HuntingNet.com Forums - Go in while it's dark, or just day break?

I hunt on public generally in the mornings and evenings. I have over the last several years found that going out early to be the best. Yes, I have heard deer stirring around that I could not see, but if you as quitely as possible and do not shine lights at them , and slowly those deer will generally come back. Your presence at that time did not pose any threat to them at that time. It also helps to make sure you are using scent elimantion and cover scents. I will give you one example of how succesful I have found this. I had walked out to my stand settled in and had sat there about an hour after shooting time started when a deer suddenly popped up in front of me. I shot that deer only to have another 20 pop up. They had all been bedded down right in front of me. I can also tell you a story about being out early, laying back waiting for shooting time and having a deer come up to in the pitch black and sniffing on me so close I could feel its breath. It stayed there until I finally had to move to try and see it. I simply coldn't wait any more. Never did see it. Latter tho I had 2 bucks come out of a slough that I over look and walk a stright line to my scents that I had setup. Head down sniffing... what a thrill! oh and believe it or not I had been using a 30-06 auto from my father-in-laws estate a remington. Well to finish the story, the round was not fully chambered so when I went to shoot after watching this deer walk about 300 yards straight to me...click is all I heard. Well of course they both took off, but they immediately circled right back to the scents. This time I was completly ready. Nice 8 point to end the story.