I feel scaring deer while leaving a stand in the dark is one of the biggest mistakes bow hunters make. I think you are better off leaving while there is light enough to see than getting down in the dark and showing your hand.

Here's a question for ya Jim......

How do they know what we are in the dark?

Wind is critical, but unreliable at best. Therefore scent control is needed to help out when conditions change on you. More attention to detail never hurts. If you hunt a place such that the wind it more predictable, then back up scent control is “less” important. I know of no place that exists near me.

Comfort is HUGE. Maybe its cause I’m getting older. The more comfortable I am, the longer & more still I sit.

Camo has saved my butt on several occasions. I’ve been picked off, but never figured out. After a LONG examination I was determined to be non-threatening. I then proceeded to kill the deer. In cases where I didn’t kill the deer, one less deer spooked is always a good thing.

Re: Jim’s idea, whether you leave while its light or dark, its imperative not to be detected. Darkness doesn’t help you from being seen, against an animal build to see in low light conditions. However, I also don’t agree with leaving early, and jumping the gun on a big one potentially walking in at last light.

Wrong thread

Rybo/Jim:

Everything I read about whitetails tells me they see VERY well in that time of low light....just before dark and just before light. I don't think their night (dark) vision is capable of discerning what we are. I may be wrong. Everything I've read, though.....tells me they go through a transition time .....when their eyes are adjustingfrom the low light to the darkness (using different cones in their eyes or somehing like that). If you're going out in the first part of darkness.....wouldn't you be LESS likely to be noticed (and identified as a human) than you would if you went out when their eyes were at their peak performance (low light)?

Interesting discussion.

I am sure they see us much better in the dark than we see them.

My point is to use the time to quietly sneak away from the area you plan on bushwacking passing deer, without giving them thelocation of your stands .

Their ears work just as well in the dark.[:-]

Again, Jim....I'm not arguing....just trying to learn.

What I've read is, though,they don't. RIGHT after dark...is when they're least effective at discerning shapes. MY contention is (and what I do in the field)....I go out after darkness has fallen.

Let me put it another way....

While it's better in my eyes to not spook deer on my way in to satnd in the mornings....I actually don't get too upset if I bump one going in. I don't think it has the first clue what I am in the darkness. I usually "blow" back a tthem if they blow at me.....and continue. i don't "think" they can see me, at all. I'd like to hear more about deer being able to see in the pitch dark.

Agreed.....but how do they know we're not just "more deer"?

#1 I personally think scent control is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, money making gimmick in this industry. I know many fellow hunters that buy all of the scent control clothing, all of the scent control sprays, wafers, deoderants, etc.BUT I dont know any hunters that use all of these products and completely disregard the wind. I dont spend money on these things , someone else does, yet we both play the wind when we hunt. Where has all of his money spending gotten him if he still hunts the way my stinky self does? In general though, yes, scent control is huge, by playing the wind and hunting stands on correct days.

#3 I would have to disagree with your take on camo. I find it extremely important for bowhunters and especially for us that hunt from the ground. I hunt from the ground more and more every year because I found myself too locked intothe idea I needed to be in atreestand to be succesful. If I liked a spot, but there was no tree to hunt from, I didnt hunt it. Not anymore, I have more piles of brush made into ground blinds in the areas I hunt than I have treestand locations. When you are eye level with a deer, in a natural ground blind (no popups), camo is of the utmost importance. I've taken 3 PY bucks the last 3 years and 2 were from ground blinds made less than 12 hours before the shot. I need my camo.

Since most mature bucks are almost completely nocturnal around here I can't believe darkness handicaps them as it does me.

While they may see “best” at an intermediate light level, they still can tell what we are when its “dark”. There’s no doubt in my mind. Now, maybe they won’t “Spook” as they would when its light, but I believe that is because they feel safer that we don’t see them, not that they aren’t sure of what we are.

While we are on the topic….a red lens light will let you get away with things when it comes to deer and darkness. I learned this fox hunting & did some of my own experiments out in the field. As long as you aren’t making human noise, you can dang near walk right up to a deer if you keep your light in front of you and on them the entire time.