I like to be set upand inmy climber waiting a good half hour before light. Just this morning as I was walking back around 10:30 a warden drives up on the service lane after he sees me crossing a field to it and one of the first things he says is "your out a little early this morning". I don't know if he drove into the parking lot of the public hunting grounds after I left or how he knew. I says "yup, it takes a while to set up my climber and I like to watch the woods wake up". Then he went on with chit chat. The conversation ended at out a little early because he noticed that my bow was in a case. Here we can't have a bow uncased any earlier than 30 minutes before season. I had my wife make a light weight fabric case just for the purpose of staying within the law.
I love watching the area come to life at dawn and don't want to have it still settling down from my intrusion.
Happy Hunting
Dan

If I hunt in morning 30mins before light.. If I go in the Afternoon I hit the woods around 3pm.. If I go all day I never leave the stand.. I'm in it from dark to dark..

I think everyone leaving the woods for lunch might stir up the deer and get them moving cause they are trying to void people leaving the woods and or coming back in.. I also have noticed some active around that time of day.. Probably what it is if you hunt places others do..

Here you would have a lot of diffuclty finding others in the big woods if you choose to hunt by yourself. So, with that said I think deer like to move a little bit for a mid day snack and stay out of the open fields for it when hunting season starts. I know here it is not because other hunters are getting them to move.

I like to be all setup and quiet a good half hour BEFORE shooting opens 30 mins before sun-up. That way, the creatures have forgotten I'm there and everything is back to normal by the time it's deer-thirty. Works great. Most of the deer I've seen have been within the first hour of shooting light.

With the hike I take and the time it takes to make sure my hang-on is well-hung, I have to park 1.5 hours before sunrise.

Public hunting grounds thathold dailylotteries to determine hunting area preference really piss me off because there is no way to be in a good spot early enough when they start the drawings so late. [:@]