How long do you sit in your stand when archery hunting?

[BLACKJACK]

Just curious how long people sit in their stand when archery hunting?

I''ll start. In the morning, I like to be at my tree an hour before sunrise. That gives me 1/2 hour to put on any extra clothes that I carried with, get in my stand, pull my bow up, get an arrow on and hang it, get the face mask on. Early in the season I'll sit 1-1 1/2 hours after sunrise, so I'm usually in my tree about 2-2 1/2 hours. Later in Oct, when the rut kicks in, I'll sit longer.

Evenings are about the same, be at the tree 1 hour before sunset, giving me a 1 1/2 hour sit, then start getting their earlier when the rut kicks in, giving me that 2 1/2 - 3 hour sit. Cloudy days I try to get to the stand earlier, thinking the deer will start moving sooner while on sunny days, right before sunset is the prime time, so 1 1/2 hours is enough.

When pheasant hunting kicks in, it gets harder to sit long hours in the stand in the morning, I'd rather get out after the roosters. Then theres always those morning when you're seeing lots of ducks flying and you're thinking you should be out duck hunting... Its a great time of the year!

[EXTREME]

I usually sit around 3 hours in the evenings when bowhunting. Sometimes more; sometimes less. Cool evenings in Sept and Oct I will sit longer if I can. There is nothing better than gearing up the last hour of light. Only a few weeks away

[Deitz Dittrich]

Depends... If I am seeing quite a bit of movement I will stay in there... I have a little ADD and dont sit still well but as long as there is stuff to look at.. I can sit there...

I prefer evenings to mornings.. but thats just me.

[jlm]

All day during certain periods but pretty close to others as they have stated!

[buzzsaw]

I also prefer the evening hunt on the edge of a field, but morning hunts back in the woods are exciting as well. I'll get in my stand about 30 - 45 minutes before sun up and stay out usually until 10:00 - 11:00ish, as far as the night hunt I get out after the college football games around 3:00ish... it's usually pretty quiet on the field I hunt until about an hour before sunset. I also like to spend the afternoon hours chasing after grouse.

[irvingdog]

When do I have to be home?

[Pooh]

it depends ive sat in spots that even and 12-2 in the afternoon the deer are moving strong. about fields i have a great spot, picture this. 3 oak trees in the field the closest to woods being 30 yards and the farthers being 60 or so. its all up to the deer i guess

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this is just my 2 cents
Pooh

[Rolly22]

As long as I can.

[bigbucks]

I usually get to the stand no more than a half hour before legal shooting time, sometimes right at it, sometimes that costs me & I bump deer. I have a hard time getting going in the morning. I'll sit usually 2-3 hours in the morning, depending on what's on the schedule for the day. I really like morning hunting, I've shot a lot of my deer on morning hunts & probably only hunted 1/3-1/2 as many morning hunts as evening hunts. For morning hunts that last week before gun season sometimes I go out & say I'm going to sit until I shoot a deer or 10:30-11:00. If I sit that long without any movement I tend to go do something for a few hours before hitting a stand that evening again.

In the evenings it depends on the stands. I actually think it's more important to get on stand early in the early part of the season as the deer haven't been spooked yet & tend to move earlier in the evening, for say the first couple of weeks. I really want to be on stand at least two hours before the end of shooting, earlier if it's cooler.

I have a stand at my folks place where I've gone to the stand with less than an hour to go & still shot deer there. It's unique in that it's right on the edge of the travel route & quite a ways from bedding areas, so when there's corn right up to the stand I can sneak in along the back of the cornfield unobserved at almost any time. I've climbed into that stand undetected a few times, with deer as close as 75 yards from the stand. You can get away with that on a fenceline stand, I wouldn't try that on a stand deep in the woods. My theory is that if you have time for a short outing, that's the time to try a marginal, unproven stand on an edge somewhere. That way you don't risk bumping deer on a known spot & also don't potentially "waste" a good full hunt on a spot that turns out to not be very good. If the spot turns out to be better than you thought, you can obviously hunt it again. Sometimes sitting those marginal spots for the last hour of the day help you find the truly good spot that's close by.

[BBL Resident]

BigBucks has the right idea.
If you are hunting the edge of woods or fields you can sneak in easily and a little late.
But, if you are hunting deep in the woods and depending on the cloud cover, you need to be there early (morning and evening) and don't be afraid to stay a little longer in the morning. Especially during the rut. I have shot more bucks during the morning hunt then the evening. Now my brother who hunts the south end of the property shot all his bucks in the evening hours. My other brother has his work shot right on our hunting land and he said he sees deer hit the bean field and food plots at 7;00am 10;00am and 2;00pm. and then we will watch 15 to 25 deer in the field every evening before sun down. Now these paterns will change with the appraoch of fall and every hunter will need to do his/her homework (scouting).
Good Luck bow hunting this year and don't be afraid to put a little more time in.........you might learn something!

[MIDNIGHT777]

I usually get settled into the stand 45 minutes before shooting time and try usually stay for about 2-2.5 hours. I have tried to make my self stay longer but sometimes get discouraged if not seeing anything. Does anyone do anything like bring a book to occupy some down time? In the afternoon I usually go in about 3-4 hours before sunset. For some reason I have had better luck seeing deer in the evening.

Not that I dont enjoy the hunt, its just sometime I get discouraged if not seeing anything.

I dont know about the rest of you but I am so excited about this years season I can hardly stand it.

Matt

[bigbucks]

I'm just about beside myself, I can't hardly wait. I'm way too old to be thinking like that.

I never bring anything to read or other activities, but if I get out there pretty early & there's a few branches that I don't like. I'll definitely get back down sometimes & break them off. If they're bad enough, I'll do it even if time is short.

Hmm... I got an idea for a new topic.

[BLACKJACK]

I've never tried the book thing, but I've read about people doing it. You'd have to have a good plan where you're going to stash it with a minimum of movement. During the rut a person shuold spend more time in there tree, it would be worth trying.