Thoughts on mid-day hunts

[DeerMan66]

I keep pretty good records of my deer hunts. So I did some math to determine what percentage of my deer I have killed morning, midday and evening. The results were surprising. Keep in mind the number of midday hunts is much much lower than morning and evening hunts.

Here is the breakdown on kills:
Morning daylight to 11:00 - 68%
Midday 11:00 to 2:00 - 13%
Evening 2:00 to dark - 19%

The surprising part to me was that 13% of kills were midday vs 19% evening, since the number of midday sits is so much lower than the number of evening sits. This has me thinking about if I need to change my strategy and start hunting more midday.
What are others success rates for midday hunts vs evening hunts?

 

[Griswold]

Ive killed just as many from 2-dark as i have from daylight -2

 

[tntrkkllr]

Depending on time of year and moon cycle mid day hunts can definitely pay off. I'd say my my percentage would be around the same. I've killed more in the mornings than evenings or midday.

 

[themanpcl]

I keep pretty good records of my deer hunts. So I did some math to determine what percentage of my deer I have killed morning, midday and evening. The results were surprising. Keep in mind the number of midday hunts is much much lower than morning and evening hunts.

Here is the breakdown on kills:
Morning daylight to 11:00 - 68%
Midday 11:00 to 2:00 - 13%
Evening 2:00 to dark - 19%

The surprising part to me was that 13% of kills were midday vs 19% evening, since the number of midday sits is so much lower than the number of evening sits. This has me thinking about if I need to change my strategy and start hunting more midday.
What are others success rates for midday hunts vs evening hunts?

Majority of mine have been before 11a.

 

[deerhunter10]

Mine is almost 50 50 mornings to evenings. 2 bucks around 11 to 1130. I dont have my list in front of me. But its 49 to 51 percent evenings to mornings. With 2 randoms I dont hunt many mid days any more haven't in the last 8ish years probably won't hardly in Tennessee again.

 

[philsanchez76]

thats interesting. I would only do a mid day hunt during the rut which is the best time to see deer anyway. Versus early and late season I will only do evening or morning. Most of my doe kills are in the evening. Most buck kills are morning hunts. Ive only had a few encounters mid day and never actually killed anything then.

 

[Urban_Hunter]

You're looking at your numbers wrong. You probably don't have the data, but what you need is what percentage of each (morning/mid/evening) are successful vs not successful. About 2/3 of my kills were in the morning, but I hunt in the mornings much more often. Since I started logging data I notice I see more deer, have more of a chance for success, AND have more success statistically in the evenings than the mornings. My morning success rate is about 7% and my evening success rate is a little over 13%. (This is hunting with my kids, so "success" just meant we killed something)… so evenings are almost twice as productive.

 

[deerhunter10]

You're looking at your numbers wrong. You probably don't have the data, but what you need is what percentage of each (morning/mid/evening) are successful vs not successful. About 2/3 of my kills were in the morning, but I hunt in the mornings much more often. Since I started logging data I notice I see more deer, have more of a chance for success, AND have more success statistically in the evenings than the mornings. My morning success rate is about 7% and my evening success rate is a little over 13%. (This is hunting with my kids, so "success" just meant we killed something)… so evenings are almost twice as productive.

I also have mine broke down that way. I was just stating my kills midday. The amount of skunks I have midday is 92 percent. I hunt almost 50 50 mornings to evenings as well. Later in the season my evenings get a little more. Mine is 48 percent mornings 52 evenings. Haven't broke down my kill rate. Its very skewed year to year. Some years I kill the deer in after relatively quick others I have a ton of sits.

I wish I had a little more data. I have started this year keeping up with mornings and evenings (daylight) only pictures of the deer I'm hunting and seeing when I kill if I do in the mornings or evenings. Ive noticed it seems some deer like to move in the mornings rather then evenings and vice versa. Very small sample of course. Im not biologist either. Just noticed it. Obviously this is just on my places they are likely to be daylighting at other places on either or I'll never know those.

 

[MickThompson]

Need to standardize this by stand hours to mean anything. I'd wager that 13% is landing on a lot fewer hours. Also consider that on any given day you're biased towards earlier times since once you kill, you're likely done for the day (or will at least miss the midday sit while you're dealing with the one you just killed.)

 

[backyardtndeer]

Have not really kept records, kept an online journal for years but that got lost. I have killed quite a few in the afternoons but definitely killed more in the mornings. Not sure where percentages would fall. I think I have killed just one between 10 and 2 and that was just an extended morning sit because I had a hot doe bedded down in front of me. Probably one third of the deer we have on the wall were killed on afternoon hunts.

 

[DoubleRidge]

During the rut I'll sit all day and two of the bucks in our living room were killed between 11 and 2....but majority were killed in the morning with some being in the evening. I dont have it broke down by percentage...wish I did...wait all year for November...once the rut kicks in I have no issue sitting all day....adding a lower percentage time slot just increases your odds....less disturbance walking in and out....go in before daylight, come out after dark, etc.

 

[BSK]

Movement times during the day is often very property specific. Each location will show a different pattern, based on stage of the rut, habitat, food sources, and hunting pressure.

For my place, hunting between 11 AM and 2 PM is virtually a waste of time. Very little movement in typical hunting locations. Below is a graph of trail-camera buck events by hour throughout the day. This data involves 4,111 older (2 1/2+) buck camera encounters from October through December over a 24-year period.

 

[Volbuck777]

I call the 9 o'clock hour the golden hour. Ive killed almost all of my mature bucks within that hour. Also 80 percent of my deer sightings come in that hour no matter where I am. Although, I did kill my highest scoring buck, a 154 11 pt in the evening and I killed a 145 11 pt at 12 on the dot. This time of year midday is absolutely awesome though. The last 2 weeks my cameras have caught more midday movement (12-3) then morning and evening together.

 

[BSK]

I call the 9 o'clock hour the golden hour. Ive killed almost all of my mature bucks within that hour. Also 80 percent of my deer sightings come in that hour no matter where I am. Although, I did kill my highest scoring buck, a 154 11 pt in the evening and I killed a 145 11 pt at 12 on the dot. This time of year midday is absolutely awesome though. The last 2 weeks my cameras have caught more midday movement (12-3) then morning and evening together.

I always find it fascinating that our sightings and kills while hunting don't always match what our trail-camera movement data shows. For us, the 7 to 8 AM hour is the "Golden Hour," even though our trail-camera data shows 6 to 7 AM movement is higher.

Sighting/kill-wise, our second-best hour is 4 to 5 PM.

 

[Deer Assassin]

Ive killed just as many from 2-dark as i have from daylight -2

Ditto

 

[mike243]

For me a dark to dark set in a new area is mandatory, deer will run a pattern that's pretty standard unless something throws it off, some places deer will only be seen in the mornings or afternoons, a lot may have to due with the low density we have had all these years, but when the rut starts you might see them at any time. Can't kill them from the couch but you can from the front porch sometimes

 

[DeerMan66]

Movement times during the day is often very property specific. Each location will show a different pattern, based on stage of the rut, habitat, food sources, and hunting pressure.

For my place, hunting between 11 AM and 2 PM is virtually a waste of time. Very little movement in typical hunting locations. Below is a graph of trail-camera buck events by hour throughout the day. This data involves 4,111 older (2 1/2+) buck camera encounters from October through December over a 24-year period.

BSK, this is good data. Thanks for posting it. One question I have is around the spike the last hour in the evening. I hunt almost as many evenings as I do mornings October through December, mostly in November. I just dont see as many bucks in the evening as I do in the morning. Is there any detail on that last hour around where these camera encounters during that hour occur? Are the evenly distributed from October through December? I may be hunting in the wrong places during the wrong month in the evening.

 

[Daff]

I don't have data, only try to sit all day in November. Been at it a few decades most of my buck kills are mid to late morning. Mid day has yielded the biggest bucks top 5. Most evening are actually late afternoon shortly after getting into the stand. Hard to sit all day with a bad back so I stagger ie sit till 1 or 2 before taking lunch break then back after em. Good luck everyone

 

[BSK]

BSK, this is good data. Thanks for posting it. One question I have is around the spike the last hour in the evening. I hunt almost as many evenings as I do mornings October through December, mostly in November. I just dont see as many bucks in the evening as I do in the morning. Is there any detail on that last hour around where these camera encounters during that hour occur? Are the evenly distributed from October through December? I may be hunting in the wrong places during the wrong month in the evening.

No, that spike in last hour of the day older buck events is not evenly distributed between years or months. They peak in poor acorn years. They also peak (even in a good acorn year) in both October and December. They are primarily associated with non-acorn food sources, such as food plots or any type of open browse (recent timber cut, early-stage regeneration).

In a good acorn year, morning movement peaks and it extends far later in the late morning hours. This is driven by older bucks feeding on acorns and seeking does that are feeding on acorns back in the woods. In a poor acorn year, morning movement is not as high, and is less expansive, including only the first hours after sunrise. In a poor acorn year, evening movement truly spikes as bucks move into open areas to feed just before dark, or to seek does doing the same.

 

[MickThompson]

I call the 9 o'clock hour the golden hour. Ive killed almost all of my mature bucks within that hour. Also 80 percent of my deer sightings come in that hour no matter where I am. Although, I did kill my highest scoring buck, a 154 11 pt in the evening and I killed a 145 11 pt at 12 on the dot. This time of year midday is absolutely awesome though. The last 2 weeks my cameras have caught more midday movement (12-3) then morning and evening together.

I've noticed that the same time slot is usually the best for big smallmouth when I'm wade fishing. Makes me wonder how much of it is the time vs me being about as far from the access point as I will get that morning.

 

[Thekla]

Shot a mature one this year at 1:30 pm

 

[Rackseeker]

Mid-day is for lunch and naps. If he doesn't show between daylight and 10:30 maybe 11:00 he doesn't get shot. I rarely hunt the afternoon either. LOL.... If I'm out of town or state I might sit all day.

 

[Hymie3]

For what it's worth, all of my best bucks are evening kills. Does as well.

 

[DeerMan66]

Need to standardize this by stand hours to mean anything. I'd wager that 13% is landing on a lot fewer hours. Also consider that on any given day you're biased towards earlier times since once you kill, you're likely done for the day (or will at least miss the midday sit while you're dealing with the one you just killed.)

You're exactly right. The 13% is on a lot fewer hours. I actually killed a couple midday bucks during the rut while walking out for lunch. I hate all day sits. When I do hunt midday I either come in late or leave early. One time I noticed a lot of deer in fields during lunch two days in a row so I went in at 10:00 the next day and I killed a nice 8 point at 1:00.

 

[jejeffrries71]

I call the 9 o'clock hour the golden hour. Ive killed almost all of my mature bucks within that hour. Also 80 percent of my deer sightings come in that hour no matter where I am. Although, I did kill my highest scoring buck, a 154 11 pt in the evening and I killed a 145 11 pt at 12 on the dot. This time of year midday is absolutely awesome though. The last 2 weeks my cameras have caught more midday movement (12-3) then morning and evening together.

Yeah, but AM or PM?

 

[DoubleRidge]

I always find it fascinating that our sightings and kills while hunting don't always match what our trail-camera movement data shows. For us, the 7 to 8 AM hour is the "Golden Hour," even though our trail-camera data shows 6 to 7 AM movement is higher.

Sighting/kill-wise, our second-best hour is 4 to 5 PM.

For us theres zero doubt 7am to 8am is the golden hour...or 7am to 9am are the golden hours...more specifically for some reason, on a normal morning, 7am to 7:30am seems to be a special time for deer sightings...and this isnt new, its been this way for decades on the farm.
And while you can see deer any time of the day, as 7 am approaches, you sit up straight and pay attention.

 

[fairchaser]

The most effective time of day is determined by the proximity to bedding or type of feature you hunt. If you hunt a food plot near bedding, obviously an evening hunt would be more effective. If you hunt rut funnels, morning or mid day could be best.

Another tip is to use camera times to figure out when most of the activity occurs near your hunting spots. Rutting bucks are random but does can be patterned more easily.

Deer are still crepuscular but the rut influences this to some degree. Use your time wisely. It can happen anytime but one time is not as good as any other.

 

[BSK]

For us theres zero doubt 7am to 8am is the golden hour...or 7am to 9am are the golden hours...more specifically for some reason, on a normal morning, 7am to 7:30am seems to be a special time for deer sightings...and this isnt new, its been this way for decades on the farm.
And while you can see deer any time of the day, as 7 am approaches, you sit up straight and pay attention.

THIS!

 

[BSK]

The most effective time of day is determined by the proximity to bedding or type of feature you hunt. If you hunt a food plot near bedding, obviously an evening hunt would be more effective. If you hunt rut funnels, morning or mid day could be best.

Agreed.

Deer are still crepuscular but the rut influences this to some degree. Use your time wisely. It can happen anytime but one time is not as good as any other.

It's true that - in general - deer are crepuscular. The first graph below shows that clearly. This graph is all-age buck trail-camera events by time of day (8,285 October through December buck camera events over a 15-year period). The peaks in activity at dawn and dusk are quite clear. However, the second graph is the same data but only includes mature bucks (4 1/2+). THAT is the classic movement pattern of a primarily nocturnal animal. Of course, it could be said that this movement pattern is driven by human hunting pressure, and I agree with that. If I had been collecting data from a deer population that had never been hunted by Man, would it look the same? Probably not. If it had never been hunted by Man, the mature buck movements would probably look much closer to the pattern for all-age bucks. But then the question has to be asked, when have deer NOT been hunted by Man? Probably not in the last 20,000 years, so the oldest, most experienced deer being primarily nocturnal would have to be considered "natural."

 

[DeerCamp]

It totally depends on WHERE.

And by that I mean what type of property is it, and where within that property do you sit.

If you are hunting funnels on high pressure public land, I think you'll find that 10-2 window is better than expected for various reasons.

Sitting over a food plot from 11-3 though? Not super productive.