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How early in the am?

doublerack

Active Member
I was reviewing the sunrise table on the DNR site. Starting Oct. 1st sunrise is set for 5:58 am. It says to add an hour for daylight savings time between the 1st Sunday in April through the Last Sunday in Oct. It appears that sunrise is pushed back 1 minute each day. If this is correct, sunrise this Sunday will be at 6:58am getting later by the minute each day until daylight savings time on Oct 29th when the hour is no longer added and sunrise is actually at 6:30am.
I know not everyone follows the sunrise table, so most of the time it is a judgment call on whether or not you can make an ethical shot. All that aside, what time does everyone plan on being completely set up and in stand this Sunday morning?
 
I like being ready to draw 1 hr prior to sunrise. That gets me in the tree and situated 30min prior to legal shooting time.
 
Im with Buck10 I like to be in the stand atleast a half hour before sunrise. Sometimes an hour just to give my self time and for the woods to settle down before shooting time.
 
I'm sitting this one out Sunday morning, I won't even hunt the mornings until late October unless I got a good spot to shoot a doe. However, Sunday night I am going to be stomping does along a bean and alfalfa field
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I'm with LIV on this one. In my opinion, mornings aren't generally worth it until closer to the rut. The big boys just aren't up and moving. Come rut, it's a different story. When you start seeing shooter bucks out cruising in the mornings, you know the rut has begun.
 
I just read an article about not wasting your time hunting mornings early in the season. Was it in the latest issue of Whitetail Fanatic?

The author says that the bucks are in their beds before you even leave yours, so forget trying to cut them off.

I'm not sure if I'll go Sunday morning, with the late football game and all.
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I do plan on getting out Sunday evening, though.
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I always hunt mornings, always see way more deer then in the evenings catching them coming back from feeding to bedding areas.

Warm weather will keep the mature bucks pretty nocturnal for the most part, but I will be filling the freezer with the rest of the "migration" that files by
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You won't catch me sleeping in the next few months (except for Sunday morning
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I'll be in an hour before sunrise. Gives time for things to settle down before the deer move to the bedding areas. I usally hunt the first few days of season in the morning then back off mornings 'til rut. The first few days you usally go a good chance at a big boy before he starts to get nervous with all the people in the woods. (espeacially on public ground)
 
I have had some success on mornings in the early season. I say if you have the time and the ambition get in the woods. I know they might not move that great in the mornings in the early season but it only takes one exception to take the wind out of one. I harvested this buck the first week of the season in 2004 right after first light. I know its not a monster and probably not a real old deer but it sure made my day!
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I like to be on stand a good half hour before sunrise like most above have said. That allows me to take my time getting set up and and to cool off before getting dressed. I often wonder why I bother though, since I rarely see much the first hour or two. If I could only hunt 3 hours a day for the whole season it would be 9am to noon without a doubt.
 
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I often wonder why I bother though, since I rarely see much the first hour or two. If I could only hunt 3 hours a day for the whole season it would be 9am to noon without a doubt.

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After 9 is my best time as well, although once in awhile something comes thru before then.

In years of hunting mornings I can count on one hand the deer that came thru before shooting light. Almost always during the rut...and then they are moving ALL the time.

I don't plan my hunts around feeding times, but I do like to compare...just for fun. I always keep a little journal of what I see and the times also.

Hunting Times
 
I keep a detailed log also and have for years. Last year I tallied up what I had seen over the years per hour on stand, buck vs doe, AM vs PM, and week by week for the whole season. Once again I have no idea what point it serves because I am going hunting pretty much whenever I have time from late October to late November no matter what. Just anal retentive I guess? Besides, it gives my wife more stuff to make fun of!
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Maybe someday I'll get it down to a science, predict the date, then go out one time and kill a booner like I was just buying socks! Or not...
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I don't have much luck early in the season with the corn still in, and thats where the deer are always at. Although I have a few stands on the edge of cornfields in a timber all i have ever seen is does and one decent buck. I guess i will give it a try again this year to see how things go, but i only hunt the afternoons. Good Luck to everyone
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I dont know what it is but it seems that every year when i get in the stand deer either move like around from 8:30-10:00 then they just kinda quit till around 3:30 they they act up again. But during the rut its a all day proccess. My dad has always had success in the morning except the past 2 years. But we always see nice ones in the morning and then right at dusk.
 
I don't know how you guys that aren't going to church can stand to sleep in Sunday! It has been 9 months since I was in a tree trying to Montec a whitetail! I will be in the stand at 3 AM
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Good luck to everyone.
 
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