What Time of Day to Hunt?
Filed under: Ask Grant, Hunting Tactics
Grant, I have a very important question. This is my first year hunting white-tailed deer. I have never killed a deer before in my life but I want to harvest one this season for sure. I live in southwest Tennessee around Nashville. What time do the mature bucks usually come out from bedding to feeding or vice versa? I have found the most used path the deer take and I will be setting my climbing stand about 15 feet off the path. The path has got walls of saplings and hardwood trees surrounding it. I feel this is where the buck makes his morning, midday or afternoon route, but I’m not sure when. The reason of the question is because I need to know the best time to go in and hunt that very hot spot. Chris
Chris,
I’m glad you’re excited about hunting! If you plan to hunt at or near feeding areas, I would go during the afternoon. There is a high probability of spooking deer when approaching feeding areas during the morning as deer are probably close by. If you are hunting travel corridors or near bedding areas, try hunting during the mornings. This should allow you to approach the stand and not alert deer as they will most likely be near feeding areas.
However, during the peak of the rut I try to hunt as many hours as practical. Based on my hunting experiences and from viewing thousands of trail camera pictures the bucks often remain active throughout the day during the rut. My good friend Jessica Brooks from Barnes Bullets experienced this while hunting The Proving Grounds this season. Jessica and I got to the stand about 9:00 AM on the first day she was here and decided to hunt until 2:00 PM or so. As soon as we got in our stands a buck was moving across the powerline we were watching. We remained in our stands through lunch and at 1:30 PM a hit list buck came cruising across the right of way. Jessica’s VOR-TX bullet worked perfectly and it was all smiles and a downhill drag during the early afternoon!
Basically, if it’s the rut hunt, hunt, hunt. Any other time of the year consider why deer would be moving in the area of your stand and if you can approach the stand without alerting deer.
Growing Deer together,
Grant
