I have not had any luck in the midday hours. Not for, lack of trying but haven't seen any good bucks this time of day. Spikes and forkhorns are the only bucks I have seen this time of day. My set up should be ideal but hasn't worked for me in southeast Nebraska.

The spot is a ridgeline of timber approximately 200 yards wide running east and west. Opens out onto corn fields at the top, soybeans and alfalfa at the bottom. The ridgeline connects two major bedding areas and is between one of the bedding areas and the main water source for the area. Early am and evening there are deer moving all over on the ridge. During the rut the bucks are chasing does all over this ridge every am and every evening. They come off the fields in the am and chase in these woods and then they stage on this same ridgeline in the evenings and the activity is very high.

One of the bedding areas is close enough that I can see the does bedding with binoculars and watch them. The only thing that keeps me sane sitting all day. I only hunt this spot when I'm going to sit all day so as not to bump the one set of deer coming out.

Most all of my mature buck sightings in the am are before 9. They either follow the does off of the fields or they come down the ridgeline using the wind to scent check. They show up again about 4:30 in the afternoon. The does usually come in to stage about 3:00pm.

I hunt the first week of November every year and it is either pre-rut or heat of the rut depending on the year. I take 10 days off and hunt all day so it isn't a matter of not being out there. I have tried calling, rattling, the can, grunts etc. 1.5 year old bucks are all that I see in the time frames you have mentioned. These youngsters come through checking for does, nose down, working the wind, etc. cruising. I know the does are there, I can see them.

This is private property that is only hunted by me and the landowner. He does not bowhunt so these deer have no pressure on them from the end of rifle season to the first week of November. No scouting pressure either, I have been hunting this property for 20 years and know it like the back of my hand. When I show up the landowner tells me where the deer are and what they are doing. It is the same every year. Bowhunters on the property to the south and the west, to the east and north roads are fairly close and a lot of grain fields. I know and am friends with the guys hunting around it and they don't go in this place.

So a long answer to your question. I don't have any luck with the midday hours. Maybe it is because these deer don't get enough pressure? There are not many mature bucks killed in my area during these hours.