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HUNTING MID DAY OR ALL DAY WHO DOES IT.

I never used to hunt all day just morning and evenings. Every time I hunted midday I never had luck. The last 2 years during the rut I have been hunting all day and definitely midday from 10am-2pm. I still have had absolutely no luck seeing much midday but my buddy insists on it so I do it just to prove him wrong but I’m dying for him to be right lol.

I'll bite just because I have recent evidence to hunt all day. 2016 buck taken at noon...had to throw my sandwich back in my pack. He was just cruising through.

Last year's buck taken around 3pm. Just settled in a new spot and hit the rattling horns.

I'm relatively new to this bow hunting stuff going into season 6. If the spot is good, and wind is accommodating, I sit all day. If I need to change spots I do. But I try to be in a tree or walking a new spot every minute I'm allowed in November. I suppose it helps that I'm a good hour away from the public land I hunt. Not worth the drive there and back unless it's an all day affair in my opinion.

That’s cool MBabs some nice animals you have there congrats. It’s good info and great advice and the last 2 years I been hunting the same way you have in November. Sooner or later I will get that midday buck.

2016 Buck shot at 12:15 mid day

Each year we have two or three stands that are right in the middle of doe bedding areas. We don’t touch those spots but once, maybe twice, all season. They are high risk high reward, and when we hunt them we get in WAY before first light and stay at least until early afternoon. Other than those spots, I too have a hard time keeping in a stand through mid day.

Nice Animal Dmac congrats on a midday buck.

I'm always in the stand in the morning and evening, if I don't see much activity by 10 or 11 a.m. I'll go and glass CRP, open pasture, or milo fields for bedded deer to spot and stalk in the afternoon. I've had good luck in the afternoon, but you have to be patient and wait till they stand up and lay back down. Best time to spot and stalk for me has been October when the bucks are generally by themselves. I guess what I'm saying is I hunt all day, I just don't sit in a stand all day.

I think that is a great point some of you guys make. Hunting all day does not mean you have to sit in the same spot all day.

I will do a few all day sits in a few week stay but I also will sleep in when the mood seems right and go in around 10am and sit the rest of the day. All day sits are rough on this old body. I would rather shovel shit all day than sit in a stand all day a lot of times. Also sometimes I will only sit the last couple hrs of a day depending on weather and the barometer. Killed my last buck in Kansas on Nov 14th and did not climb into the tree until almost 4pm and killed him 45 minutes later. It was around 74 degrees. Shawn

I def hear you about sitting all day Shawn I put up all Very comfortable treestands to help with that. LOL

Shot a nice whitetail at 11, just getting ready to climb down. Like others. I’ll switch stands and hunt all day. You have to be sitting somewhere! We all have our stories of leaving for lunch, hustling back and finding a new giant rub or finding a monster on trail cam.

I was climbing down at 11:30 looked over to my left saw a real nice eight went back up he walked in and that was it

One tactic I used years ago 1995 , in Illinois was myself and two buddies would alternate stands . Due to the cold conditions we were able to hunt all day and warm up in Thebes process. We each would hunt about 4 hrs and then sneak to the other guys stand and hunt . Mostly funnels and hunting scrapes , was fun but didn’t work too well . Lol Applied the same tactics in 2009 with better results with my two sons . Killed 3 nice ones in 2 days .

Not a bad plan Dmac.

In Nov., I watch the sunrise and sunset from the same stand and tree and hardly ever move...and I do it multiple days on end. It is all on account of my Millennium M-150 hang on’s. Dang comfy for all day sits. I would rather sit in one of them all day (for multiple days) than shovel crap all day for multiple days.

$200+ for a hang on tho???

Lone Wolf's are $249 and worth every cent. I have 2 and plan on buying a couple more. If I am in a stand for 4 hours, I spend 3.5 of it standing so the seat doesn't mean much for me.

I got one of those m-150s donated to me, I hate it! I can't stay awake in the crazy thing, it's more comfortable than my lazy boy! :)

y'all don't like ladder stands?

I never had as much luck in a ladder stand, got busted a time or 2. The area's I hunt are sparse for cover and just could not get high enough in them. Only time I have fallen from a tree stand was taking down a ladder stand when it pulled away from the tree. I had 3 of them, the expensive Muddy's stands and I just gave them away. I got a 100 or so of the ladder steps and they work the best for me. I have several hundred screw in tree steps that I am going to donate next.

I have one stand that I have never seen a deer mid-day whether in person or a camera, but I have 2 other stands I constantly see deer mid-day during the rut,

Dafish I understand your situation, years ago I fell into the trap of locating what I thought was the ideal spot in my eyes ! I wasn’t looking at the area from a deers perspective. Take notes of any and all sign , make a note and draw it out on an aerial map . Fresh sign seems to be the best sign . Learn your area and study it from google earth , possible stand sites and above all wind direction and most important is how to get in and out undetected . Never hunt the same stand twice or consecutive hunts . Good luck

Cherney I use all ladder stands and have good luck with them. Very comfy

Cherney...I used to think the same as you but those Milleniums are worth every cent. Easy to hang and take down and comfy sits. I now have 5 of them and plan to buy 2 more this year.

I usually will go all day the last 10 days of Nov if the wind is cooperating.

Last year was the first time I stayed and felt ok with it in 40+years . I was in a M150 a couple times all day. @ 70+ it is real tough to stay in all day but if I had to do it I would get in the M-150.

From what I have seen over a pretty long bowhunting life, the traditional morning or evening high percentage stands are not the best midday stands. Most of the things I have read or heard from the " experts " about hunting scrape lines has been negative. Mostly used in the dark by mature deer. For most of the season that is true. However, when that first hot doe steps in a scrape things change. Mature bucks begin cruising around during the times when the does are bedded. From bedding area to bedding area they go and checking scrapes along the way. I can't count the times I have been in my work truck driving through rural areas and observed big bucks at midday working fence row scrapes. Not in a hurry either, just pee in it , work the licking branch then walk on down to the next one and repeat. Pinch points between bedding spots and scrape lines are golden for about a week , just before the majority of the does go in heat. If it rains get in a stand on a scrape line as soon as the rain stops and skies start to clear. This period doesn't last too long as when more does go in heat the big bucks get hooked up with em and go wherever the hot does go. The biggest bucks I had encounters with in the last two seasons have all been from 11 am to 1 pm. I lost confidence in a pinch point stand which I had spent two full days in and I left at 11 am on the third day. I made my way to a low ridge about 150 yds from my tree and got my water bottle out of my pack. I was looking in the direction of said tree and was completely disgusted in myself by the sight of a legit 170 ish double split g2 buck walking under my stand. Another lesson learned. When you know it's a big buck spot it probly isn't gonna be a a high numbers spot. Stick it out and don't get discouraged.

I love hunting, but hunting isn't my life. I work full time and I'm pretty involved with my kids and many other activities. I also have to drive an hour+ to get to most of the public hunting spots I have scouted. For these reasons, I typically don't end up hunting very many days and try to make the most of them by hunting from before dawn until dusk.

Most the deer I've seen have been moving outside of legal shooting hours, but within legal hours, I've seen the most deer movement in the 9:30 - 10:30 AM timeframe. I've also seen several around 1 PM.

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