what time I go in for morning hunts?????

It took me awhile to think outside the box and get away from the general time of getting in the woods 1 hour before light. Know matter witch way I went in I allways pushed deer. So now I go in at 9:00 a.m. I have learned that these deer in the big woods won't bed far from a hot food source like apples or acorns. just before day light they will move to the closest cover and bed down and as long as they are not pushed out aproching my stand at a later time in the morning they will come back every 3 or 4 hours. Just my food for thought and I was wondering if anyone does the same.

Good post. I understand your logic, and if it works for you that is cool. I still get there an hour before at least, mainly to beat everyone else into the woods.

The other reason I like to be in the stand before sunrise is so I can experience the start of a new day. Being present when the woods "wake up" is great medicine for me. That time has nothing to do with hunting, for me.

It depends on the situation but generally I like to be in my stand 30mins to an hour before daylight. But if I don’t have a tree picked out or if I’m going to an unknown area I start in at first light so I don’t just wonder around in the dark looking for a tree. I find most of my morning sightings are between 8:30 – 9:30 so I like to be setup by at least 7:30.

I like to be in my stand 30 minutes to an hour before day light. I've been in my stand 1 1/2 before daylight a few times. I'm like Dave I enjoy the woods waking up. I see a lot of deer from my stand before it's light enough to shoot.

I`m a get in there before dawn type of guy too. Even in spots where I don`t see deer until midday, I just enjoy dawn in the stand. The woods becoming active, turkeys talking and flying down for the day.

One spot, I would always bump deer on my pre dawn hike too. But I would always see deer on stand. I tried a long hike around, and didn`t bump deer,and saw no deer from that stand that day.

Turns out, I was bumping them into a gully that worked it`s way back onto a ravine, and when I jumped them going in, it altered their travel route to bed and put them under me. If I didn`t bump them, they went another way to bed.

So don`t always think bumping deer is necessarily a bad thing.

I like to see the sun come up in the morning and I have better success hunting around bedding areas, so earlier is better for me on most hunts. I usually don't hunt my best spots in the morning just so I don't spook 'em on the way in. In the afternoon, I can sneak in around 2pm while the deer are napping and hang my stand quietly just out of sight. Sometimes it makes for a long sit, especially if its warm and the bugs are bad, or if the deer aren't moving until just before dark!

Amen Dave! There are few events as cleansing to the soul than the first 1/2 hour of daylight. I see more in that time frame in the way of animals, scenery, even changes in the air quality that make me thank God every day that I am alive and that I am a hunter! I feel so alive and ready to rock and roll thru my day after a morning sit! Fred Bear said it best when he referred to the youth of today looking for a thrill. He said "to go into the North country and hunt the black bear, grizzly bear, polar bear with a stick and string, that they would indeed get their thrill and it would cleanse the soul!" Once again, amen and thank God for great men like Fred Bear.

A lot of the times, I've got a good walk to get to the area I'm gonna be concentrating on for that day. So, I have to start walking early and there have been times where I was heading in 2hrs before sunrise. Guess it just depends on where I'm gonna be for that day.