Where to hunt in the mornings??

[Tree Jockey]

I am curious to hear what locations people hunt in the mornings. I agree with past conversations about mature bucks being in their bed well before first light.. seems to be the case on the pressured public ground I hunt. . I dont want to screw up the beds i have found by trying to hunt it in the A.M. So with that being said , do most of you hunt a funnel way off previously scouted beds or sit in observation stand in the A.M. or just hunt a totally different area from where you have already located buck beds?

[MikePerry]

I don’t start hunting mornings until around October 27th or so and I’m usually hunting on a transition line down the edge of a beaver swamp near a beaver levy crossing a oxbow a bend in a creek or a funnel near bedding, usually doe bedding.

[ghoasthunter]

I am curious to hear what locations people hunt in the mornings. I agree with past conversations about mature bucks being in their bed well before first light.. seems to be the case on the pressured public ground I hunt. . I dont want to screw up the beds i have found by trying to hunt it in the A.M. So with that being said , do most of you hunt a funnel way off previously scouted beds or sit in observation stand in the A.M. or just hunt a totally different area from where you have already located buck beds?

I do everything you listed I only hit beds in morning during rut or weather patterns when I have a good feeling and I only hunt beds I can get into without putting my scent on ground with stealth. water entry is great take a canoe down a river then slide up on a funnel and setup right on the bank. in edge of bedding on river bends or below beds in hill country as the buck tries to hook into his bed. or travel corridors with good observation. then you could get lucky and see the buck going into his bed or get a shot. then you up the odds for a afternoon sit. the trick is staying far enough back so you don't interfere too much but not so far that its not going to work. lots of time planning and scouting is the best way to make it work. you need to know every travel trail and why they use them and when. I've killed bucks every time of day every time of year timing is critical if a bucks bedding late early season consistently get in and kill him. sometimes you cant hesitate. and this is a good way to stack beds burn out the lesser beds in morning hunts and hit the prime stuff in afternoons. If your hunting big woods your in the game as long as you know where all the beds are it just takes lots of years to learn it.

[brancher147]

I hunt a funnel of some sort high on a leeward ridge with rising thermals in my favor as close to bedding as I can get without spooking anything, or between bedding areas or bedding and food. If I can't get rising thermals in my favor on a leeward ridge, then I will hunt high on a ridge with windward bedding and hunt above bedding with the wind in my favor. Luckily I have just as much windward bedding in my area as I do leeward so I have plenty to choose from. I never really hunt specific beds just because I don't usually find any big buck beds that are consistent enough to hunt in the big woods. Although I have found a couple for this year that look promising...

I prefer to hunt mostly mornings, and see more deer and mature bucks in the mornings (until noon) even in October. Moon times are good to pay attention to when hunting mornings in October also.

[DaveT1963]

It depends on timing. Early season I usually set up in travel corridors on entry trails to bedding - or I set up on water holes on edge of bedding. The bucks in the south will almost always hit a water source just before going to their beds - especially if it is a south wind and hot. Mid Oct approaches - I stay on entry trails to buck bedding and hunt later morning sits (I believe the bucks will check out doe bedding, and since it is just before the main rut, they usually don't find what they are looking for and will return to their beds a little later in the AM. Come 25 Oct and later - I am on doe bedding funnels and downwind trails through bedding. Come Nov I am hunting doe entry trails to doe bedding - reason being is the bucks will more then likely follow the same general trail does take to their beds. I used to set up downwind of doe entry trails in Nov but had too many good bucks use the seam trails the does did - often in hot pursuit of a ripe doe. Later in season - depending on what I am seeing - I will hunt a ton of funnels between doe bedding and gravitate back towards buck beds in heavy cover as gun season pressure will often move them to the nastiest crap you can find down this way - seldom do I find buck beds on edges come mid to late Nov - just far too much pressure on public land down here - they head to the most remote and thickest crap there is - that are overlooked areas. For example: I use to curse duck hunters (some of the loudest people on the planet IMO) and I would avoid areas anywhere they set up. however, Crabby was a buck that actually bedded right where the duck hunters would be (sometimes as close as 100 years from their blinds) - I think he learned they were not a threat and they kept other hunters far away? It was all I could do to sit in my tree, 100 yards or so way from all that commotion - but he was definitely in that area despite all the commotion. To me, the single most important factor is APPPROACH - you simply have to have a solid plan that keeps you out of sight and upwind.

[Bowhunting Brian]

Mornings are for fishing, checking traps, or sleeping in.

[DaveT1963]

Mornings are for fishing, checking traps, or sleeping in.

I hope this trend really catches on with more and more hunters :)

[llcooljames]

I dont like to hunt mornings. I usually wait til end of october and november. I try to sit in places I think the bucks will be cruising looking for a doe. In most of my locations I dont think I could beat a buck back to his bed

[tgreeno]

I really embraced the midday sits during rut. And they usually produced buck sightings. Not always shooters, but buck were up and moving. 11:30 was my hot time this last season.

I don't hunt many mornings. Maybe only a handful a year. Most of the time near some kind of doe bedding.

[vtbuck]

I start hunting mornings towards the end of October. I’m usually close to doe bedding or a transition/funnel.

[PK_]

Hunt bedding areas you can’t get close to in the afternoon.

[ghoasthunter]

Mornings are for fishing, checking traps, or sleeping in.

I hope this trend really catches on with more and more hunters :)

I wish I could agree but I still kill a majority of my bucks in mornings its just totally different style of hunting and a lot of patients and timing so you don't blow it. I normally run well planed presets just for the right days. the other days I go fly fishing I my biggest buck to date I killed at 11:30 coming out of a bed to check a scrape line. I think being well rounded is very important for success sometimes afternoon sits are nearly impossible for certain beds like micro swamps in bowls or that weary buck that moves with his nose. and if your in bear county bears bed in buck bedding and can make a natural drive right past your stand for you. its just needs to be well planed and executed.

[DaveT1963]

Mornings are for fishing, checking traps, or sleeping in.

I hope this trend really catches on with more and more hunters :)

I wish I could agree but I still kill a majority of my bucks in mornings its just totally different style of hunting and a lot of patients and timing so you don't blow it. I normally run well planed presets just for the right days. the other days I go fly fishing I my biggest buck to date I killed at 11:30 coming out of a bed to check a scrape line. I think being well rounded is very important for success sometimes afternoon sits are nearly impossible for certain beds like micro swamps in bowls or that weary buck that moves with his nose. and if your in bear county bears bed in buck bedding and can make a natural drive right past your stand for you. its just needs to be well planed and executed.

I was being facetious...... I've killed most of my better bucks in the morning.

[ghoasthunter]

Mornings are for fishing, checking traps, or sleeping in.

I hope this trend really catches on with more and more hunters :)

I wish I could agree but I still kill a majority of my bucks in mornings its just totally different style of hunting and a lot of patients and timing so you don't blow it. I normally run well planed presets just for the right days. the other days I go fly fishing I my biggest buck to date I killed at 11:30 coming out of a bed to check a scrape line. I think being well rounded is very important for success sometimes afternoon sits are nearly impossible for certain beds like micro swamps in bowls or that weary buck that moves with his nose. and if your in bear county bears bed in buck bedding and can make a natural drive right past your stand for you. its just needs to be well planed and executed.

I was being facetious...... I've killed most of my better bucks in the morning.

o lol got ya why do you think that is just setup? I've killed bucks I know I've bumped walking in in hardwoods then I instantly walked in a different direction and hooked back towards the bed you ever kill one like that?

[DaveT1963]

Bump and dump doesn't work well here... far too many bedding areas