Big bucks? Morning or afternoon?

[BuckSutherland]

Just wondering what everyone else has for experience. I have killed four bucks in the last 5 years. I have 8,9 and 10 on the wall, and a little forkhorn I took for meat. All four were shot in the morning. In fact, I rarely see bucks when I hunt the evening. I can only recall seeing 3 bucks in the afternoon in the last 5 years.

Is everyone else shooting their big bucks in the AM or PM. Nobody in my group has shot a buck in the PM in the last 5 years. And we hunt pretty hard. Almost all out of stands. No driving talk for us.

[matchset]

i'm completely opposite of you....

5 bucks in 5 years.... 4 of 5 were harvested after NOON!

it wasn't until this year that I put a tag on a buck at 830am.

[CrewJones]

shot mine at 4:40pm and 1:30pm this year in MN and MI

[Stratosman]

THinking back.... Out of the last 6 mature bucks I have arrowed all but one has come in the P.M... And 4 of those have come in the last 5 minutes of legal shooting!

I hunt mostly evenings though... but maybe only a ratio of 2:1, so still a much higher percentage in the evening...

[zepman]

I have shot 5 mature bucks in the last 8 years...the biggest came right after legal shooting time in the a.m. Three came between 10am and 2pm. One on an evening sit.

I've always seen more bucks in the middle of the day...I love being on stand from 9:30-2:30.

[dillon]

I always seem to see the bigger bucks in the morning and smaller bucks and does in afternoon...wish it was the other way around so I could sleep in.

[Archerysniper]

All of mine have been in the afternoon during the last hour except for mine this year which was 7:15 am. Even after all the time I spend thru bow,gun and Blackpowder season I would say 90% of the big ones I see are in the pm.

[mrklean]

Afternoon for sure

[Lunker]

This year I saw more bucks in the mornings, but the two biggest I saw were evenings...personally i think it depends more on the individual spot and when the deer are moving through them.

[hockeybc69]

Too many variables to put any certain pattern together if you ask me....

Time of year..

Weather at the time..

Pressure..

Or simply was the deer moved off his previous location by human presence or another influence..

[Jameson]

About an hour and a half before legal shooting as I'm driving to go hunt.

[Early Riser]

In our hunting party the number of bucks shot in the morning versus afternoon has to do with how early of us is typically set up and ready to hunt. Personally I am usually wide awake by 4, cooking breakfast for everyone by 4:30 and walking the 1.5 miles to my hunting area by about 5:30 AM. Some of the other guys are typically starting to walk in around 6:15 as it is just getting light. They tend to shoot more deer a little later than I do, including a few toward sunset.

In all my deer hunting, I can recall only four bucks that I shot well after noon; a spike, two nice 8s, and a big 9. The latest of the four was shot around 3:30. All four of these deer were shot on days I got to my stand later than normal after hunting a different area in the morning, or sneaking out for an afternoon after just getting to camp. If I have sat or have been still hunting all day without seeing much since first light, I am getting antsy around 3:30 anyways. Its just the way I am wired, being a lark versus an night owl.

Other than those few deer, all my bucks, including most of my big ones have been shot before 8:30 AM. This past year I killed three bucks in two days, all before 9:30 AM. Including a big 10 with an almost 20" inside spread that came right back into my grunt call after I pushed him a little as I was still heading into my planned stand for the day. He couldn't smell me and thought I was just another deer walking into his area. That one ended up being a long story in and of itself!

[leech~~]

Every Buck I have ever shot has been in the morning Bow hunting or Rifle. It seems like they are more into "morning wood" then evening!

[monstermoose78]

My group has shot most of the wall hangers from 10 to 2.

[mnguy152]

I think the best times is when ever you can get out.

[22lex]

Most of my harvests and buck sightings at a close range are in the morning, long range sightings for me is usually evening time and when I have chances at does. I would suspect stand location/bedding/food/cover/time of the year all play a huge part in buck sightings.

Only once have I had mid-afternoon buck action and that was when a 6/8/nice 10 were running a doe in circles and I couldn't get any of them to stop to take a poke at the 10 pt. Frustrating, but that 10 minute experience of pulling back countless times and seeing those bucks dog that doe made my season.

[Notime]

I got mine at 10:04 2 years ago. Had one a little smaller come in last year 7 min before legal shooting. Missed one several years that was bigger ago at noon, but I've shot them in the late afternoon too. Point is, suck it up and spend all day on the stand!

[slimngrizzly]

Sept 1- Oct 15= Evenings

Oct 15- Dec. 1= Mornings

Dec.1 - Dec.30= Evenings

A rutting buck is far more likely to return late to bed than be early to rise. Thats my theory. And gun season no rules apply, anything can happen, theres too much force movement that you dont even know about.

[Whoknows]

Time of year and location play a huge factor in when you are most likely to see mature deer. Of the three mature bucks I've been lucky enough to take in the past three seasons, one was shot at Noon, one at 7:30am and this years was at 1pm. Unfortunately I get less and less all day sits as i get older.

[Musky Buck]

50/50 here, but I hunt 3 counties and 6 different rifle stands so I never over hunt any spot. My largest 5 were all 7:30-9:30 AM, however now with much much more pressure in the fields etc. it has shifted to evening sits as the deer are burned out of the fields well before legal light where in years past you'd catch them coming back from fields with does, that no longer happens, they're long gone from the fields.

[Bear55]

I would rate things like this. Of course lots of variables depending on the land or area you hunt.

Pre Rut to Rut: Morning to Mid-Day - I see and shoot about half the mature bucks at this time.

Pre Rut to Rut Evening - Not as good as above but close.

Early Season Evening - Shot none but have seen some good mature buck action.

Late Season Evening - I have bumped into a few nice ones this time of year.

Early Season AM - I suck

Late Season Am - I give up.

[paceman]

Thinking back over the years I would guess a ratio of 2/3 to 1/3 mornings over evenings. The bigger ones have been shot within a half hour of shooting light.

[PropsterII]

I would say Slim and Bear have depicted best my observations for most areas and states I hunt. I will say mine are roughly split but I much prefer mornings over evenings, during pre-rut and rut.

[fishmounter]

I've seen more bucks afternoon and I think its due to the fact they have been bedded sinc.e early morning and are up pm to start moving and feeding.

[bigbucks]

About half and half for me. Putting my 4th one on the wall this year. Will now have a rifle am & pm to go with a bow am & pm. The two rifle bucks were shot within 300 yards of each other, so it's not the spot being am or pm specific in that case. I did shoot one other decent one in between those two, which was also in the morning. Bottom line is, that's a good spot.

I can think of a few other nice bucks that I've shot, about half & half on those also. Bow hunting I hunt more evenings because I can after work, well gun season too. I've seen & passed on countless small bucks in those evening sits over the years, but passed on plenty of small ones in my occasional morning sits with bow or firearm over the years.

The only pattern I've ever developed is that I've shot them all while hunting...