I have no food sources to hunt so my season doesn't really start until the corn comes out. But I start hunting on October 15th. Earliest I've ever shot a deer was Oct 30th ish....
I try to catch those mature bucks right when the season opens. I hunt in the evening in my small food plots in the woods. It seems their pattern for feeding changes in late September early October. Then I don't hunt much until the rut starts to heat up late October.
Both mornings and evenings but evenings seem to work out better. I'll be hunting the edge of food sources morning/evening and water sources mid day.
Here in the Boreal forest the strategy changes primarily with weather. In the heat of September I hunt swamp and pond edges close to cut or burned blocks. As the weather cools I move away from the water but hunt corridors leading to those same blocks. Late season I hunt the block edges.
