trmichels

[quote=4evrhtn;3839073]Another thought after re-reading your post TR.... You say hunt hard from sunup till 9 am and then from 4 on. Having worked in a Taxidermy shop I have also seen just as many buck be brought in that were shot between 10 and 2 during the rut as the times you listed. I think better advice would be "if you can sit in the woods during the rut than you should sit" because during the rut you are just as likely if not more so to see bigger buck during all hours of the day as you will during the times you listed. quote]

I sincerly doubt that the average hunter would see more "bigger" bucks in the hours betweeen 10 and 2, than they would betwen sunrise and ( am amdnd 4 PM and sunset, becue those are normal deerr activity times - even during the rut. One reason being that bigger (if that translates into "older" bucks are generaly more wary than younger deer, at all times of the year.

However -

One of the reasons suggested in a Deer and Deer Hunting survey for bucks killed between 10 and 4 - is because at about 10, many hunters leave the woods, pushing some deer around, and making other deer feel secure enough after they leave, to become active. And deer get pushed around again as hunters go to their stands in the afternoon hours.

But, because I am not only a researcher for 10 years, but also an outfitter and guide since 1989, I only hunt private land, where I know all of my hunters will be. And we do not hunt midday hours, so that the deer have time to do what they want and need to do, and aren't pressured so much thyat they leave the properties. But, this strategy (as you suggest) may not work on public land (and that I am well aware of). But, it MAY work - which is the point.

I've learned one thing in about 25 years, there is no one right way to hunt deer. There are many right ways to hunt deer, and many more incorrect ways to hunt deer and elk, and turkeys, and ducks and geese and bears. And I write about all of them in my articles and books.