" in the morning.

[MOBIGBUCKS]

Great topic for sure. I think it would be silly to say morning hunting isn't as good as evening hunting. Lot of really good bucks have been killed in the morning. Everything depends on "situation". Lets face it big bucks spend most of daylight hrs on their stomachs. In fact, all bucks spend the better part of daylight hrs on their stomachs. This is until the rut kicks in then bucks spend a lot more time on their feet.

If you want to kill a good buck on purpose, hunting in the morning could be productive before the rut kicks in. Bucks are much more pattern-able before the rut kicks in that is a given. More bucks are killed in the evening than the morning but there are a lot more hunters hunting evenings than mornings. During the rut morning and evenings mean very little as all times of the day are good.

So by my thinking and experience hunting in the morning pre rut is much more productive than in the rut. The best time to catch a buck on its feet is 1/2 hr after day break. sitting on the food source won't cut it, you need to be closer to the bed to be consistently successful. This where most hunters make their mistake,"too close to the food source" in the morning.

What about areas you have to cross food sources to get to bedding? The only tactics I've come up with is waiting until it gets light enough to get to your spot or using creek access. However, creeks have burned me going in early in the morning as well. Seems like I still tend to bump them, but not as bad as walking across an open food source.

Stan, Do you hunt any early season mornings or do you wait for the Pre-rut?

[binney59]

I think Stanley's point about not as many hunters hunting mornings carries weight and it would be interesting to know success ratios per hunter vs overall success rate most of us think of. A close friend shot a respectable buck last year during the second week of season during the morning but he was the only friend I had that actually hunted mornings- everyone else said mornings stink so they stayed home. Reminds me of an article that I read that claimed that more bucks were taken mid day than any other time frame (during the rut). The total kill numbers are way higher during the morning and evening times, but when he factored in hunter numbers, the kill per hunter ratio was higher during mid day compared to evenings and mornings even though evening and morning total kill #'s crushed those of mid day.

Do more bucks get killed in the evenings? Without a doubt.
Do great bucks get killed every year during the morning pre-rut? Without a doubt.

If I was going to attempt to kill a particular buck with a morning hunt, early season I would take a page out of Bill Vale's book and make sure to hunt an overcast day when the moon phase matched up to him being a little late in getting back to bed. I would also watch in-woods food sources (acorns, etc) mid morning to see if you can catch him having a "snack".

The bucks below were all within 15 yards of a stand- (empty but thats my fault!)

[NCmedic]

Very interesting but true!

[ Post made via Android ]

[Stanley]

Great topic for sure. I think it would be silly to say morning hunting isn't as good as evening hunting. Lot of really good bucks have been killed in the morning. Everything depends on "situation". Lets face it big bucks spend most of daylight hrs on their stomachs. In fact, all bucks spend the better part of daylight hrs on their stomachs. This is until the rut kicks in then bucks spend a lot more time on their feet.

If you want to kill a good buck on purpose, hunting in the morning could be productive before the rut kicks in. Bucks are much more pattern-able before the rut kicks in that is a given. More bucks are killed in the evening than the morning but there are a lot more hunters hunting evenings than mornings. During the rut morning and evenings mean very little as all times of the day are good.

So by my thinking and experience hunting in the morning pre rut is much more productive than in the rut. The best time to catch a buck on its feet is 1/2 hr after day break. sitting on the food source won't cut it, you need to be closer to the bed to be consistently successful. This where most hunters make their mistake,"too close to the food source" in the morning.

What about areas you have to cross food sources to get to bedding? The only tactics I've come up with is waiting until it gets light enough to get to your spot or using creek access. However, creeks have burned me going in early in the morning as well. Seems like I still tend to bump them, but not as bad as walking across an open food source.

Stan, Do you hunt any early season mornings or do you wait for the Pre-rut?

Great question. In my opinion pre rut just before the does start to smell good is the second best time to kill a big one. I think just after the rut is the best time to kill a good buck. I mentioned those two time frames because there are more bucks on their feet and not with does.

I haven't hunted much early season for a few years (picking seed corn). I have killed bucks opening day and the last day of the season. I don't hunt mornings nearly as much as I did 25 and some years ago. I just have more fun hunting evenings, that is basically why. I also think hunter burn out is a big contributor for not being successful for a lot of hunters. If you are hunting like it's a job and you have to go, that takes a lot of the fun out of it.

I would do my best to never walk across an open field unless you have some hills to walk behind.

[Stanley]

For the ideal morning setup. Would you want a wind blowing away from or perpendicular to the food sources and try to intercept the deer in the wooded area before they reach their bedding? Sometimes i worry about wind blowing my scent towards bedding but are does groups more forgiving of human scent near their bed? Obviously this is hunting for meat versus trophy so I'd be willing to take whatever comes through that's a good size.

For trophy, it sounds like morning hunting is useless until pre-rut/ rut when the bucks are cruising doe bedding areas, right?

[ Post made via Android ]

In my opinion you should never let your scent blow into the food source or the bedding area. I always make it a practice to never let that happen. When you set up to kill a buck you should be setting up somewhere in between bed and where the buck is headed. That in a lot of instances is food or water. Other than those locations we haven't a clue as to where the buck will be on its feet.

[str8shooter]

My opinion on this is that as a new hunter you should get out and hunt every chance you get. You can learn alot by reading but spending time in the woods and trying new things/staying mobile will teach you things about your specific area that can't be learnt by reading. If you aren't holding out for a trophy you are cutting yourself short by staying out of the woods due to non-perfect conditions. I've hunted spots that were distant from food sources and the deer wouldn't show up until an hour or more after daylight. That was my grandpa's 40 that I grew up hunting as a kid. It took me quite a few years to realize that getting up super early made no sense, but once I did I started sleeping a little later and staying in the stand longer, it led to more success. Now most of the places I hunt have food too close and this time of year I just run the risk of blowing deer out and tipping the odds in their favor. Get out there and get a few deer under your belt, they don't need huge racks to be exciting. I would say that some of the others advice is spot on as to how to approach your set up based on the wind. Just my .02 cents. Good luck out there