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Best time in the early going...am or pm?

My trail cams shots in September and the early going in October show most buck movement in the am vs. the pm. Very few shots of bucks...or deer for that matter in the late afternoon. One would think there is a correlation at this time of year with temperature. This buck is typical, hitting a zip-tied licking bouquet.

of the couple of dozen deer I've taken, 80% have been in the morning around 0800.

Early season mornings can be very tough. You educate a lot of deer going to and from your stands in darkness. Unless you have a way to enter an area where you avoid all fields and skirt around bedding areas or trails leading to bedding areas I would not hunt many mornings in the early morning. As far as what has been best for me, I would say as far as older bucks 3.5 years old or older mornings would get the nod but mid-day has been good to me too. If I were to hunt mornings in the early season I would wait for light to enter my stands as not too disturb unseen deer. Shawn

Morning is better now since it will be cooler then. In the evening the temp is just to hot.

I have found that everything that you guys have said to be absolutely true !! I base it on taking over 150+ deer with a bow and I have seen and agree with your observations. I wish you guys had made these available years ago, it would have saved me a lot of wasted time lol...Tom

The answers you've gotten are correct. You have a few questions to ask yourself? For one is the property conductive to getting around the deer, especially in all wind conditions? Is there somewhere to park away from the deer as well? Remember the wind, blowing your scent into an area imo is the same as being there to bust em,

I hunt large areas and a bunch of them so I can bounce around accordingly. Maybe you do or don't have the areas but I'd recommend to rest spots anyways. Wind direction can be checked through a weather app like scoutlook or through maps and compasses or you can simply write down acceptable winds. Be aware of future wind directions obviously as well. That's where scoutlook is real good, you can scroll ahead. Now even in the evening, yes it's is hotter and you can park where you want upon entry but what about disturbing deer coming down or leaving?? You need to plan for that too. Only you should be analyzing this, cause only you hunt there.

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