DEbohuntr17

One of my best buddies will only hunt from 10am-2pm during the peak of the rut, and the man has killed 2 trophy bucks while doing it. Hes only been experimenting with it for the past few years; but its worked out. He hunts outta lock-ons about 30 ft in the air, in the thickest cover you can find on the farm. IMO its a hit or miss approach.

Mr October

Most responses will be I see a ton of activity betwen 6 & 9 then you ask how often they stay in the woods between 9 and 3 and they will tell you not many.
In the past two yrs I have hunted in Illinois and seeing the caliber deer I have seen It prompted me to stay in the woods all day. During those "off peak" hours I have had some of the most fun and seen some sights. With the weather being so warm this past season in NY It didnt seem feasible to stay in the afternoon time the weather kept activity to a minimum. Until the weather broke I hiked back for a nap but i trird to get back out as soon as possible for the afternoon. Hunt all day we only have about 25 days a year with the bow!

JOE PA

I really don't get the time to hunt nearly as much as most of you do. That said, I follow the advice of a very experienced friend who hunts in the mountains of Virginia and also in more populated parts of Maryland. He said that he sees a lot of mature bucks (He has killed some real dandys.) right around noon-1:00 during the full moon. I saw one of the nicest bucks that I spotted this year, exactly like that. I was set up in a travel corridor and he came in pretty quickly, but on full alert. Having a decoy would have bee great, but I didn't. He busted me without me moving a muscle. I moved my stand back about 40 yards to take advantage of what he showed me, and killed an 8pt. the following week on a morning hunt, around 7:45.

buckeye

All of the good experienced hunters on this forum and this is all the feedback a guy can get ???? [8D]

huntingson

Honestly, I have had very few encounters with mature (3.5 +) deer, let alone bucks in the time frame you are discussing. The few times that I have, I have been set up on the edge of a known bedding area. The first time was '05 and I was on in a stand in a strip of woods that is an outside corner of a field (south and west is field) and to the north is a thicket where they bed. The buck was coming to the bedding area after fighting another mature buck. You can see the result in my avatar. That was the absolute peak of the rut and deer were literally running all around me as I was gutting him. Craziest day I have ever seen in the woods. The second time was this year. It might not have been 3 hours to dark, but it was 4:00 on November 10, early around here for a mature deer to be up. The buck I entered in the contest this year was just up crusing by himself. I was hunting the northeast side of that same bedding area that time, again on the edge where it butts up to the woods to the east. The north side is again an open field and he was just skirting inside the edge. He actually never left the bedding area and he had turned back around to return where he came from when I got a shot at him.

Same stand as the first one a few years ago I got down to answer the call of nature and decided to grap lunch while I was at it. Came back and a nice big rub had been made 3 feet from my tree. No kidding! Can't say for sure it was a mature buck, but it was at least an aggressive buck.

Edit: just wanted to add that yes, it is strange that it happened two years in a row and I said I have had very few encounters to start off my reply. I have been hunting the same way for many moons now and I can't explain why it happened two years in a row other than luck.

buckeye

Anyone else have anything to add?

Buck Magnet

I havn't seen much activity during mid-day from bucks but my game cameras sure did this year. I got alot of pictures of bucks at around 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. throughout the archery season this year. What amazed me is that I usually climb out of my stand at around 10:30 a.m. and get back in it around 2:00 p.m. I decided several times to just sit the whole day and of course those days the deer decided to stay put during that time frame.

Several years ago my buddy and I were set-up on a trail that went up a hill (he was at the top and I was at the bottom) that had a decent rub-line on it. We got out of stand after seeing nothing all morning just to go grab a quick lunch at noon. It was probablly a 10 minute walk back to my house, we made some quick food and headed right back out. We weren't gone more than 45 minutes but in that time frame a buck had came down the trail and rubbed 3 new trees.

The other time that really sticks out in my mind was my first year archery hunting. First morning and my buddy and I were set-up in on the hill I mentioned above. At 9:00 a.m. a large 9 point came down and my buddy smacked him. We backed out and decided we would track the buck at lunch time. Well, being the novices that we were, we left our bows at home simply because we didn't feel like trying to drag them through the thick brush that his buck went into. When we go to where he shot his buck we noticed three bucks, 2-8pts and a giant 10 point standing no more than 25 yards from us just looking at us. If I had my bow it would have been a chip shot.

DaveH

It's because of responses like the ones posted here that I have stayed put up in a tree ALL DAY during the rut for the past 3 - 4 years. However, in my area, the responce and sightings have been anything but positive. Most of my sightings - even during rut - came at the usual times of just afte rusnrise and just before sunset. The unusually high temps we had during that time frame the last few years have been a major factor. On the few days it wasn't hot, it was windy which didn't help either. We had exactly 2 days during the rut this year where the weather was good. I killed a doe and two very nice bucks during those two days, but still, it was at the usual times.

mez

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.

lifesadrag

Scott, Keeping in the time frame & rut stages you mention I have seen mature buck movement at all hours of the day and I hunt very heavily hunted public land. This is usually in the first 2 weeks of Nov. in northern Illinois. The spots I set up in are travel corridors between bedding areas. One good spot is in a brushy fencerow extending from 1 bedding area into a field with another bedding area across the field. Another is on the downwind side of where a ravine ends that they travel around to check between bedding areas.... Hope that's what your looking for.