Time on your stand

[Robinsons Rebel]

I do my hunting from a tree stand and was just wondering how long do you sit? If the sun comes up at 6:30am, I like to be in my stand around 6:00am. and come down around 10:30-11:00am. and go back in at 1:00pm and out at 5:30pm when it gets dark. I'm not one to sit all day long like I do sometimes turkey hunting. Just curious what y'all do in your neck of the woods.

[Al in Mi]

I'm about the same as you for bow. First 5 days gun season I'll be in the box a hour before light (doughnut time ) and stay there till dark

[DuckHunt]

I try to hunt the first and last 3 hours of legal shooting time. I like to be in the stand about 30 minutes before I can shoot, but sometimes it's only 15 minutes early. I've learned over the last couple of years to not climb down early in the evening. I've been busted by nice bucks exiting the stand with 10 minutes of light left. I'm not a fan of recovery in the dark, but it's hard to argue with the amount of deer movement at last light.

During the rut, I'll add an hour or two to each sit. In mid-November around here, there isn't a bad time to be in the tree.

[Carnivorous]

My tree stand time is extremely limited so when i solo hunt i prepare to stay all day. Its a 1.5 hr trip from my door to my stand. So I pick the best wind days for my stand. I was fortunate to arrow a buck on my second sit. That saved a whole bunch of time and miles on my truck...

[AJ01]

I'm like DH, I don't like to look for a deer after sundown. Guess I'm just getting old.
I'm in the stand about half hour before shooting light. I'll sit until 11:00 or 11:30. Depends on what I'm seeing.
Or should I saw, what I've been seeing on camera?
I really don't know why I usually go before first light because all the good bucks I have killed were after 09:00!!
One of my best Bucks was taken around 11:45!!!

I actually think there might be a study about how many mature Bucks are taken after that 09:00 mark. Seems to be a significant number, if I remember correctly.

Then I'm back around 13:00 hours, or so.
I have taken a few big mature Buck late in the evening. Best times I have found are 14:30 to 15:00-ish until dark.
I usually hunt deep in the woods, and it's too dark to see my sights when I head down from the stand. However, out in the open (field edges and right-of-ways) it's still light enough to see, so sitting until it's dark is kind of a "Catch-22" for me.

Deer are crepuscular in nature. Twilight time. That's what science says. Yet I have seen a huge number of mature deer on their feet moving around ALL hours of the day...and night for that matter.
I think a lot of deer movement or lack thereof, has to do with hunting pressure, and we have discussed this before, but it's a fact that you cannot get around.
Big mature Whitetails Bucks aren't stupid.



This guy was on camera at 13:15 a couple of days ago.
Deer get up and move about 4-5 times a day.
You just need to be there when they decide to move....

And YES.....Deer Season here is CLOSED!!!

[longbow joe]

I go from 330 till dark whatever that ends up being. During the rut it's whenever l can as much as I can morning and night.
It's personal but l rarely hunt mornings anymore other than the rut.