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Walking in time

Weldabeast

Weldabeast

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
May 23, 2019
Messages
12,485
Location
Northeast Florida
If u have an area picked out but dont have a tree picked and u never been in there to look at the lay of the land do u walk in earlier and hope to pick the best spot in the dark or do u walk in during the early gray light and make a more educated tree decision?
 
I'll pick in the dark. If I wait for grey light another hunter may be in the area ahead of me. I have found deer spook less easily a couple of hours before sunup. I'll walk in with as strong a headlamp as I need, and setup when I see something I like. Preferably deer. I've found that deer spooked a couple of hours before light in the woods often circle back, or maybe there are other deer frequenting that location for the same reasons as the ones you spooked.
 
If I’m scouting my way in a new area, I almost always go in for an evening hunt on the first sit. Scout in easy and watch for sign. If you do bump a bedded deer most of the time they will go on to their evening routine and you need to be right there in the morning. 9 times out of 10 they’ll come back the next day. I think some guys call that the bump and dump
 
I sit on the ground on my chair and can prep a little for an evening sit in the saddle if it seems like a hot spot. I sound like a herd of elephants setting up in the dark in a new area if I don't.
 
I've done both, pitch black and gray light, both have paid off. I guess it would depend on parcel size, smaller parcel I'd gray light it so I could be quiet and not give a light signature. In my experience 7:30-9:30 in the morning is the magic killing time. Walking in at 5:30 and being set up before 6:30 shouldn't be a huge deal.

Big parcels on the other hand, are quite opposite. I hunt a lot of big woods, 1k-2.5k acres. These I have found most good buck movement is during gray light or right at dark. I try to be settled an hour before legal shooting. That being said, I would agree with @Nutterbuster a this point. Bright head lamp, take your time, still be moderately quiet and get dialed. Usually anything you bump will make its way back. Happened to me last year and the deer knew exactly what I was. It came back cautious, but it came back.
 
If I am going to a specific area I've scouted previous, have GPS to guide me, and just picking/finding a specific tree....I'll go in early and find a tree with my headlamp.

If I am going into an area totally blind not sure what it looks like and how much busting around I'll have to do (very rare that I would do that in the AM) I would be more inclined to wait until I can see a little bit.

Flashlights don't concern me much wrt deer. Noise, a little, but as long as I am not busting around and clanging metal like crazy, no worries. I just hate to go into an area not really know what the deer behavior is and crossing trails where my entrance scent is going to ruin my hunt.
 
Just in my opinion I would go in, in the pitch black and just pick a tree. Deer see the absolute best in the grey light times of the day especially using a light. You are in a saddle I assume, so you can always pack up and move to a better tree. Like @Nutterbuster said use the best head lamp you got and make the best judgment call on a tree.
 
Love how @Nutterbuster said preferably deer. I’ve killed several deer that way. Go in until ones looking at you bobbing it’s head trying to figure out what you are. Climb closest tree that allows some shooting lanes. You’ll make noise and cuss and swear you’ll never see anything. Then they either come back or more show up. I haven’t killed a wall hanger like that but made a bunch of meat that way.
 
EricS said:
Love how @Nutterbuster said preferably deer. I’ve killed several deer that way. Go in until ones looking at you bobbing it’s head trying to figure out what you are. Climb closest tree that allows some shooting lanes. You’ll make noise and cuss and swear you’ll never see anything. Then they either come back or more show up. I haven’t killed a wall hanger like that but made a bunch of meat that way.
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Gotta keep the main thing the main thing! I aint trying to take pictures of deer sign for a nature book. :)

I do want to add that a large amount of the time I have deer show up on my backtrack if I bump them. Depending on how I bump the deer, I may set up in the closest tree I can quietly get up (very lightly bumped or just saw the deer before it saw me) or I may turn around and go back 30-50 yards (hard bump). Last year I shot 2 deer that thought they would be sneaky and cut across my trail just out of the danger zone of my last known location. I shot them maybe 10 yards from my stand as they tried to put it all together
 
Nutterbuster said:
Gotta keep the main thing the main thing! I aint trying to take pictures of deer sign for a nature book. :)

I do want to add that a large amount of the time I have deer show up on my backtrack if I bump them. Depending on how I bump the deer, I may set up in the closest tree I can quietly get up (very lightly bumped or just saw the deer before it saw me) or I may turn around and go back 30-50 yards (hard bump). Last year I shot 2 deer that thought they would be sneaky and cut across my trail just out of the danger zone of my last known location. I shot them maybe 10 yards from my stand as they tried to put it all together
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I use the same tactic tracking in snow, run a track, then backtrack.
 
I prefer to hunt new areas in the afternoon so I don’t face this conundrum, but if I’m going into an area for the first time in the morning, I’ll typically wait until first light to get within a couple hundred yards of my spot. In new areas, I like to scout my way in and move slowly, and I also like the benefit of clearly seeing the tree I’m climbing, shooting lanes, terrain features, etc. before taking the time to climb and set up. Nothing worse than climbing up before daylight to set up on a trail, full of hope and expectation, only to find your headlight missed the bigger trail 50 yards away that leads to a persimmon tree 75 yards away, all but guaranteeing you’re SOL. Sure, you can get down and move, but in my experience, more times than not, it just turns into a short observation sit and an early breakfast after I’ve lost confidence. Haha
 
I prefer to start off real early with a bright light. Moving real slow, if I see a tree I think works well, I climb in the dark. If not, I don’t sweat it, and I’ll wait for daylight sitting on the ground or leaning against a tree. I much prefer being set by first light, but I don’t force it.
 
Tjraley2 said:
I prefer to start off real early with a bright light. Moving real slow, if I see a tree I think works well, I climb in the dark. If not, I don’t sweat it, and I’ll wait for daylight sitting on the ground or leaning against a tree. I much prefer being set by first light, but I don’t force it.
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That my mentally also
 
TNbowhunter said:
I prefer to hunt new areas in the afternoon so I don’t face this conundrum, but if I’m going into an area for the first time in the morning, I’ll typically wait until first light to get within a couple hundred yards of my spot. In new areas, I like to scout my way in and move slowly, and I also like the benefit of clearly seeing the tree I’m climbing, shooting lanes, terrain features, etc. before taking the time to climb and set up. Nothing worse than climbing up before daylight to set up on a trail, full of hope and expectation, only to find your headlight missed the bigger trail 50 yards away that leads to a persimmon tree 75 yards away, all but guaranteeing you’re SOL. Sure, you can get down and move, but in my experience, more times than not, it just turns into a short observation sit and an early breakfast after I’ve lost confidence. Haha
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Absolutely agree. I scout hunt starting mid day for an evening hunt. If I want to hunt a bedfing area I pre scout it. GPS mark one or two potential spots right down to a tree, mark the tree and come in an hour or more before first light. I cant imagine picking a tree in the dark for the first time hunt...
 
If you guys have Google Earth Pro on your computers, some areas are in 3D and you can actually pin point a specific tree, get the waypoint and load it on your GPS or phone.
 
I'll walk the majority of the way in the dark if I have some trails to follow so I can cover ground quietly, then I usually hold up a couple of hundred yards short of where I want to sit for the morning and time my entry into the area I'm looking at so I have just enough light to go that last bit quiet and without a light. The key is the timing here because I don't want to be lingering around to long anywhere near where I want to be hunting. I place a lot of emphasis on how quiet my climbing system and set up is. I don't feel like I sacrifice much hunting time. The only other thought to this whole thing is if I think I can get close to a bedding area in the morning I'll leave a little earlier to get in sometimes up to an hour before 1st light to catch a buck coming back to cover, but then I'm not usually going in completely blind. Back when I had stands I could walk in in complete dark without a light without poking an eye out with a stick, and of course it was uphill both ways.
Edit: Last year I was in a hot spot so I left my gear in the tree and went back the next morning before light because I knew I could get in quiet and I didn't have to worry about setting up. No I didn't get the buck I was after but I had him coming in to about 40 yds. but the wind on that flat favored him. That's why he was there. I was hoping to get lucky or for him to be careless. He had the "windvantage" for sure.
 
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In my opinion, going in blind for a morning sit is almost always a bad idea. I would much rather go in early for an afternoon sit and scout my way in. Setup on the best sign I find and if the wind stays right I'll leave the set and hunt it again the next morning. Have a known route into the stand and mark it on your way out from the afternoon before makes way more sense to me. If nothing comes of an afternoon and morning sit, I'm moving on anyway.
 
SCHunter85 said:
In my opinion, going in blind for a morning sit is almost always a bad idea.
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That has been my experience too. Some people seem to have that gift but I don’t. Used to hunt with a guy who could walk into a new property blind in the dark and routinely kill deer.
I would add that 2 of my biggest morning bucks have been on days I slept in and walked into new spots around 7am and shot them around 10am when most other hunters were back at camp.
 
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