How long do you stay?


Guest Andrea

How long do you stay?  

44 members have voted

  1. 1. How long do you stay?

    • Before sunrise then 2hrs or less
    • Before sunrise and more than 2hrs
    • Til lunch or all day
    • Afternoon hunt til dark


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Usually from about an hour before sunrise till about 10am, depending on conditions. If it is real cold I will usually stay longer waiting on the midmorning feeding. Then usually go back out about 2:30pm and stay until it is dark. Have done a couple midday hunts but not much luck then. My best luck has been right at sunrise and right after sunset.

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I could never sit there a whole hour before sunrise.

Legal shooting times here start 30 minutes before sunrise Andrea, so if you are in the stand an hour before sunrise it is not usually that long before the action starts or before you can see movement. Typically I want to get to the stand 30 minutes before legal shooting time.

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My hunting varies greatly in archery season and rifle season. Rifle season's hunting techniques also vary on their own just because of the hunting pressure in the area. We also tend to do some deer drives towards the end of the rifle season to try to fill everyone's tags.

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ARCHERY SEASON

In the archery season I normally have 2 stands setup. One is a morning stand and another is an evening stand. I also have these cat-eyed out to where we park so that I can find them in the dark. The morning stand I will arrive 30-minutes before sunrise and leave about 11am. The evening stand I will arrive around 2pm and leave 30-minutes after sunset.

If the rut is very strong and we are seeing bucks chasing in the daytime we sometimes may sit in a neutral stand that is good both in the morning and evening and try to catch a rutting buck chasing does past.

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RIFLE SEASON

During rifle season it's a whole new hunting technique and varies greatly depending on hunting pressure and weather (mainly if it's snowing, snow on the ground, or snowless or not). Before the season we mark out stands that are along known travel paths to bedding areas and stands that border thick-brush.

If the hunting pressure is high we will go to the stands we marked bordering the thick brush with a good view distance. Then we try to arrive 30-minutes before sunrise and stay until 30-minutes after sunset hoping someone kicks a deer our way or we catch a spooked one sneaking around the edge of the thick brush. If it's really cold sometimes we'll take an hour break and walk back to the truck, warm-up, and walk right back out to our spots.

If the hunting pressure is average or below we'll go to the stands we marked out along known travel paths and bedding areas. Then we try to arrive 30-minutes before sunrise and leave about 11am. Then come back again around 2pm and leave 30-minutes after sunset.

If there is snow on the ground and we are not having much luck in other hunting techniques we may opt to scout for fresh tracks in the snow and then setup for a deer drive. We only do this around mid-day normally when other not so dedicated hunters are back at camp warming up and we won't have issues with disturbing other hunters as much.

If there is a snowstorm happening we'll wait until sunrise and try to find some fresh sign and stalk hunt bedded deer or to stalk up to a known bedding area and hope to catch them sleeping in it. Sometimes we'll setup near a bedding area and wait to see if they travel to it during the storm and bed down. Other times we'll just walk around individually through areas that have produced deer in the past hoping to catch them either moving in the storm or bedded down waiting out the storm.

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Each of the techniques I've listed above has been successful in the area we hunt. ;)

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Depending on what I have going for the day I always like to sit in all day. Never know what might wonder through. Atleast while bowhunting.

When gun hunting pretty much the same but am hunting with other people and stuff and you never know who might shoot a deer or what comes up when your hunting with a few people.

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The only time I sit in a stand is bow season in early December. Sunrise is around 7:00-7:15 so I try to be in my stand by 6:20-6:30. Usually sit til 10:30 or 11:00, if it's extremely cold I'll come out a bit earlier than that. One morning a few weeks ago I only lasted until 9:20, it was 30 below out with a north wind so I had an excuse. :p

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  • 2 weeks later...

In bow season pre-rut and on 30 min. to 45 min. before sunrize till at least 12:00 some days all day. Gun season 1 hour before till dark. Here in gun season everyone comes out at 11:00 to 12:00 so there are a lot of deer moving then.

Why 1 hour the 9 point I've got posted on here he came under me at about 30 min. before sunrize and got with a doe and they feed till daylight and I shot him at 40 Yards but if I would have came in 30 min. before sunrize I would have run them out.

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