morning vs. evening hunts?

[76chevy]

which do you have the most success on in early season?

why?

[BigHunt]

i have more sucsess in the afternoon
when bucks are droogy u can slip in on them, their already bedded so u have a good chance of seeing one if your hunting set up is good and working with the wind
sometimes the moon phase is wrong for the mornings and its hard to hunt a deer when its all ready bedded

[Indianahunter]

Early season, I definitely have more luck in the evenings and deer are much easier to set up on if you know where they are bedding. Getting close to bedding in the mornings can go wrong in a hurry if your timing is wrong. All of my morning sits have come to the point where I set up ridiculously early. I am sure there are better ways of getting on deer early in the morning, but this is the only thing I do for the confidence factor. The primary property I hunt only has access from a gravel road next to crop fields. Nothing is more discouraging then seeing deer in the field you need to walk across early in the morning. I enjoy early morning hunts, but I only hunt certain areas in the morning. I used to hunt anywhere the wind was right whether it was early in the morning or the evening, but it has been my experience that you hunt the areas that are best for a particular time of day. Perhaps you set up in a great spot, but are uncertain when the deer will pass through you just know they frequent the area. Well if you haven't done the scouting and you don't know the area as well as you should then you can burn a bridge that may have been great if you would have went in at noon and set up for the evening. A good buck just isn't going to tolerate an intrusion. Hunting Beast style has changed everything for me. I hunt much smarter now with greater attention to detail and much patience. My scouting dictates all my sits, the knowledge tell where to hunt and when.

[dan]

Mornings during early season generally result in mature bucks bedding before daylight... Most morning attempts result in kicking bucks from there beds an hour or more before daylight when I get there... Moon phase or weather can change that though.

[kenn1320]

Dan, Ive read several of your posts now with mention of moon phase. Is there a particular pattern you follow? My gps has some built in gadget that tells good and bad times and for laughs I always look at it and say any minute now its going to be great hunting, then nothing comes by. I think Charles Alsheimer believes the rut is triggered by the moon and this past season had a really late full moon after the autumn equinox. I think it was a chance for him to prove his theory, but from what I hear the rut was not later as he predicted.

[dan]

I use Jeff Murrys moon guide www.moonguide.com It costs about $10. But really it just tells me when the moon is directly above or below me, and if its near morning or evening... Just seems easier for me to glance at his chart than look at a real moon chart cause he highlights what I want to know...

[RaisedByWolves]

Dan, i really hope when the season starts you put up your favorite days (red/green) for morning/evening bed hunts like you did last year, that was very informative!

[BackWoodsHunter]

Dan, i really hope when the season starts you put up your favorite days (red/green) for morning/evening bed hunts like you did last year, that was very informative!

X2


One questions does Jeff Murrays guide tell you when to hunt? I'm still confused how the moon works? Your saying if the moon is directly overheard and its close to opening hunting hours on that day then its a good day to catch a buck headed back late?

[headgear]

I'm a big believer of the moon stuff, I haven't bought the Moon Guide but you can look up everything you need to know right here.
http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/astronomi ... one-day-us

I believe the best time to hunt is when the moon transit is close to either sunrise or sunset. Anyone have any more details on this part of it? I have heard people say if it's within a half hour of either sunrise sunset, or maybe an hour or two of first/last light.

So for central MN the first good moon morning would fall on:

Monday Sept 19th
Sunrise is at 7:00am
Moon transit is at 6:14am

The 19th should be good too
Sunrise 7:01 a.m.
Moon transit 7:05 a.m.

The 18th might work but maybe not as well as the 19th and 20th
Sunrise 6:58 a.m.
Moon transit 5:24 a.m.

[dan]

Dan, i really hope when the season starts you put up your favorite days (red/green) for morning/evening bed hunts like you did last year, that was very informative!

X2


One questions does Jeff Murrays guide tell you when to hunt? I'm still confused how the moon works? Your saying if the moon is directly overheard and its close to opening hunting hours on that day then its a good day to catch a buck headed back late?

It does tell you when to hunt... I don't listen to it when it tells me "where" to hunt. But the bucks being on there feet and it being a good time "to" hunt is what I am looking for...

I will post the moon times again when I get a chance unless someone beats me to it. I think that went over pretty good last year..

[hoyt]

It really depends on where I'm hunting according to the food source. I like this feeding time chart just punch in your zip code. http://www.solunarforecast.com/solunarcalendar.aspx

[GRUD]

I would say I hunt more evenings so I have had more success in the evenings. I did kill a really nice buck on a morning hunt once. Killed him at daybreak as he was going back to his bed. The problem with mornings early season is that there are only about 4 or 5 days during October that the moon phase is good for a morning hunt. Then you need to have the proper wind on those days. So the morning is tough because everything has to line up to make it a success.

[76chevy]

thanks for the info, good discussion here

[RaisedByWolves]

Dan, i really hope when the season starts you put up your favorite days (red/green) for morning/evening bed hunts like you did last year, that was very informative!

X2


One questions does Jeff Murrays guide tell you when to hunt? I'm still confused how the moon works? Your saying if the moon is directly overheard and its close to opening hunting hours on that day then its a good day to catch a buck headed back late?

It does tell you when to hunt... I don't listen to it when it tells me "where" to hunt. But the bucks being on there feet and it being a good time "to" hunt is what I am looking for...

I will post the moon times again when I get a chance unless someone beats me to it. I think that went over pretty good last year..

the last sentance of your intro paragraph is what is was referring to
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2439&p=23612&hilit=perched+over+a+bucks+bed#p23612