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Just kind of curious. Any preference to hunt in the morning or evening? Most deer hunters I've known prefer mornings. I've always preferred evenings. Of all the deer I've shot only two were in the morning hunt. There's just something I really like about the twilight. What say the members.
 
I always preferred mornings. There's just something magical about the early morning to me.
Watching the sunrise and seeing the woods come to life.
That's my favorite time but I will hunt the afternoon as well.
Seems like a lot of big bucks are only on the move late in the day but I think that depends on the time of year too. During the rut, the big boys can be moving most any time.
The mid-day, 10am to 2pm can be productive. I've shot a lot of deer around noon.
 
My personal preference is morning hunts, getting into my stand an hr before daylight. When I lived back in Md & we had winter temps I did many eve hunts, but only at places close to home, when I had a barn to hang my deer in or the use of a friends walk-in box. But to hunt somewhere that was 1.5 hr drive back home, a long way to get the deer out of the woods, after shooting it just before dark, then to have to skin & process it that same night, is just too much.
Since moving to Fl where temps prevent hanging the deer in the barn & calling it a night, can’t happen, I don’t “ hunt “ until dark anymore. I’ve stayed in the woods until dark a cpl times, but more to see how the deer movement is compared to morning, with no real desire to shoot anything. I must skin & break down the deer & get it in ice & cooler immediately, so I only hunt mornings & mid day to early afternoon now.
It’s got nothing to do with what I “ like or prefer “ to do vs practicality & what I can physically do these days.
 
I hunt the entire day, an hour before sunrise until its dark.

I see more deer movement in the mornings and more bucks. Towards evening I see far more does and fawns. As deermanok has suggested, from about 10 until 2 has shown me a lot of deer and interestingly I see far more quality bucks during this timeframe. I'm a meat hunter and use almost the entire animal for making sausage, the exception being the back loins which I cut into chops.

I don't pay much attention to moon phases except that during the new moon period, two days prior and two days following, I see deer active later into the morning and earlier in the evening by about a half hour each way. Fog, drizzle, light rain and light snow I welcome as deer activity seems to increase.

Like ninering's dilemma with heat, our last couple seasons have been unusually warm and the need to get things chilled quickly has offered some challenges. When I was early into deer hunting back in the 60's hunting in November weas a COLD proposition, often with a lot of snow and wind to accompany the cold. I'm talking below zero cold. In the last twenty years I think I can count on my ten fingers how many times I have had measurable snow on the ground or snow that stayed for more than a day. A couple years ago I sat out a wicked thunderstorm in the stand until the rain went sideways. I was soaked. I started off the hill when the rain just quit and the wind simply died, so I went back to the stand to hunt after taking the wet crap off. I shot a buck deer at the waterhole, 20 feet away, from the stand ladder where I was getting the gun tied to the tether before climbing.

I've just learned over the years that there is no best time to be in the woods hunting. If I am not there, I have zero opportunity to fill a tag.
 
I am not an early riser. Hate the mornings(unless I've stayed up all night to see it). With only one exception every buck Ive shot was mid day, 10a - 2p. But i much prefer the evening hunt. As i only shoot does now, the evening hunt on a farm usually gives me the opportunity to pick out the biggest doe. It really can be more like shopping then hunting, sometimes. I do agree there really isnt a bad time to be in the woods. Ive seen bucks moving around in wind, raining, snowing, but rarely in the heat up here. Evenings and mid day for me. Woods come alive in a different way as it gets dark. I will stay on stand till well after dark and see or hear lots of cool stuff.
 
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i prefer to hunt mornings although my morning/evening success rate is about 50/50. Most deer are killed on the lease.

Butcher shop is ten miles from the lease. Deer killed late are field dressed and hauled to the cooler with the registration tag and cutting order.
 
I’ve killed all my biggest bucks in the morning and all from a climbing stand in the woods. I haven’t tracked it, but I think most of my freezer fillers come from shooting houses on green fields. This thread has some good stuff in it. Thanks, guys.
 
Generally speaking, I prefer morning hunts. I would say most of my deer were taken in the morning. However, to be honest, that may be because I don't hunt the evening after morning success.

One thing I don't do is the "all day sit." I have never found them to be productive.
 
I've just learned over the years that there is no best time to be in the woods hunting. If I am not there, I have zero opportunity to fill a tag
I agree 100%. I hunt on public grounds, so there's usually somebody around. Anytime I can make it to the mountain is the best time.
 
Mornings but during the November rut I will also spend some time from 10:am - 2:pm. I shot a nice 8 pt at 11:00 on Veteran's Day in 2021. Our trail cams have shown some mid day roaming during the rut, especially if the temps are below 50 degrees.
 
I shot this tank at 2:00 in the afternoon in falling snow with a beastly NW wind on the last day of the season. The wind made it impossible to get to my stand using the usual route, so I had to go up the mountain on the east slope which is terribly steep. I followed a deer trail up the slope and noticed a deer ahead of me that was just meandering along so I slowed down a bit and got the binocs out and glassed it. I could catch glimpses of antlers off and on. The two of us were at last at the ridge and I was able to go around a buckthorn thicket and get ahead of him. When I got to where the stand was, I figured I'd use the ladder to get high enough to spot him coming along but he somehow got out in front again and was only 35 yards away. It was a quartering away shot in the high shoulder, all I had before he went into the thick again. Dropped him on the spot. The 300 grain XTP hit where I aimed then traveled the length of his neck and lodged at the jaw joint on the same side.

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I had been at home watching it rain and drizzle for four hours and when the weather said temps were headed downhill very soon and things would be changing to snow, I hit the road. Snow began as I was driving to the property. I had no idea what I had down until I had reloaded and walked up on him. The picture shows some of the ticker tines but not their true length....angle at which the picture was taken. Some are not seen because they are hidden behind other tines. 13 points. 263 dressed and hanging. Needless to say that this guys last trip in the woods was down the steep side of that mountain. Very fast, very efficient.
 
I'm going to change things up this year because I hunt on public land. Here in Iowa the rut gets going on the 2nd or 3rd of Nov. Lots and lots of hunters. Deer can pattern us much more than the other way around. I'm gonna hunt the last two weeks in Nov. Maybe even sit some stands in the middle of the day. Most hunters are long gone by then. I'm also gonna try tree saddle hunting. Hang on stands and climbing equipment attached to a tree tend to grow legs and walk away if you know what I mean.
 
Going up the mountain in the dark never bothered me, but coming back down in the dark has seemed less palatable. I prefer to have daylight for field dressing and packing out my prize. On one unfortunate occasion, I shot a nice whitetail right before dark, and he disappeared into the tree line. Unknown to me, he turned hard left once he was out of sight, so I spent the remaining light looking in the wrong direction. I kept looking in the dark until I caught a very strong wiff of skunk. Not wanting to stumble on a skunk in the dark, I decided to return in the morning. In the daylight, I found him fairly easily, but a little late. It had been a bit more of a head-on shot than I thought, and the bullet went through the chest, and blew up the stomach, which was full of acorns. The meat was soured from marinating in acorn and stomach acid overnight. I think if I'd been able to dress him out right away, I might have been able to save the meat.
 
Just kind of curious. Any preference to hunt in the morning or evening? Most deer hunters I've known prefer mornings. I've always preferred evenings. Of all the deer I've shot only two were in the morning hunt. There's just something I really like about the twilight. What say the members.
I know I can only speak for myself, but I always thought things got worse after sundown when you are tracking with a flashlight. Part the problem is, if the deer is not dead, is not legal to shoot again.
Squint
 
At 75 I much prefer the mornings now. I still like to work in my boat shop part time and around the homestead, but I'm never real sure how much I've got "Left in the tank" by quitting time.
Now, when I had young guys working with me, I never had any turn downs when I'd ask, "Hey, if we finish this part of the job up early this afternoon, whadda ya say we hit the woods for a couple hours?"
 

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