RE: Dark to Dark Hunting
Hunting from dark to dark in the rule for myself, my three sons and a few friends. AND, it's all done from treestands. Also, I was born during the Truman administration, so I ain't a spring chicken. I do it (stay every day, all day) because I love being in the woods and our style really works. We arrive before first light and stay until legal hunting hours is over - 30 min after sunset. That's 11 1/2 hours a day in a treestand. Last year, my son finally got his deer on the 10th day of hunting...after over 100 hours sitting 25 feet above the ground. During that time he only saw one doe, which he let walk. Of course we need a flashlight to get back to the truck which can be an hour walk.
The main reason we do it is because we can. When we're all setup, we all know each other's place in the woods. When we hear a shot, we know instantly who did the shooting. If someone tags before 9am, he knows he won't see anyone until after 9....and the same holds true for the afternoon. If I shoot a deer at 3PM, I don't expect to see anyone until legal shooting time is over. Those guys are better of staying put during the best times of the day, than helping me dress and drag out a deer.
Staying all day in my self climbercan be very hard to do, especially if the weather fails to cooperate. I love it because if/when I see a deer, it has no idea, Jimmy is watching it's every move and I then make the decision whether to take the shot or not. We have been very successful over the years hunting this way in the woods of NH, which has only about 10 deer per square mile in the areas we hunt. We also don't let the moon, the weather or other hunters in our areas interfere with our game plan. Those others hunters actually help us by moving the deer around and most of the time they too are unaware they are being watched from 25 feet. Like deer, hunters usually don't look up either...