opinions on "when" to sit, during the rut ?

[Brandon]

i shot my whitetail buck at 1:15pm

i shot this years siks stag at 10:30am

[rudy78]

It would be nice to be able to fly in & out the stand at different points in the morning. Fly in for the first hour, fly out, then in around 9, out at noon, in again for last few hours.
I think the major advantage to hunting all day/longer is that you aren't bumping deer on the way in or out. You have times of good and not-so-good movement, but who knows if the good would happen if you just got there.
If I was only to hunt part of the time (which my filming partner prefers because like you he can't sit all day so we do this a lot) is get into the stand about 15 min before light and sit till 11:30 or noon, then go out for a while & come back in with about 2 hours for the evening hunt. That way you get the right at daylight movement, things slow down, then you just need to mentally prepare that some good times are coming again from 9:00 til noon, so I can stay here what am I going to do if I get down, go sit on the couch?? I think it has a lot to do with your mindset, find ways to encourage yourself that it's worth it if that big one walks past. Maybe even find ways to help with this during the challenging times, like use your phone to get on THE BEAST & see how it worked out for someone the day before by looking at the pics of their big one. I have to help my partner with this, it sure helps me to have 2 people in the stand as well, being able to chit-chat about life for while makes time fly for me & it's way easier to pull all dayers then when I'm by myself. This is one of the huge advantages to filming with another person, at least for me.

[blackwolf]

To break up an all day hunt, I like to hunt 8am to 12 or 1, then 3pm to close

[dreaming bucks]

Ok, the more I think about it, maybe I will get up and get my a$$ out of bed.

I just remember how mentally drained I have been sitting all day...... So, maybe I will do a sun up till 12:00, and then the last couple hr's before dark.... who knows, maybe I will talk myself into sitting all day, we shall see.....

[Southern Man]

It's tough to do but like Zap said, I like my stand time. It's amazing how sittin all day will wear you out. But all it takes is 5-10 seconds to make it all worth while.....

[headgear]

It seems to me a lot of the rut action I see is between daybreak and 1pm, then again the ast hour of or two of light. Now the majority of that has been in that 9-noon range dan mentioned. I do however hate to leave right at noon because that is when a lot of people head in for lunch so I alwasy try and make it until 1:00 or at least 12:30 to see if they kick anythign up. Sleeping in on a full moon was recently mentioned in another thred. I have never seen a deer before 9am on a full moon so I might try and sleep in on those days and hit the woods a little late and then sit until dark. Another tactic to keep you in the woods is just plan to sit one stand in the morning and then take a walk to another stand mid-day, or just move if you are hunting mobile. It really breaks up the day and keeps you in the woods at the same time. One thing I like to do is hunt a funnel all morning and mid-day and then hit a bedding area for the night hunt.

[Bucky]

I typically like to start walking in during gray light in hill country - scouting as I go... If I see something that looks really good I set up. I have shot bucks off the ground doing this with a rifle when the rut carries into gun season here in WI. Otherwise the best time is from 9ish until 1-2... then another little flurry of activity at around 330-dark typically

I shot the Missouri 186" chasing does at roughly 2:40... had been in the tree since 5AM... so ya never know! It is easier to sit longer hours with the lightning stick though

Get yourself a summit climber and sitting all day gets way easier

[Bucky]

It seems to me a lot of the rut action I see is between daybreak and 1pm, then again the ast hour of or two of light. Now the majority of that has been in that 9-noon range dan mentioned. I do however hate to leave right at noon because that is when a lot of people head in for lunch so I alwasy try and make it until 1:00 or at least 12:30 to see if they kick anythign up. Sleeping in on a full moon was recently mentioned in another thred. I have never seen a deer before 9am on a full moon so I might try and sleep in on those days and hit the woods a little late and then sit until dark. Another tactic to keep you in the woods is just plan to sit one stand in the morning and then take a walk to another stand mid-day, or just move if you are hunting mobile. It really breaks up the day and keeps you in the woods at the same time. One thing I like to do is hunt a funnel all morning and mid-day and then hit a bedding area for the night hunt.

x2 on the switch, accept I like a hot food source in the evenings... go to the does that is where the bucks are going

[Dor]

If I had to pick, it would be about 630am to noon for rutting bucks.

[headgear]

Thanks for pointing that out Bucky, I meant hunt a doe bedding area in the evening during the rut. Our rifle season lands directly on the rut so after the first day or so there aren't alot of deer out in any open food sources.

[Dewey]

Sitting all day during the rut is hard the first few times but you will adjust to it. Believe me it is definitely worth it if you hit those days when everything goes crazy. Over time I have found it to be pretty cool to witness the sun rising all the way to setting and witnessing a whole day from my treestand. I guess sitting all day takes a certain frame of mind more than anything.

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[wibowhntr]

I have seen some of the biggest bucks between 8 and 1pm but I like to sit all day if I have the time available.

[KMStone]

I've only shot 2 whitetail bucks during the rut, but both walked by my stand at 10 AM. I hunt hill country in Virginia.

[Hunter74]

Last season I put a lot more time in than ever before and it basically went. Bout 8am to 10am I would see the most activity but it was mainly does and small bucks. From 10am to noon activity was hit or miss but more days than not I would see something moving at this time and saw 2 ok bucks, one a decent mid 120's 8 point that I let walk at 11am and another slight smaller one around the same time on a different day. Now the kicker is and what surprised me the most is I saw 3 slobs last year, 2 were mid 150 to 160" deer and 1 flirting with 170", all three of these bucks I seen between 1 and 2:30pm between 2 different hunting areas... In general evenings have been slow for me in the rut for the last couple years but when I do get activity its usually a pretty nice buck and I think this is because I mainly stay in the funnels back in the woods away from food sources. After what I've seen the last couple years I'm gonna try very hard to sit all day but if I had to choose I'd sit from before light to 2pm. If I planned on getting out to grab food or change locations or something I'd do it between 11:30am and 1pm.

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[U.P. MAN]

It definetly gets easier as u get older to sit all day. I couldn't do it when I was younger. Definetly a state of mind thing.no doubt your odds go up the more days u can do it.

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