The Sun

[Lockdown]

Reading Eric Brooks' kill zone post about the sun highlighting his every move, it made me realize this is a topic we haven't talked about much.

The sun... How will it positively/negatively impact your hunt? Obviously thermals are the first thing many of you will think of, but to be completely honest, I've yet to drop milkweed and have thermals come in to play! That's due to flat ground, water that is shaded by thick cattails, and living in pretty open country where the wind almost always has some sort of presence.

When I think about the sun impacting my hunt, I'm thinking about whether or not it will be shining on me while on stand. THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE ON THE GROUND. The sun will highlight your movements BIG TIME. If I know I'll be exposed I'll set my stand on the East side of the tree if possible. Most of my hunts are in the evening so that keeps me as shaded as possible.

Another BIG factor of the sun is how it effects deer bedding. We see a lot of bedding on south facing slopes, mid winter, to take advantage of the warmth it provides during frigid temperatures. That's when pressure is low and they're in survival mode.

Everything I have seen in Western MN all through out SD is whitetails and mulies PREFER to bed in the shade. It is to the point that I expect mulies to get up and move to shade (if possible) if the sun starts hitting them. The bucks Tyler stalked did exactly that right before he went after them.

If it's early season and warm, it's a no brainer that they're going to want shade.

Deer bedded in the sun stick out pretty bad. Deer bedded in the shadows are next to invisible. Pretty safe to say deer have similar thoughts pertaining to hunters in trees

Anything pertaining to the sun... Thought it would be a good topic for discussion.

[headgear]

One might say the sun has the greatest impact of all, not just hunting but supporting life in general. It's so obvious but also overlooked because it is there every day doing what it does. Interesting perspective for sure, it clearly impact us far more than we realize on any given day.

[Lockdown]

One might say the sun has the greatest impact of all, not just hunting but supporting life in general. It's so obvious but also overlooked because it is there every day doing what it does. Interesting perspective for sure, it clearly impact us far more than we realize on any given day.

On these bed cam threads we talk a lot about how often they get up and move. Could be that they're trying to stay in/out of the sun

I know out west if there's an obstacle that provides shade they'll be bedded behind/in it when the sun allows. Especially mid day.

[Hawthorne]

Morning rut hunts I've tried playing the sun so if the deer look up at me they are blinded. It works. You can sit in a bare tree they won't see you. Of course it has to be a sunny day.

[Lockdown]

Morning rut hunts I've tried playing the sun so if the deer look up at me they are blinded. It works. You can sit in a bare tree they won't see you. Of course it has to be a sunny day.

Absolutely I use this to my advantage any time of year. Especially on the ground. It's not possible to see what's going on looking directly into the sun. If there's cover behind you, you're in the shade and the deer has the sun in his eyes.

Now reverse the situation. You're trying to look into the sun and shoot a deer while it's rays are highlighting your every move. Which scenario works better for the hunter

[Lockdown]

Morning rut hunts I've tried playing the sun so if the deer look up at me they are blinded. It works. You can sit in a bare tree they won't see you. Of course it has to be a sunny day.

Absolutely I use this to my advantage any time of year. Especially on the ground. It's not possible to see what's going on looking directly into the sun. If there's cover behind you, you're in the shade and the deer has the sun in his eyes.

Now reverse the situation. You're trying to look into the sun and shoot a deer while it's rays are highlighting your every move. Which scenario works better for the hunter

Looking into the sun isn't as much of a problem from a tree as you are generally looking/shooting down. It is more of an issue from the ground.

[Lockdown]

Morning rut hunts I've tried playing the sun so if the deer look up at me they are blinded. It works. You can sit in a bare tree they won't see you. Of course it has to be a sunny day.

Absolutely I use this to my advantage any time of year. Especially on the ground. It's not possible to see what's going on looking directly into the sun. If there's cover behind you, you're in the shade and the deer has the sun in his eyes.

Now reverse the situation. You're trying to look into the sun and shoot a deer while it's rays are highlighting your every move. Which scenario works better for the hunter

From a tree looking into the sun isn't as much of an issue. But it can be from the ground.

[ERICBROOKS]

I hung this stand for morning hunts due to the overgrown field sloping up gradually east towards my stand location. With the open field behind me it setup really well.
I hadn't planned to hunt it without an overcast sky.
That morning everything was just setup too perfectly, the first good cold morning we'd had in a while, high pressure, east wind..etc.
I knew if I was gonna kill this buck I had to have full confidence in my camo and hunt it.
(I'll admit when I looked to my left and saw him a thought there is no way I'm gonna get a shot!)

[ERICBROOKS]

I hung this stand for morning hunts due to the overgrown field sloping up gradually east towards my stand location. With the open field behind me it setup really well.
I hadn't planned to hunt it without an overcast sky.
That morning everything was just setup too perfectly, the first good cold morning we'd had in a while, high pressure, east wind..etc.
I knew if I was gonna kill this buck I had to have full confidence in my camo and hunt it.
( I'll admit when I looked to my left and saw him I thought there is no way I'm gonna get a shot!)

[tbunao]

With the bedding what you see with the shade during early season and using the sun during late is what we see a lot in hill country. Part of it has to do with wind as well. Early season in primarily southern winds putting them on the leeward side, the north side which is also the most shaded. Vice versa for the late season. Whit shed hunting hills you tend to focus on south facing slopes as they spend the most time there. Scouting looking for beds during the winter months can be tough. Most bedding for early season have been vacant do to the colder winds. IMO scouting after a series of the predominant wind for your hunting season is the best time. Such as the warm spell we just had here. A lot of movement and fresh tracks show in areas used for that wind.

When prepping stands I've been making sure to take not on sun position. 1 so I'm not blinded and 2 for the same hopes that a deer will be blinded that you spoke of.

[Divergent]

I've mentioned this in a few recent posts. Early season shade and late season sun seem to work well.

I also think the sun seems to have a unique effect on the woods between 11-1. Even though movement is easier to detect at this time, the woods seem to provide more camouflage because of the high contrast between light and dark shadows. I can spot a deer at 300 yds if it's moving between this time, but once it stops moving I have a hard time spotting it at even 50yds.

[Divergent]

11-1 is also when I find most mature bucks moving in daylight.

[Motivated]

Sometimes even in a tree you get reflection off of water. I keep this in mind, because sometimes it's the correct tree in the correct spot, and you just have to deal with it.
I usually have a baseball cap or boonie on. Maybe I will try the shaded side of the tree too.

[JoeRE]

Yea on hot sunny days deer in general love bedding in the deep shade. For instance around here I see them bed lot in dense north facing cedar thickets on hot days. I used to think those cedars were only cold weather cover but have come to realize they are a good windbreak but its usually actually colder under them because of the deep shade. They only see winter use because of the windbreak in winter storms and also as a food source when better forage is depleted...

I have also noticed you can get away with a lot more movement than usual if the sun is right behind you. Deer, turkeys, coyotes, they all have a harder time to spot you against the sun. Not silhouetted, just having the sun above & behind you.

I usually don't change my stand setups based on the sun, that gets pretty darn complex when I am already looking at a bunch of other factors, but I do take into account the sun for what kind of movement I can get away with. When stalking or still hunting I do try to keep sun to back - or at least not in my eyes so I'm not the one disadvantaged.

Good topic

[stash59]

Yeah the sun topic goes way back in deer hunting. Most of the old books I read in my youth. Had a section or chapter on trying to get the advantage as much as possible. Pointing out much of what ya'll said above.