Last weekend I decided to hunt near my dad' s stand he uses for gun season. It' s been a good morning stand for rifle season and there' s good sign around it so I figured I would give it a shot. The trouble is - it' s a good 15 min walk back on our land and I spooked deer every morning. I was heading into the woods at about 5:00 a.m. each morning and ever time I had to stop and let deer literally pass by me. I was pretty successful each morning - I would hear them coming, stop and be silent, and let them pass by me - the closest one at about 15 feet. But each day, a doe wouldn' t be so forgiving and would snort and make all kinds of noise. Not to mention that it took me forever to get to my stand because I had to stop and wait for so long to let these deer go by.

I felt like I had ruined everything by the time I got to my stand. The area I' m hunting by is about 500 yards West of a corn field and about 300 yards North of a big clear cut. I thought that I would be catching deer coming out of the corn field and/or clear cut and back into their bedding areas but it seems like I' m catching them as they are going to these areas? I should also mention that we normally don' t see deer in these areas until after 8:00 or so.

Should I wait until it' s a little lighter and then sneak in the woods then - possibly also having a better chance of ambushing one of these deer at the time or do I just need to get in the woods even earlier?

I appreciate your ideas - I' ve never been a successful morning bow hunter (I' m judging success by actually seeing deer!) and this is frustrating me even more.
Thanks.