I have heard a lot of guys say that they don't bother hunting mornings in the early season. Personally, I have always wanted to be in a tree whenever possible, be it morning or evening. I live near a lot of big ag fields and film deer in them every afternoon. Every field seems to have no shortage of deer about an hour before dark. However, I just started noticing that I never see deer in them in the mornings... ever. I'm just curious how everyone feels about morning hunts in the early season. Good? Bad? Why?
I hunt mornings, even on opening day. I get a select number of days to hunt - so if I can get into the woods quietly and scentless I will do that each morning/evening I get the chance to. I will add though, even though I hunt mornings - I never once seen a deer last season in the morning.
Anytime you can get in the woods is another opportunity. Especially if you can find an area that the deer travel back to bed. I had one year where across the street was about a 10 acre hidden corn field that the deer were using opening season. Once it was morning they would cross the street and come through another grass field also not visible from the street. I was sitting about 20 yards in the woods on the edge of this field and it was like clockwork for these deer to come back in about 730-8am to go back to the bedding area. I even had a nice 2.5 yr old 8 point who was on the other side of the field about 100 yards that I grunted too a couple times and he even came over by me to check things out. To this day it has been the best early season hunting I've had so I try to find that middle area between food and bed but very quick and easy to get too is key so they don't know they are being hunted yet being early in the year.
I hunt mornings in the early season as well. Like many I only have so much time to hunt especially since my property is 4 hrs away. I always try to set up on travel routes to catch the deer going back to bed after they feed. I usually don't set up on a food source like an ag field or larger food plot until the evening hunt but I will set up in or near an oak grove if the acorn crop is good.
I've pretty much given up hunting early mornings until there is snow on the ground. I've never seen a deer until after 10:00 am. Might just be the land I hunt but they are all gone or bedded by sun up.
I may hunt the first morning or two in order to scratch that itch we all have when season is closed, but after that I'll cool off and hunt mostly afternoons until at later into October. Historically my October morning hunts have rarely produced much, if any, action. When they do it's typically does and right at first light. A few years ago I did a lot of bass fishing in October during the mornings which was sweet. I may give that a try again this fall.
I'll start off hunting the mornings just to get out, I typically don't hunt my "good" spots till mid late October however
I hunt primarily in the evenings until the time changes then I switch to mornings. Usually early/mid morning. A lot of the reason is due to my work schedule.
I too have never killed a buck in the morning, during early season. I've killed a few does, but that's about it.
Honestly I have had some really good early season morning hunts the last couple years. Think it kinda depends on your property lay out.. I hunt a good bit Of water and trails more then wide open food fields.
I won't do mornings until the last week of October. The reasons are simple: We're virtually blind in the dark, and they're not. In the fields, they'll see you. In heavy woods, they'll hear you... and likely see you. I hate trying to quietly navigate my way to a stand in the dark; constantly wondering how many deer I've pushed out of the area, and if my target bucks were some of those deer -then sit and see nothing until 10am. Also, I hate waking up early. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Two years ago I tagged out opening morning with my bow and a month later in gun season I tagged out opening morning as well. By 10 am I was dragging the deer out. Last year not so good. It depends on in my opinion just being in the woods. Last year I sat 12.5 hrs in the tree and never saw a deer all day. I knew then it was going to be a long season for me, and it was.
I also don't do morning hunts until the last week of Oct, but for different reasons. I love going to my stands in the dark, and if you know your way in the dark, it can be done quietly without spooking a lot of deer. The routes I take to my stand sites are the same routes I take to my trail cams, so I have them cleared of ANY debris that might make noise during entry. Mornings aren't real productive until the pre-rut gets under way in my area, so I just do evening hunts. From the last week of Oct until the middle of Nov I do all day sits. If you have the patience, that's the only way to hunt.
I shot one of my bucks opening morning, at around 9:30 am. I had a streak for 3 years where I killed a deer every opening morning
For 3 years straight I got lots of morning trail cam pics of bucks on the WI property I hunt right up until about Oct 7... Then almost nothing in the AM. Problem is I haven't been able to hunt that property until about 2nd week. I'm changing that this year.
Really comes down to what you want to shoot. If you're chasing mature bucks it's generally difficult because they're often bedded before dark or grey light. If you're after any deer, mornings can be productive.
Early season morning hunts are when you fill those doe tags. Takes care of the itch until the real action starts and works on filling the freezer. I have a couple great spots, way away from the fields and on the edge of bedding. Also happens to have easy access. The fact is that very few big bucks are killed until the rut anyway so i don't waste my good spots until it's go time.
I hunt mostly public land, and I do hunt mornings, and one big reason why is because of everything you see here: not many others do. One trick that's worked for me on heavily pressured public land is to do what others don't, and that means hunting mornings. I've done pretty well doing that. I don't hunt mornings as much as I used to, but I still do it. I'm becoming more of a fair weather hunter as I get older. If it's too hot and humid, I go back to bed, or go fishing. But I do like to get out there a few mornings a week to keep up with what's going on. I mostly use those stands to keep up with what deer are doing on the lands I hunt because, due to constant scouting and hunting by plenty of other hunters, they are bumped around a lot. They change bedding and feeding locations frequently and I like to know where the doe groups in my area are bedding and feeding, and how they get back and forth, for when the rut starts, then I move closer. If you hunt the same area long enough, you know when deer are feeding in this part of an oak flat, or creek bottom, or bedding in this laurel thicket, scrapes begin to pop up in certain areas so I move to that spot the last week in October just as bucks start making them. When you do find a huntable early season buck pattern, you definitely have to make sure HOW you're hunting matches WHEN you're hunting. You certainly can't hunt a stand on the way to an afternoon food source in the morning. If you're hunting a rub line, and early season rub lines are an excellent place to catch a mature buck before he goes mostly dark, you need to make sure the rubs are facing the correct way, and you're pretty close to the bed.
