Mobile setups in the A.M

[AlbertaBowhunter80]

For all you folks that do a run and gun setup, are you guys going in when it's light out so you can scout sign or are you setting up blind in the dark?

[Dewey]

Most of us prefer evening hunts for mobile hunting buck beds. When I do hunt mornings it's usually spots I know very well from previous years hunts or at the very least pre-scouted ahead of time usually in spring. I have also done well going in blind to rut spots but wait till daylight or even mid-morning to set up. I don't like going in blind well before daylight as this usually results in wandering around too much and screwing the area up.

[dan]

I usually go to pre scouted locations in the AM... I at least want to know the general area.

[ThePreBanMan]

Sometimes I go in blind in the AM. I don't scout though. I pick a place on a map and I go there. I like places just off of brooks and shallow streams for this so I can hoof it in the water and not screw the place up. then I'll hunt just out of the water at the top of a bowl or some similar funnel. It's been a few since I killed a deer hunting this way. Passed on several smaller ones though. Just had more luck in the evening lately.

[tgreeno]

Most of us prefer evening hunts for mobile hunting buck beds. When I do hunt mornings it's usually spots I know very well from previous years hunts or at the very least pre-scouted ahead of time usually in spring. I have also done well going in blind to rut spots but wait till daylight or even mid-morning to set up. I don't like going in blind well before daylight as this usually results in wandering around too much and screwing the area up.

Ditto

[matt1336]

When I hunt in the morning it's typically going to be during the rut, in a funnel. So I'll know where I'm going. It I'm still using the lone wolf gear- stand and sticks. You gotta be quiet in the am. There's usually little to no wind to cover any noise you make

[hunter_mike]

I do hunt quite a few mornings. I do prefer an evening hunt but i get to hunt twice as often and twice as many places if i use mornings. For morning hunts i always have a tree pre-picked at the least and prefer to have a walking route that i have walked at least once in daylight. And after i climb down for the morning, yes i do usually get some good scouting done and its good intel for the next year. My past two bow kills have been a result of morning hunts too.

[GoInLight]

I normally go in blind in the morning, but I wait until I can at least partially see the ground. I scout/hunt my way with the wind in my favor and then set up on fresh sign. I normally do this early season, so I'm hunting oaks and I generally run deer out if they are hot. I can't tell how many times I've done this and then literally minutes after getting set in my tree, here comes a slick head. I do this in areas that I'm not hunting mature deer and use it as a way to kill a doe and do some good scouting. I have killed mature deer in the morning, but more often than not i kill does and get intel that helps me the next year.

[Aaron1987]

We use a light and go in when it's dark - well before daylight in most cases. I do worry about other hunters seeing our lights and giving the spot away but usually we are in there before they arrive. We started doing this by default because we film everything and have to setup two stands, camera arms, etc. That takes extra time and to be quiet enough we need to use a light and take our time. If it is dark I do not believe deer can see a dim green light. I'm not so sure they can see a white beam either. Not sure if there is any science on this or not - just my two cents.

We get busted more while setting up in gray light but rarely when it's dark. We're usually ready to go about 20-30 minutes before legal light.

Last fall I killed my buck out of a spot I'd never been in until that morning in the dark. Picked it on a map and went in super early (2 hours before daylight). Lightly scouted with the headlamp and picked a tree. Tons of luck involved for sure but it is possible to go in blind in the a.m. My friend Greg Clements killed one doing the same thing a few days later.

Yes, your leaving scent around your stand site but hunting it at the same time. You still have the element of suprise for that hunt if you do it carefully.

[Wlog]

I've gone in blind in the dark before with some success. Usually during rut or gun season. Outside of rut, not so much. If I've never been to the area I prefer going in mid morning and scouting then hunting the afternoon/evening.

[gjs4]

Be prepare for bad picks and even more so for having safety measures in place. I do not like mornings but on trips out of town I hanging well before light with a harness and emergency plan.

[woodswalker]

When using s light in the morning in the dark I carry my light below my waist and shine the light beam on the ground close in front of me on the path. It is difficult for people or deer to see a light used that way. It is the people who walk in when dark waving their lights all over the place looking for some kind of marker or land mark that tell other hunters and wildlife where they are. Personally, I don't want to be close to someone like that so if I see it, I go elsewhere. If I have a good moon I don't use a light to get to my stand, I make sure the path is clear and I won't trip over anything before the season starts and if I find something that fell on the path after that, I remove it on my way out from my stand

[Jonny]

I get 2 morning hunts and 1 evening hunt a week, so I don't pass up morning hunts. I always go to an area I have been before and have some confidence in. Go early, take your time, and don't make any unnatural noises. I just make sure to not make any metal to metal or suction noises. I have had deer walk 15 yards from me while putting my climber on a tree.

I also like a dimmer light as opposed to those obnoxious bright leds that blind you. I put my headlamp as dim as it will go, just so I don't trip on a log and face plant into the ground. I never recorded it, but I'm pretty sure I see just as many deer in the morning as I do in the evenings. Personally, I like secluded hardwoods and try to enter it on a crosswind for mornings. That is what has worked for me. Stuff near the road tends to lead to jumping lots of deer. Going in on a logging trail seems like I get to deer that don't mind feeding an hour or two into daylight. Don't see many mature bucks, but some of the biggest bucks I have seen were at 10 am eating acorns mid september. Just depends on area and pressure.

Evenings are probably better, but not enough for me to throw away 66% of my hunting time per week.

[SMS79]

Last fall I killed my buck out of a spot I'd never been in until that morning in the dark. Picked it on a map and went in super early (2 hours before daylight).

I found this thread doing a search of early season AM setups. I was looking for some help/advice/suggestions for making a setup similar to the hunt that Aaron killed his buck on last year. Just watched it (again) the other day in that episode of Chasing November. Awesome!

My issue is that, unlike Aaron's hunt, I'm looking to do this early season. Bow season in GA begins Sept 9. Ordinarily I would be following the majority of the advice I've seen on here and not hunt the morning until later on in the season. My situation is that I'm targeting two particular mature bucks on a medium sized piece of private land. Just so happens these two bucks are running together at the moment. They are regularly feeding in a field that runs along a ridgetop with hardwood bottoms all around. These bucks were showing up on cameras only at night until about 4 weeks ago. Since then there have been 5 or 6 different mornings where they (along with 3 or 4 other younger bucks) have still been out feeding about 30 minutes after legal shooting light. I've gotten no evening/night pictures of them earlier than about 2 hours after dark. Of those daylight active mornings, in 4 of them the bucks appear to be moving off heading to bed in one particular direction. The other 1 or 2 were inconclusive as to which direction they exited. I'm familiar with the terrain at least up to the property line in the direction they appear to be heading. The funny thing is that scouting that area back in Feb/March yielded the least amount of bedding sign of anywhere on the property, particularly between the field and the creek bottom. All I can seem to come up with is that either they're bedding relatively close to the field early season only which explains not finding more sign this past spring, or they're bedding beyond the creek somewhere. I'm trying to piece together some pattern in the weather conditions & moon phases during the occurrences of daylight activity to try to time my first sit by. Also, I believe I can access the creek from the far side of the bottom and using that creek slip around to the area off the field where they seem to be heading without disturbing the deer in the field well before daylight. Just wanted to see if anyone has any thoughts or perspective to offer this early season AM situation.

PS - sorry to Alberta for kinda hijacking your post. I started to create a separate thread but thought the questions might be similar enough that maybe you could benefit from any of the feedback to my questions as well.

[<DK>]

Last fall I killed my buck out of a spot I'd never been in until that morning in the dark. Picked it on a map and went in super early (2 hours before daylight).

I found this thread doing a search of early season AM setups. I was looking for some help/advice/suggestions for making a setup similar to the hunt that Aaron killed his buck on last year. Just watched it (again) the other day in that episode of Chasing November. Awesome!

My issue is that, unlike Aaron's hunt, I'm looking to do this early season. Bow season in GA begins Sept 9. Ordinarily I would be following the majority of the advice I've seen on here and not hunt the morning until later on in the season. My situation is that I'm targeting two particular mature bucks on a medium sized piece of private land. Just so happens these two bucks are running together at the moment. They are regularly feeding in a field that runs along a ridgetop with hardwood bottoms all around. These bucks were showing up on cameras only at night until about 4 weeks ago. Since then there have been 5 or 6 different mornings where they (along with 3 or 4 other younger bucks) have still been out feeding about 30 minutes after legal shooting light. I've gotten no evening/night pictures of them earlier than about 2 hours after dark. Of those daylight active mornings, in 4 of them the bucks appear to be moving off heading to bed in one particular direction. The other 1 or 2 were inconclusive as to which direction they exited. I'm familiar with the terrain at least up to the property line in the direction they appear to be heading. The funny thing is that scouting that area back in Feb/March yielded the least amount of bedding sign of anywhere on the property, particularly between the field and the creek bottom. All I can seem to come up with is that either they're bedding relatively close to the field early season only which explains not finding more sign this past spring, or they're bedding beyond the creek somewhere. I'm trying to piece together some pattern in the weather conditions & moon phases during the occurrences of daylight activity to try to time my first sit by. Also, I believe I can access the creek from the far side of the bottom and using that creek slip around to the area off the field where they seem to be heading without disturbing the deer in the field well before daylight. Just wanted to see if anyone has any thoughts or perspective to offer this early season AM situation.

PS - sorry to Alberta for kinda hijacking your post. I started to create a separate thread but thought the questions might be similar enough that maybe you could benefit from any of the feedback to my questions as well.

Your question is one we all seek the answer to and you assumptions are probably correct. I find many bucks bedding on edges early season or closer to access. The way you described the area in the off season vs now answers alot. Early season bedding requires some type of confirmation (in most cases), youve done that and are still doing it. There is no denying that a buck bedded off the edge of a food source can be a tough animal to kill.

I have to say that is interesting that you have them staying out after daylight, so yes my guess would be they are stepping into their bedroom from the field. If its across the creek then that favors you more. In the next few weeks youll see the same question as titles for threads about whether to morning hunt a buck bed. I will not tell you DONT DO IT - However, I have seasons of deer logs w Sept-Early Oct bumping large solo deer in the dark only to set up and does w fawns comes by later. To the point where I dont even try anymore...unless something is telling me otherwse. The only exception is my 2015 opening morning buck. He was 3 year old and I got lucky, but I had him pegged so I went for it. Evenings, evenings, evenings! What Dan talks about is correct (by my exp) - I dont even try morning anymore till the time is right, even then its grey light till the fun stuff starts. That is not to say one of those bucks youd be happy to shoot wont make a mistake.

Since you put in the ground work, know the area, have cams and assumptions...The things you need to pay attention to are:
*Rock Solid Access - if it aint there dont force it. Access can very very tough when its green and thick. Verifying this is essential.
*What are they eating? If its beans then plan on a shift after they are cut but you know the source until that happens.
*Velvet Shed - Early season is the best time to catch them on a relaxed pattern. Though we all know what happens when the velvet comes off! He becomes a different animal...even more so once he knows hes being hunted. The older bucks youre watching may shift before the other bucks, they may stay on track but his times of appearances become later. Once pressure hits, its obvious they are moving. Since you put in the ground work then you probably know where he will shift to. Keep gathering intel until its time, but pressure will be issue very very soon, if not already for the big boys. Where I live, mature bucks will be hard antler in a few weeks.

Your situation reminds me of MOBIGBUCKS Sept morning kill last year. He accessed through a ditch that split x2 crop fields and held good bedding. The buck staged in the field until it was grey light and stepped into his bedroom only to take an arrow from him. Access is so important, I cant say it enough. Thats why you here Andrea talk about pre setting stands for mornings so that you can slip in and up the tree very quickly and quietly. To me, there is nothing worse than my bow being on the ground, a deer walking thru mid climb and you cant do anything... That guy from the NE goes in super early and sits there till daylight and he can put an arrow in them. It can be done!

I hope some of this or the story helps making your decision or raises your confidence. Id like to hear more about it the closer we get to opening day.
Good luck man