Morning hunt tactics

[boacephus]

Need some help guys, I'm starting to get frustrated. This will be my 4th year hunting in Iowa. I've killed a buck every year and 16 does, primarily with bow, more recently a few with muzzle, not one of them have been on a MORNING hunt. I'm finally gaining enough experience and knowledge(alot from IW)/maturity. Where in the heck are the deer, I would think feeding then moving to bed, get in between them, I'm having problems with this. The first year I would always see deer in the AM in one spot, the next year we couldn't get in early enough (3AM) without getting busted. Okay to make this post not linger on, what sort of routes do you guys use to get to your morning hunt. I.E. timber routes.

 

[CR Archer]

What I do in Linn County is hunt a stand in between feeding and bedding. i always see a lot of deer but never the larger mature bucks.

It is tough for me becuase I have to walk across an open field to get to the timber but it does not seem to bother them.

I just get in a half hour before shooting light to let the timber calm down.

It seems as if the deer filter back through before I can really see them - I hear them and see shadows in the timber. Then the next group passes through about an hour after sunrise to 2 hours after sunrise.

I I hunt on a rolling hillside over a riverbottoms and they are coming in from the fields and open timber to get to the thicker bottoms.

I took a large buck during ML 2 seasons ago by doing just this.

Good luck

John V

 

[Liv4Rut]

I used to go in super early but found out it did nothing but make me get out of the stand earlier and get colder from sitting longer and I didn't see anymore deer going early compared to being there 5 minutes before I can shoot. My theory is that I feel the majority of deer bed up up just before light breaks. It seems like no matter where I hunt I will not see a deer until 8 in the morning, other spots it is 9 in the morning. It is earlier if I set up close to a field, but I never sit by fields anymore in the morning. I am usually a good half mile off the nearest field, and it takes them awhile to get there in the morning. I hunt mainly big blocks of timber so if I spook a few walking in the morning it usually has no effect on the deer I will see. If you are limited to smaller blocks where you actually push out all the deer in the block then you probably wont see anything. I also don't stop when I walk in the morning, I walk casually to my tree. I have actually walked right by fields with deer in them in the morning, and they might look but usually do not get too alarmed unless I stop. If possible I will come in from the back side of a chunk of timber to be set up within a few hundred yards of the fields on the other side, so that way I don't have to walk across the fields. I also think if you are going into your stand at 3am you probably will spook ALOT of deer. Based off of all the shining I have done, it seems that time of night they are all beddded up in the fields or are close to the fields. So trying to enter then would probably not be choice. So to sum it up, I get set up in the tree so I have about 5 minutes until I can shoot, I don't worry about spoooking deer, but I will take routes where I believe the majority deer are not at, at that time. I walk quietly, use a headlamp, and do not stop. I am usually so deep in the timber though, there just isn't many deer that far in there yet, so I really don't spook many and by the time 8-9 am rolls around, I will have dozens of deer filtering in all around me, goodluck

 

[jkratz5]

I like to walk in just before shooting time like LIV mentioned and basically for the same reasons, I end up in the tree for longer and it doesnt' seem to affect the number of deer I see. Additionally, I have found that the deer are more apt to just run off a few hundreds yards when light is just breaking when they are bumped whereas when it is pitch dark out they tend to blow and make alot more noise (this could just be my experience). Again, I generally hunt large blocks of timber broken up by fields.

As far as my setups they will vary. During the rut I like to be in the timber pretty deep, and I seem to start seeing alot of deer around 7:30-8:00 and I continue to see them all day. I rarely see a deer at first daybreak, I think it is because they are still hitting the open fields in my area.

 

[WKP - Todd]

Access is everything. You simply have to get-into a set in-front of the deer, and that is the toughest aspect of morning hunting. I go early, get set-up in darkness, as quietly as possible, and it's worked the best for me.

 

[boacephus]

Thanks guys. I skip alot of morning hunts because when the alarm goes off I usually go ehhhh and go back to sleep, lol. I will have to try not getting up so early this year. I typically have pretty good night vision so I typically don't use lights until at the stand anyhow, red if I do need a light. Hunting a new property this year and it has alot of potential. I placed a stand out last week and the farmers son said "yeah I've killed a few deer from there", that made a good feeling. Also find out his brother hunts it but only during Shotgun, so there are 5 more stands that if found I can hunt, yeeepeeee. I'm thinking it's going to be a good year for me.

Thanks again.

 

[Earl E. November]

On many of my morning hunts, I start "Approaching" 3-5 miles out.
I will drive around a section and approach the hunt area in such a manner my vehicle does not approach "My" feeding deer. Nothing good can come from driving by your deer or sweeping the field with headlights. etc etc.
Loud vehicles are out. Likewise it is amazing how much noise gravel and rough tires can make, on a quiet morning, I can oft times hear that for close to a mile. Obviously don't slam doors or let the seat belt dinger go off as you get out.
Once in the field, I don't think a flash light does much to spook deer that aren't in the immediate vicinity.. Look out across the country side on a dark night, and tell me if you could identify an incidental flash light on the horizon..
I too use to go in an hour before "Pink O'clock" but any more realizing the length of my stay is in direct relationship to my attention span,(I am comfortable for about 3 hours) I try and get in position very close to legal hunting time and save the extra hour for later in the morning. Getting into the stand quietly is of more value than being super early.
Mature bucks know vehicles are as a big of threat as an incidental human a foot.

 

[Benny]

Biggest thing with morning hunting is since the deer are in the feeding areas it is important not to enter your stand by walking through the feeding area on route to your stand. In many cases it may mean you will not be able to hunt a particular stand in the morning just because of the site logistics.

I have seen many average hunters get out of the truck in the morning, slam car door, walk across the alfala field and sit on the field edge for there morning hunt. 9 times out of 10 all the deer that you might have seen were spooked out to the next section from the sloppy entrance.

 

[Elitebowhunter]

I usually hunt pastures with scattered trees through out it. For example, i have stand in a tree on a fence line with a square mile of timber to my south and a pasture with scattered Oak trees to my North. I hunt in between them just becuase i can see quite a way and get what ever comes from the thick timber to the pasture to chase does. I haven't ever had luck hunting in the middle of a timber or by a pond in the mornings, although i do see a lot of does in the middle of the timber in the mornings just haven't had a very good shot at a buck. Im going to kind of play around on this one this year, just to get the feel of how things are going. Seems like the deer change every year here...