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Morning hunts: climb in the dark, or wait until light?

LOSTnWoods said:
Guys what time are you saying graylight is? 1/2 before sunrise?
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depends on the spot. deep woods is later but field edge is earlier. my definition is when i can barely function wo a light. by the time im up the tree, i can see well enough to see shooting lanes and make fine adjustments to the set.

i usually will sit at the bottom of the tree that i think i will climb and wait for light. i hate leaving a bunch of ground scent at the spot, but its better than making a total crap set in the dark.
 
Graylight is somewhere halfway between black of night and white of day...duh

We can legally harvest critters 1/2 hour before official sunrise so it's constantly changing
 
Will Harris said:
depends on the spot. deep woods is later but field edge is earlier. my definition is when i can barely function wo a light. by the time im up the tree, i can see well enough to see shooting lanes and make fine adjustments to the set.

i usually will sit at the bottom of the tree that i think i will climb and wait for light. i hate leaving a bunch of ground scent at the spot, but its better than making a total crap set in the dark.
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When I can see we’ll enough to tell if I’m stepping on a branch without a light. Or I wait until 9am if I’m hunting most days.


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I know this sounds crazy, and people at my lease make fun of me for it, but I am at the tree at least an hour before shooting time on non preset trees. I like to take my time climbing. Moving slow keeps me relaxed and I dont sweat as much in those earlier months.

On preset tree I like to be in a settled 30 minutes before shooting time.
 
I only started saddle hunting a few years ago. Before that it was a combo of hang-on stands and climbing stands. Now, my wife has accused me of being neurotic, but when I got my saddle hunting gear - I practiced with it relentlessly until I could do it with my eyes closed. I wanted to be extremely comfortable with setting sticks/platforms and clipping in/out so I could do it in the dark (mostly). I like to be at my tree an hour before legal shooting time so that I am "settled in" for at least 30 minutes before I could legally shoot.
 
shmelton said:
When I can see we’ll enough to tell if I’m stepping on a branch without a light. Or I wait until 9am if I’m hunting most days.
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to be (more) clear on how i do things. certainly not the only way and probably not the best way, but ....

if i am going in blind to a spot in the morning, i still use a red light to ease into the woods to the tree. i "think" i'm sitting at the tree base of the tree i want to climb until gray light. we have a ton of pin oaks where i hunt and making a crappy set in the dark even with a decent red light is still a high probability.

if i've marked a tree during scouting, then i have no prob climbing at least a 1/2 hour before legal. still use a red light.

i wont climb up or down in the dark wo a red light. too much bad can go wrong and not worth it to me. been hunting using climbers or sticks for 40+ years. ive watched deer and hogs from tree with a red light and they never looked up.

i really dont walk or climb wo a light. even on private. you think you know no one is around, but .....
 
I've always tried to be in the tree 30-60 mins before legal shooting light (30min before sunrise), so I climb in the dark. If there's not enough moonlight to see unaided, I'll use a green headlamp. I've walked within 20yds of a bunch of does staring at me with the green light and they never even got up. They were sitting in a safety zone (no hunting), so I'm still debating if they were not spooked by the strange noise and green light or if they were just smart enough to know I wasn't allowed to poke 'em with an arrow....
That being said, I rarely see a deer wander by in the pre-dawn when I'm in a tree, unless they're bumped by another hunter. Whether I spooked them or they are just not moving at 5-6am is debatable. I do see them start to move a little after that though.
If I'm in a tree early and another hunter wanders close in the dark, I'll just flash my green light at them to let them know I'm there. Usually works.
'Course I've had a couple muzzle loader hunters wander by at dawn, completely miss me 10yds away (and I'm wearing an orange vest and hat as per regulation). They also bumped two sets of deer who trotted almost under my feet - I asked them about it in the parkinglot and they never even saw a deer that morning.
 
Bow season, I almost exclusively hunt in the evening


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jakev383 said:
I've always tried to be in the tree 30-60 mins before legal shooting light (30min before sunrise), so I climb in the dark. If there's not enough moonlight to see unaided, I'll use a green headlamp. I've walked within 20yds of a bunch of does staring at me with the green light and they never even got up. They were sitting in a safety zone (no hunting), so I'm still debating if they were not spooked by the strange noise and green light or if they were just smart enough to know I wasn't allowed to poke 'em with an arrow....
That being said, I rarely see a deer wander by in the pre-dawn when I'm in a tree, unless they're bumped by another hunter. Whether I spooked them or they are just not moving at 5-6am is debatable. I do see them start to move a little after that though.
If I'm in a tree early and another hunter wanders close in the dark, I'll just flash my green light at them to let them know I'm there. Usually works.
'Course I've had a couple muzzle loader hunters wander by at dawn, completely miss me 10yds away (and I'm wearing an orange vest and hat as per regulation). They also bumped two sets of deer who trotted almost under my feet - I asked them about it in the parkinglot and they never even saw a deer that morning.
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I too have had decent luck using green or red lights not spooking deer. I prefer green because I can see a tad better with it than red but I would think red is harder for most deer to see like other game compared to white or green lights. I know blue/green/yellow is within the “seeable” spectrum for deer and red isn’t.
 
I had a doe last season right under my stand after legal shooting while I was packing up with the green headlamp on. She looked up at me several times also stared at me but just walked off and never spooked. Of course when I got down and I took all the extra time to get down slowly and as stealthily as I could, I start packing things up and then something starts blowing like no tomorrow!!
 
Hi, Late To The Party here. As in, late to this post and tending to be later than I want to the tree. Mornin’ hunts I try to be “awake” by 2h before daylight, which usually involves at least three taps of the snooze button before my wife physically boots me outta bed. Cup of coffee brings two trips to the little DelaWhere’s room, and I finally get my clothes on. Mind you, I hunt my home property and most of my trees are preset, so I try to be climbing the tree before gray light. I’m a bit of a wimp in the dark. Even with a headlamp I either get scared of spooking deer or running into a ‘yote or something. If there’s snow on the ground, earlier is better. Definitely up the tree by gray light or I have to wait until late morning and hunt afternoon, OR creep in and hunt from ground. I hate climbing the tree when I know deer could be nearby and there have been quite a few occasions where I’ve been climbing and a deer or several deer come by while my bow is on the ground, because I was 10-15 minutes late. Sometimes though, I climb the tree hella late/noisily, snatch my bow up, and 1ish minutes later a deer walks by for a shot. Crazy.
I do still run/gun once in a while even on just 20 acres of woods, and on new public I wait until gray/daylight to walk in because I can see what’s going on. On familiar public, I’ll do same as private if I don’t see other trucks.
 
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