RE:Mornings or Evenings?

[esox49]

Now that the "big" opening weekend is over, (I did not fill my tag). So, I have some options to get out during the week. I know the crowds will not be there like the weekend to move the deer. So, when do you all prefer to hunt? I can not sit all day due to time restraints with the kids and I know the deer have been way over pressured and nocturnal. If you could only go 3 - 4 hours a day when would you go? Thoughts?

[Wanderer]

Mornings have been best for us so far this year everywhere I've hunted that doesn't have corn. Evenings have been good near the corn.

[paceman]

Normally the mornings are better, but this past weekend evenings were way better in my area.

[mainbutter]

6-10AM for me, it's the only time I see deer where I hunt. They're always out in the farm fields in the evening.

[surewood]

I hunt the big woods. See most deer in the morning.

[Jeff13]

Hunt big woods also we get 95% of our deer in the morning.

[icecold]

Best luck is mornings till noon, then i go out for the last 1hr evening on occasion , more movement around that 8-10 am

[i'majigger]

I've noticed over the last few years that after the first weekend the mornings are always better until about Wednesday, then they seem to start moving again all day, especially if it is cold.

[tunrevir]

This time of year I would not overlook late mornings and early afternoon. Deer can show up at anytime so the more time you can sit the better.

Tunrevir~

[bowhunternw]

Mornings are better in my experience, but I would wait till later in the week. First day is always wild then after that you need to have some luck on your side.

[monstermoose78]

I like from 9am to 2pm

[rockman]

Deer in my hunting area go mostly nocturnal, as soon as shots are fired on opening day. Late afternoons until dusk has been the best time for me. I do agree that for in the woods, morning is better. Field shooting- late afternoon til dusk.

[leechlake]

I've found in my area that end of this week and next weekend I see more deer from 11-3pm then any other time. One guess is that they are up and eating mostly at night and eventually they want to get back up and move around and feed. I can't remember in Minnesota the last time I shot a deer in the last hour aka "Primetime" with a gun, even though it's my favorite time in the woods.

[ZachD]

The past 7 deer I have seen have showed up almost creepy at exactly 410 pm. I almost am tempted to sleep all day and go in my stand at 4:00 everyday haha. This is hunting swamp land in princeton, near standing corn in milaca, and a bare soy field in oak grove.

[OnAFly]

Morning in the woods, evening in the feilds. Seems pretty standard where we hunt. If there are deer in the fields in the morning, they generally get kicked out when we walk out. Most times they don't come back.

[Barbelboy]

I'm going to go with whenever you can be in the stand. The longer you sit, any time of day, the more the odds are in your favor. Remember, you can't shoot them from the couch.

[bigbucks]

Well I could have shot one at 4:55 on Saturday night, a fawn. (woods)

Sunday night I shot a doe my daughter missed first at about 4:45. (field)

Monday night I shot a buck at 5:20ish, about 2 minutes of legal left. (woods, near field)

Tuesday night I shot a buck at 4:55. (woods)

So I'm going to go with evenings & I'm not going to go hunting tonight...

[FISHINGURU]

Depends on your spot and the wind for that day. Other then that flip a coin.

I like mornings the best because it's like the reset button has been pressed over night. Every morning starts something new.

In the evening the deer have already been scared,pushed, or just laying low because they know they are being hunted. They are more alert, scent is all over the woods from hunters being out in the morning and afternoon. Come nightfall they all get back up and go do their thing all night, deer are moving all over and you can catch them heading back to where ever they are heading in the morning.

That's not saying you can't get deer in the evening though, but if I had to choose I would pick mornings. Now early bow season on crops I'd probably pick evenings.

Don't rule out midday either if you can get out around 10am-2pm, you get a little bump of movement from everyone else leaving around 10am and coming back to hunt around 1-2pm. Not only that but big nocturnal bucks will move midday because they know everyone is back eating lunch and taking a nap.

[deerminator]

Mornings this time of year. I wonder if the fact that its much colder in the morning typically doesn't have a lot to do with it too.

[Musky Buck]

I think both are primetimes of course and it depends on your hunting situation. I have some stands that are better early AM I think because they're wandering back in from afar from the night time feeding rutting binge. Other spots I have are better in the evening because I know where they're bedded and I'm not far away as they slowly wander toward the food source I'm scoping them long before the field hunters and why those spots aren't great in the AM is they are usually out of the fields heading for bedding ground and here I come a 1/2 hour before shooting light spooking some of them but prior to that the field hunters are spooking them for tight bedding cover so that spot is night only really as an option. You learn over time if you want to learn their ways where you're at.

[Scott K]

I get more pictures on one of my cameras between 10 am and 2pm, then prime time. So it all depends on where you are at, and when they move at that spot. To be honest, once they are being shot at, and pressured, everything changes anyhow. If you want your best chances, be out there all day.