• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

Should new and inexperienced hunters sit out the early season and wait for the rut?

Sound like a good plan. 2 miles in? Is it that big? I havnt actually scouted it yet.

That gets hit pretty hard if thats where i think it is... L******. either hunt RIGHT next to the road across from rich people that look like they dont hunt (bucks feel safe there and will wander over when they get love drunk) or 2 miles in. 300-400 yds in is packed with hunters early season. That spot west of the bridge...nvm
 
Sound like a good plan. 2 miles in? Is it that big? I havnt actually scouted it yet.

"L" is huge. my advice would be pull off of the bigger roads and park on the shoulder. hop the guard rail and start hiking. way less pressure than hunting off of the hiking trails or little parking spots with the gate thingies at the trail. THose things are like hunter magnets haha. and you wont get as many mountain bikers screaming at each other...why do they talk so loud?? unreal. look for hunter sign first. if you find that any deer sign wont mean much outside the rut. youll see good deer sign too but the mature bucks go pretty nocturnal. im talkin about buck bombs littered everywhere n stuff like that. not a few pins here n there on some trees.


Make sure you know which areas you can and cant hunt though. some areas are off limits unless they changed the rules
 
I haven't hunted that property but I'm a hair south of you. From what I've heard, it gets hammered.

Don't discount early season when there are just plain fewer hunters out there. In fact, I'd rather hunt early season, before everyone else gets out there and when deer are easier to pattern. If you want to kill a deer and aren't necessarily worried about a mature buck, I think hunt early. Evening hunts are nice, but as others have said, quick morning hunts are easier for a family man.

And really, you've got small kids. Hunt when you can and enjoy the sights. Savor the time with the kiddos. You have a beautiful family.
 
Not as productive as evenings. And early season mornings aren't not as good for bucks as evenings, especially for mature bucks.

I think this depends on your spot(s).

I definitely respect your knowledge and experience, but I'd say on the whole we do better in the mornings for bucks and mature bucks. I've found this to be true in multiple states, but it could have something to do with me and the spots that I end up hunting.
 
Lot’s of good advice above. Gotta spend time with the kids when they are little to establish that habit pattern. That said, I would focus on the most productive hours. You can get in some prime time hunting before the wife even gets out of the bed, or be back shortly after she gets up. I would rather go 2 days, 3 hours each, than 1 day for 6 hours. Good luck!
 
Here is a way to put a positive spin on not having a ton of free time to hunt... It’s 2021... we have never been able to cyber scout like we can now compared to the years past, it’s an unbelievable tool, nothing will replace boots on the ground, but ONX and google earth are just plain awesome. I have rock star amounts of time to hunt but almost zero for preseason scouting, so I cyber scout, over and over again, I make a list of my favorites, including what wind I need, and rank them in order of what gets hit first, I do this all season and adjust on the fly, and it works... I go in blind almost all season and hang and hunt, or ground pound. In my opinion, like others, early season is the best time to chase and kill a target buck, rut is the best time to kill any buck, all my “target buck” kills have been early season, to kill a target buck is a very satisfying experience and the most difficult of all hunting feats in my honest opinion. The down side to constantly going in blind for me is the lack of morning spots, fumbling around trying to pick out a new tree in the dark just doesn’t work for me, but overtime some of the spots on my annual list from years past will become morning spots assuming I can make a quiet entrance and set up. The downside to cyber scouting is everybody is doing it, so I get creative, people hate water, they also love easy access, so think outside the box while cyber scouting, sometimes that 5 acre piece of public sandwiched between 2 private parcels can be gold, I always have a backup plan, my backup even has a backup, never quit, whether I had one day to hunt or 50, I would have a plan with several backup plans and ready for anything, I make mental notes of everything as I hunt and load my ONX with everything I see, after season I pour over all this intel and start my list for next season, usually late at night while the family sleeps, it’s the little things that add up to make a successful season, paying attention to details, being organized, and keeping a positive attitude, all these things will have a positive impact on a season whether it is 1 day long or 100, last season I made it to #4 on my list and was tagged out on a dandy. I’m hoping cell cams will enable me to get some preseason scouting work in this year, time will tell, I have no time to check cams this time of year, the only scouting I do now is from the truck window and I take my son with me, he loves it and gives the wife some free time while we ride around and look at deer, last night I missed a couple in the meadow that he spotted, both were bucks to him, every deer is a buck lol, every year if I have a successful season I take a bunch of photos of me and my son with him holding up the rack, and when the wife makes up the Christmas cards I make her include one on the card, he thinks it’s great I’m not sure about some of the non hunters on the Christmas card receiving list LOL. Good luck this season it’s guys like you I’m rooting for!!!
 
A lot of great advice given. Many years ago I did what the hunting books used to tell you to do if you wanted the best time to predict the rut. So at a local sportsman's convention one year I asked a deer biologist who was working a booth there that very question. I said, when is the rut in NY? He said way back in the late 1960's the DEC looked at over 600 does either harvested via hunting or road killed during a time they knew they would be pregnant. All of the embryos were back dated and a majority of the does were bred between Election Day and Veterans Day so November 3rd through November 11th. I would think then the peak of breeding falls within that time period so gauge your hunting accordingly. I don't really buy the moon phase stuff but I do think you can enhance your effectiveness when cold fronts come in and obviously when the wind or thermals are good for your stand locations. But also realize that pressure will effect where the deer will be. They will still get it done but where they get it done and what time of the day will also be based on pressure. That's why you're a saddle hunter, keep'em guessing. One last thing, for some reason a patch of wild grape vines always seems to have buck sign around it. I believe the grave vines open up the canopy somewhat as they "pull" on the tree they're growing in and this in turn provides pockets of sunlight where more forest regeneration takes place in any given section of woods. On public, if I'm into grape vines I'm usually into some nice transition cover for traveling bucks and I'm finding rubs, rub clusters, scrapes and trails.
 
Pre-rut and rut activity can be hard to predict. Last year I took two weeks off work to hunt and the first was a complete waste, saw one deer from the stand all week. Luckily it all came together in the end. I think this year i am going to do more half days.
 
I'm far from a perfect father & husband, and my youngest is now 6, but I think if I could do it again, I'd just sit this one out with a newborn. The deer will still be there next season but life is fleeting and you can only hold them in your arms so long. You'll say, but we're only talking about 2-3 days, but what about all the hours you'll spend thinking about and planning for those days? Just free your mind and karma might have a huge buck saunter 7 yards away from you one day in return :).
 
Both of mine were born in early fall. I hunted 3 or 4 times those years (few hours either morning or evening) and I don't regret making it out. I definitely wouldn't log a bunch of hunts, or do all day sits. A few times out, for your sanity if nothing else, would be good for you. Gotta do what works best for you and your family, and fits with the routine. Good luck!
 
Not as productive as evenings. And early season mornings aren't not as good for bucks as evenings, especially for mature bucks.
That hasn't been my experience at all.Mornings are almost always much cooler in the fall than evenings and I have much better movement in the mornings.If forced to pick between mornings and evenings,I'l pick the mornings every time.Now I don't hunt anywhere near agriculture or foodplots either.
 
Thank you to everyone who gave me advices. It was really helpful and open my eyes to a lot of things that I did not consider. We had a long and productive talk, and I honestly found that my wife was a more open to what I say then I feared. One of our main issue was communication, for me, my problem was holding my anger when things bother me, letting it fester until I snap at something totally unrelated. My wife does similar things, she does not tell me when something bother her at the moment it happens, but then make a big deal of something totally unrelated, which in turn make me mad because I feel she is making a big issue of a small matter, not knowing that something else is bothering her.

But anyway, just wanted to let that out and I am more relax and hopeful for the future. We talk and we decided to not hold each other to quotas or promises of 'time allowed'. That I get 1-2 days during the rut for all day sits, but the rest of the season we'll play by ears. That if there is nothing plan, I should not hesitant to ask if I can spend a few hours in the woods. She said she was glad that I offer mornings and evenings sit only, that is a lot more manageable, instead of the all day sits that I keep planning to do. One of my issue was that l felt guilty requesting time for myself, which is basically what hunting is right now since the kids are still too young. So I had internal struggle with doing the right thing and being a good father; while not losing myself and finding my own space to breath/get away sometimes. But she told me that she promise not to be offended if I ask, as long as I'm ok if the answer is no based on the situation. She was right, when we had fixed time or schedule for me to go hunt, but situation came along like weather or family stuff, it really annoyed me and I let it fester too, I know life happens, but subconsciously it was still there.

My wife used to get really upset and bitter when I started getting into hunting. She finally talked to me about why. Her father was really passionate about it when she was growing up. They never went on family vacations. He saved up all his time off for hunting season each year. She didn't even see him at all some days because he would go hunting after work and return late at night. He would go back to WV for rifle season which is Thanksgiving week, she can't remember a single Thanksgiving that they spend together. Which I finally realized was true. It just never bother me because we have a Thanksgiving dinner without him, but I can see how that affect you as a single child as my wife was. My wife fear that I will turn into her father. Which I can see her worries, he's the one that got me into hunting and I do feel a sense of hero worship whenever I hang out in his man cave with dozens of mounts. But I tell her I know where my priorities and dedications are. The family. That nothing is going to make me miss Thanksgiving or anything that are important. I'll take the kids to the park over hunting any day of the week.

Anyway thanks for the group therapy session guy! This was cheaper then marriage counseling!
 
That hasn't been my experience at all.Mornings are almost always much cooler in the fall than evenings and I have much better movement in the mornings.If forced to pick between mornings and evenings,I'l pick the mornings every time.Now I don't hunt anywhere near agriculture or foodplots either.
This is another example of taking advice with caution on these forums. I've seen this happen countless times on hunting and habitat forums. What applies to one person, in one part of the country may not apply elsewhere. Deer behavior, food plots, weed control, you name it, what we experience isn't necessarily how it works for someone else, somewhere else.
I'm a little long in the tooth as far as whitetail hunting goes...this will be my 51th season, and I learned (for me) a long time ago, where I hunt, I do far more damage towards educating the herd by hunting mornings in the early season. YMMV.
I am blessed to live among the deer that I hunt. I get to watch dozens of deer from my home 365 days a year, and I see far more daylight hours of deer activity in the afternoon, than I do in the morning during the summer and early fall. And as I've learned that lesson over the years, I also noted that my 2 whitetail hunting idols (the Wensel brothers) said the same thing as I was experiencing...better hunting in evenings early in the season and better mornings as the rut kicks in.

But whatever works for you, go for it. I'm also talking more about mature buck activity. If I'm just wanting to shoot does or young bucks (which I don't shoot any more) then mornings or evenings both produce. I still say season evenings have a longer period of daylight activity than mornings, where I hunt.
 
Thank you to everyone who gave me advices. It was really helpful and open my eyes to a lot of things that I did not consider. We had a long and productive talk, and I honestly found that my wife was a more open to what I say then I feared. One of our main issue was communication, for me, my problem was holding my anger when things bother me, letting it fester until I snap at something totally unrelated. My wife does similar things, she does not tell me when something bother her at the moment it happens, but then make a big deal of something totally unrelated, which in turn make me mad because I feel she is making a big issue of a small matter, not knowing that something else is bothering her.

But anyway, just wanted to let that out and I am more relax and hopeful for the future. We talk and we decided to not hold each other to quotas or promises of 'time allowed'. That I get 1-2 days during the rut for all day sits, but the rest of the season we'll play by ears. That if there is nothing plan, I should not hesitant to ask if I can spend a few hours in the woods. She said she was glad that I offer mornings and evenings sit only, that is a lot more manageable, instead of the all day sits that I keep planning to do. One of my issue was that l felt guilty requesting time for myself, which is basically what hunting is right now since the kids are still too young. So I had internal struggle with doing the right thing and being a good father; while not losing myself and finding my own space to breath/get away sometimes. But she told me that she promise not to be offended if I ask, as long as I'm ok if the answer is no based on the situation. She was right, when we had fixed time or schedule for me to go hunt, but situation came along like weather or family stuff, it really annoyed me and I let it fester too, I know life happens, but subconsciously it was still there.

My wife used to get really upset and bitter when I started getting into hunting. She finally talked to me about why. Her father was really passionate about it when she was growing up. They never went on family vacations. He saved up all his time off for hunting season each year. She didn't even see him at all some days because he would go hunting after work and return late at night. He would go back to WV for rifle season which is Thanksgiving week, she can't remember a single Thanksgiving that they spend together. Which I finally realized was true. It just never bother me because we have a Thanksgiving dinner without him, but I can see how that affect you as a single child as my wife was. My wife fear that I will turn into her father. Which I can see her worries, he's the one that got me into hunting and I do feel a sense of hero worship whenever I hang out in his man cave with dozens of mounts. But I tell her I know where my priorities and dedications are. The family. That nothing is going to make me miss Thanksgiving or anything that are important. I'll take the kids to the park over hunting any day of the week.

Anyway thanks for the group therapy session guy! This was cheaper then marriage counseling!



Post of the year quite possibly. Learning the limits of your spouse goes a long way. The air was cleared and you are better partners because if it.

Sleep in, cook the family breakfast. Slip out a few afternoon/evenings as time allows. Take your full days seriously. Now is the time to become meticulous with your equipment and shooting skills.
 
Take short scouting trips, whenever time allows. Dip in the woods between errands, or your drive to work. Hunt high odds setups, try to tag out early, so that you can spend time home.
 
Back
Top