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Evening hunting

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buckaroo

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I've bowhunted for 33 yrs. In the last few years I have learned to just about not hunt in the evening. In the early season this is what I've experienced, no deer till 20 min. before dark, mosquitos, sweat, mosquitos, then if you see something to shoot, you have to track quickly before it spoil's, last but not least when I come down my stand I spook deer almost every time. I like hunting evening's when it's cooler, about the last week of bowseason. What's everyone elses take on early season evening huntig?
 
buckaroo said:
I've bowhunted for 33 yrs. In the last few years I have learned to just about not hunt in the evening. In the early season this is what I've experienced, no deer till 20 min. before dark, mosquitos, sweat, mosquitos, then if you see something to shoot, you have to track quickly before it spoil's, last but not least when I come down my stand I spook deer almost every time. I like hunting evening's when it's cooler, about the last week of bowseason. What's everyone elses take on early season evening huntig?
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I agree with you about the heat, sweat and mosquitos in the early season. I have had good luck setting up on trails leading to bean fields on evening hunts. I like to slip in a couple hours before dark. I will hunt mornings as well but I've jumped deer walking in. I would rather jump deer walking out than walking in.
 
Lot easier to sleep in,in the morning.I hunt the evenings more.Just dress right and dont get in a hurry.Oh yeah Thermocell!
 
Evening hunting early season is definately not my favorite. Usually I get in the stand as late as possible because I don't start seeing deer until the last hour, however last season I saw deer within minutes of getting in the stand several times and that was around 3 hours before dark. But I would always rather hunt mornings.
 
I had better luck last bow season in the afternoon. Deer would come in around 4:30 pm or so, with plenty of daylight left. Then during the rut it was more early morning and late evening before dark. Killed one buck early morning and another right before dark. But in October the does were coming off the bed in mid to late afternoon and feeding in the woods.
 
get away from field edges hunt closer to bedding in the evening and put a good double lung hit on it and you want have to track 40 yards, I have killed way more in the evenings myself
 
knightrider said:
get away from field edges hunt closer to bedding in the evening and put a good double lung hit on it and you want have to track 40 yards, I have killed way more in the evenings myself
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Clever idea, smart, mite have to use that this year.
 
Stats say that majority of big bucks are killed in the evening. Dress right, thermacell, and go a lil further back on the trails
 
I will be hunting a swamp edge this year. On a scrape line I found last year. It's a woods thicket between a swamp and a grass field...should be interesting...
 
Evenings are better early in the season when deer are still in a summer pattern and feeding in the fields . Once the white oak acorns drop , hunt the best mast trees .
When I hunt mornings , I hunt travel routes to bedding areas . Always hunt where deer are headed to , not where they have been . In the mornings closer to bedding , evenings closer to feeding areas .
 
I must be setting up wrong or something, I never have seen many deer in early season evenings, especially bucks when it's very warm. I usually hunt the acorn feeding sign.
 
Poser said:
I don't hunt evenings much during bow season. I much prefer mornings. Last season, instead of hunting separate morning and evening hunts, I usually hunted through the midday until about 2 PM and then took the rest of the day off. I liked that schedule much better, though I still did some evening hunts around agriculture.

Afternoons that time of year are frustrating to me. I see just enough deer out at 4 o'clockish, that I feel that I need to be setup no later than 3 PM for a productive evening hunt. At the same time, most of the deer activity I tend to see in most of the areas I hunt is during the last 20 minutes of light and usually after shooting light. This is not hunting field edges, either. this is in the woods. One area I hunt is usually ripe with activity earlier in the evening, but I do not hunt there much or at all during bow season.
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I'll agree. When I hunt afternoons I'm usually set up on a field edge or very close.
 
Makes a quick getaway as to not alarm deer also. My problem is I'm hunting mountain land. Bright side I can catch a little more football till it cools down
 
I've killed way more deer in the early season evenings than I have of the morning. I think I might have killed a handful of the morning and a truckload of the evenings. I don't mind morning hunting and like watching the woods come to life...it's just that thinking back to my bow kills and deer sightings over the years...the evening has been my most productive by a long shot over mornings.

It's not until later in the season, that I start seeing deer numbers go up in the morning hours...and even then in the spots I hunt, it's mostly later morning than early morning.

The big thing I've noticed is the land I hunt doesn't have designated "bedding areas" like some of the places in the mid west or north. The deer basically just bed down where they feel like it. It is very random. Just when you think you have them all figured out, they throw a kink in your plans and change the game on you.
 
Poser said:
GOODWIN said:
Poser said:
I don't hunt evenings much during bow season. I much prefer mornings. Last season, instead of hunting separate morning and evening hunts, I usually hunted through the midday until about 2 PM and then took the rest of the day off. I liked that schedule much better, though I still did some evening hunts around agriculture.

Afternoons that time of year are frustrating to me. I see just enough deer out at 4 o'clockish, that I feel that I need to be setup no later than 3 PM for a productive evening hunt. At the same time, most of the deer activity I tend to see in most of the areas I hunt is during the last 20 minutes of light and usually after shooting light. This is not hunting field edges, either. this is in the woods. One area I hunt is usually ripe with activity earlier in the evening, but I do not hunt there much or at all during bow season.
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I'll agree. When I hunt afternoons I'm usually set up on a field edge or very close.
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In the evenings around agriculture, I like to be about 10-30 inside the woods with my scent blowing out into the field. I'll often see deer moving laterally with the treeline, avoiding the field until dark.
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I often do the same. Some of the best well-used trails I've found have been paralleling the field just inside the edge.
 

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