Evening Deer Hunts

[DaveS]

How many on here are evening deer hunters? I'm a morning hunter and have harvested many a deer in the mornings. I have been in the evenings on several occasions and harvested one deer. One of my bigger bucks was taken in the afternoon. I'm trying to talk myself in to  hunting afternoons for awhile.

 

What works best for you?

 

Dave

[Slappy]

I am both!  You will be happy to know that in my experience this year, the evening hunts have produced more deer down than the morning hunts.  I love evening hunts mainly because I am not in a rush to arrive before the sun comes up and I usually have a lot more energy.  But I prefer morning hunts because nothing beats watching the woods wake up!  

[TNMTBik3r]

Agree with Slappy, I love watching the world wake up around me in the morning. I will hunt either time, but I used to avoid afternoons for some reason I never really figured out. I tend to hunt woods in the morning and field edge in the afternoon is my only hunting pattern.

[Luke E.]

How many on here are evening deer hunters? I'm a morning hunter and have harvested many a deer in the mornings. I have been in the evenings on several occasions and harvested one deer. One of my bigger bucks was taken in the afternoon. I'm trying to talk myself in to  hunting afternoons for awhile.

 

What works best for you?

 

Dave

 

 I have taken many deer both times but I have found that mornings are better in the woods and isolated food plots but the fields and other exposed areas are better in the evening. I don't reckon there is any science behind any of that but i'd say I've shot 70+ deer in my life and more often than not it has worked out this way for me. I guess it really depends on where you're at, mine have been a mixture of TN, GA and FL.

 I like the morning because like others have mentioned, you get to watch everything come alive as well as if you kill something you have daylight to get it out and clean it. I like evening because it seems more relaxing to me and you have plenty of time to get into the stand or shoothouse without worrying about light.

 Not sure if I like one more than the other though.

 

 

EDIT, I'm finding myself more eager to hunt evenings since the arthritis in my knees and back have gotten so bad and it's typically not as cold.

Edited November 28, 2013 by Luke E.

[DaveS]

 I have taken many deer both times but I have found that mornings are better in the woods and isolated food plots but the fields and other exposed areas are better in the evening. I don't reckon there is any science behind any of that but i'd say I've shot 70+ deer in my life and more often than not it has worked out this way for me. I guess it really depends on where you're at, mine have been a mixture of TN, GA and FL.

 I like the morning because like others have mentioned, you get to watch everything come alive as well as if you kill something you have daylight to get it out and clean it. I like evening because it seems more relaxing to me and you have plenty of time to get into the stand or shoothouse without worrying about light.

 Not sure if I like one more than the other though.

 

 

EDIT, I'm finding myself more eager to hunt evenings since the arthritis in my knees and back have gotten so bad and it's typically not as cold.

The cold is what I'm thinking about.

 

DaveS

[Luke E.]

The cold is what I'm thinking about.

 

DaveS

 

 Well I have found on average the coldest time of day is in the morning when the sky starts getting gray. If weather were my driving for in making the decision I would only hunt in the evening. A couple of years back I went out the door and the thermometer said 10 degrees. I got out there and climbing a tree and sat until I was hurting to bad to stay any longer which was about 8:30. My knees were so frozen up and inflamed that it took me 25 minutes to stand, turn around and climb my stand back down the tree. I realized that day just how bad of shape my knees were in and they've gotten no better since then. Guess I should have been easier on myself or at least had the surgeries that were suggested. Dr. said I am by far the youngest (32) patient he has had that is over due for knee replacement. I'm going to put them of as long as I possibly can.

[Wingshooter]

I prefer evening hunts by a large margin. Sleeping in and deer hunting are two of my favorite things... afternoon hunts on a day off offer the best of both worlds :) I enjoy slipping quietly through the afternoon woods to my stand (have shot several deer before I even get there) and not being in a rush. I also enjoy being able to see where I am going without a flashlight. I do enjoy the woods "waking up" on morning hunts, but I also enjoy watching the woods settle down for sunset, too. Evening hunts just seem easier to me. Morning hunts are nice too but not my favorite. My preference is to go to my stand around noon and sit until dark. I see lots of deer midday and late afternoon. The downside is that end up tracking some deer after dark. Another plus is that if you're hunting with a buddy, everyone is ready to leave at the same time.

[gregintenn]

I prefer to hunt in the morning, as I tend to see more deer then. Most of the good bucks I've taken have been in the middle of the day, however. I just can't seem to force myself to go hunting in the middle of the morning and sit through the day. Years back I have sat in a stand from shooting light to dusk. I don't have that level of interest in it anymore.

[peejman]

Only negative I can think of for evening hunts is running out of light while tracking one and having to leave it over night.

[gregintenn]

I usually hunt whenever I have the free time and the weather is passible.

[Wiljo05]

To me there is no better time to hunt that any time you have available. I've taken deer in the morning as well as the evening. There are pros and cons to each that we can come up with. But to me, I'll sit at noon if that's the only time I have available! I enjoy the peacefulness of the woods as well as the thrill of the hunt.

My son is 3, but when he is old enough I want him to adopt a lot of the things that were instilled in me. One thing I was taught was to take advantage of every opportunity given, and even if mid day to get out there and sit in nature and soak it in.

[Sidinman]

I hunt both, most of the bucks that I've shot were in the morning, most not all. This year all the bucks that I have seen were in the morning. Of course the nicest one I saw was the weekend of the juvenile hunt, that Sat morn saw two bucks one really nice one, haven't seen him since. But I've taken two does this year and both have been in the afternoon.

 

Had a chance at a doe this morning at handgun range but it was about the time I needed to leave to go home and start the grill for some Thanksgiving backstrap. So I let it walk til another day.

[DaveS]

I think I'll hunt afternoons until this cold snap lets off of us. I'm like LukeE, my legs, knees and back don't work well as it is, and the extreme cold just compounds the problem. All those years of abusing my body have caught up to me!

 

DaveS

[Slappy]

I try to balance my love for the outdoors and my love for my wife. But I think she secretly likes it when I go hunting because she always gets a Hot Hands tossed to her when I get back. Haha. She has a kung foo grip on those things. Haha

[JWC]

I ain't gonna lie, I like to hunt in the evening cause I don't have get up early.

I've killed 'em morning and evening. I like both

[FJCrusing]

I hunted three times this week.  They were by far the most active in the afternoon/evening.  Never saw much of anything in the mornings.  The day that I shot a doe this week was at 4:45PM.  That day I actually did decide to sleep in and started hunting around 10:45AM.  Worked out well. 

[Wiljo05]

I saw "THE" buck I've been watching for a while this morning...on my way to work that is! He was bedded down behind the house in the field with 7 does just hanging out. Hadn't seen him in a week and gives me hope since I figured someone would have shot him off the road by now. Sadly we have a lot of that in my area it seems.

Had I not had to go in today, I would have taken a shot but that would have made for a tough morning with work and such. Maybe karma will come back to me and lead him to my stand this evening!

[gregintenn]

Hope you get him!

[Guest TNSovereignty]

I'm getting a lot more wind in the afternoon & I think the deer are staying bedded down.  Was a bit more still today but I was busy fencing ... why am I always busy during the good weather, and always out hunting when it's 20 degrees & blowin' a gale?

[Luke E.]

 I hunted a blind this evening along the edge of a pond with thick cedar along my back. I had 2 small groups move right behind me within 20' but because of the cedar I never got a shot.. I'm staying at my folks place this week while they are out of town and I work from here most of the time so it's going to be really easy to log some serious woods time.