Early Season AM Hunts...Bumping too many deer???

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JCS

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Do most of you who bow hunt try and sticky to PM hunts only in the early season to keep from bumping deer already beaded? It seems a lot of guys I've talked too try and stay out of the woods in the am in the early going.
 
Yes

I used to hunt a lot of mornings in the early season. I still hunt mornings occasionally but I prefer evenings to avoid bumping deer early in the season. I start hunting mornings a lot during firearm seasons.
 
Just have to pick and choose your stands wisely. If the forecasts hold true for Saturday I know exactly where I'll be Saturday evening, and although I know I could undoubtedly kill a deer from that tree Saturday morning, I'm staying out of it because I know how many deer I'd spook going in.
 
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I'm the opposite, I bump tons of deer in the evening, I set up on acorns and they start feeding at dark. In the mornings I slip in just after daylight, see nearly all the deer between 9-12? I just hate evening hunting till it cools down.
 
I usually try to drive within 100 yards of where I hunt and I avoid a bump. If I do walk, I don't mind the morning bump. At least I know there are deer in the area. Maybe they circle back around. If I'm bumping, maybe the other guys hunting nearby are bumping as well.
 
We have spots that are set up for both
But where we are wanting to kill a buck
it's usually afternoon

I have spots I'm sure I could get shots at does
Sat morning but I'll wait
 
Yeah, I probably have more confidence in the pm this time of the year, but having said that, in the pm, if you don't bump 'em going in you're gonna bump 'em going out and wise 'em up to future hunts. Also, if hunting oaks in the pm, it's just as likely you can bump 'em going in since they can be bedded down just about anywhere this time of the year.
 
There's an interesting article in the recent North American Whitetail about this very subject. The author doesn't hunt mornings in October because he believes mature bucks go to bed before daylight during that time period.
 
Not being mean, but in my opinion, overthinking it. Just hunt. One guy I used to associate with, after seeing a place I had to hunt (just sold for crazy money) told me that hunting in the morning there would be a waste of time and ruin it. He said this after I told him we had hunted in the morning. He stated he would hunt it in the evening. He was ..... WRONG! I almost agreed with him, we had one way in, through wide open fields, close to main bedding and nighttime feeding areas and we bumped deer on the way in most every morning. We watched deer all season long every year we got to hunt it. I saw plenty of deer and passed up several bucks I probably should have tried to kill, and my friend killed his 2 best bucks there in the morning.
The larger of the 2 bucks came within 10 yards about the 10th morning in a row I had hunted this place last year. He never knew I was there. Let him walk, there were 2 larger ones with him that never got into range.






 
If all deer went by the book, I think they would be easier to kill... That being said, we have certain areas we can hunt in the mornings without bumping deer. Most of these are travel areas and not feeding areas.
 
My camera is showing deer around my stand from around 6am and on so I'll be in there by 5:30 at the latest but I don't get a lot of hunting time so I have to go when I can
 
I hunt primarily mornings, but I hunt Priest in early bow season. One thing is for sure on Public land, people are going to go. I try to choose spots that I will not bump deer going in. Others will bump them and I count on this to have them moving, plus there is nothing I can do about it.

I prefer 50-60's vs. 80's in a tree stand.....
 
I have always enjoyed hunting mornings more, there is a good 3 hours of cool weather vs. about 30 min. In the evenings. Early season I'm usually as happy with a fat doe
 
I walk a long ways to my stand so I tend to bump deer no matter what time I walk in or out. If deer are bumped before the sun goes up it seems they come right back through, have almost never bumped deer and not seen anything later from the stand.
 

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