Give me the Time of Day

[jakeway]

I'd like to know what time of day you shoot most of your deer.

I realize that it depends greatly on where and how you hunt. For instance, most of my deer stands are situated on trails where deer head to bedding grounds after feeding, making them better in mornings. Plus, when I get a deer in the morning, I usually don't go back out in the afternoon.

I've killed 74 deer since 1975. For me:

Dawn to 9 am 64%
9-11 am 13%
3 pm-Dark 23%

I've never killed a deer between 11 am and 3 pm, though I've killed one at 10:45 and one at 3:10.

 

[BLOODTRAIL]

The majority of my deer have come in the morning from dawn to 10 o'clock.

 

[DoubleRidge]

Thread below (hopefully it works) is an interesting collection of comments along the same lines or similar topic.

Thread 'Mature (4 year old plus) movement' https://www.tndeer.com/threads/mature-4-year-old-plus-movement.394814/

 

[tndeerman]

Dawn to 11,the mature bucks that I have killer 11 to 2

 

[grandjunctionhunter]

I've killed the majority of my 5.5yo plus bucks between 10-2. Problably 50%. 25% dawn to 8, 25% 4 to dusk.

 

[Safari Hunt]

I've killed the majority of my 5.5yo plus bucks between 10-2. Problably 50%. 25% dawn to 8, 25% 4 to dusk.

Interesting. Read where trophy bass are caught in that same time frame. I have to hunt in the morning. My wife says how are you going to field dress a deer in the dark? Headlamp? Lantern?

 

[younggun308]

Most of mine have been before 9 o'clock, though almost none of my opportunities have been right at the start of shooting light.

I have shot 3 within the last 30 minutes of shooting light, and snuck up on and killed a mountain 10-point in his bed on a windy, bright day about 12:30pm (in other words, I wouldn't have seen him if I were stationary in those windy conditions).

 

[Ski]

Mine are pretty even split between morning and evening.

 

[Lost Lake]

There are two time frames that stick out.

Between 8-9 am, and 3:30-4:30 pm. There have been others at odd times, and several at midday, but those two hours have been best for me.

 

[timberjack86]

Dawn till 10 am. 75 percent. 3 till sunset 25 percent.

 

[timberjack86]

I think i may have killed 3 deer in the middle of the day since I started hunting 20 years ago

 

[Jcalder]

First 3 hours of daylight have been good to me, with the majority of those coming in the first hour, but not right at daylight. And 4 pm +/- 15 minutes has been great as well.

 

[catman529]

I'd have to go back and look. Most of my deer are in the first two hours and last two hours of daylight. Have killed a few mid day.

 

[redblood]

I have a mature scrub that i plan to shoot with a bow that comes mid day at least 3 days per week

 

[Snake]

The majority of my deer have come in the morning from dawn to 10 o'clock.

Mine as well .

 

[Dully]

8:30to 9:30 am =5:00 pm until dark

 

[SteveJ]

70% were shot from daylight till 10 am. 20% were probably the last hour of daylight and the other 10% were 11am to 1 pm. That being said, I like hunting mornings most. I used to hunt a lot of evenings but not much anymore just due to schedule. I very rarely hunt mid-day

 

[beefydeer]

I only hunt mornings. I've never hunted mid day. I don't like to hunt in the evenings.

 

[MUP]

8:30 central time. I've seen, and killed most of my deer at this time many times over the years.

 

[MUP]

There are two time frames that stick out.

Between 8-9 am, and 3:30-4:30 pm. There have been others at odd times, and several at midday, but those two hours have been best for me.

I'd have to say I'm about dead on the same LL, very few deer have been killed before 8:30 for me, and for some reason the evening hunts seem to have deer moving at about 3:30-4:00 for me as well.