you could only be in the woods for an hour? I have to work till 4 and cant get into my stand till 430, but the problem is it gets dark by 530. I went out the last two days and didn't see any deer, i think it is because im going out to late and scaring them out of the area. my question is an i hurting my chances of seeing deer on the weekend when i can hunt all day by going in the wood late on weekdays?

yes i would. my quickest time of getting a deer was sitting 10-15 min. in a stand and along came 1 buck and 2 doe. 5 min. after seeing them i shot the buck which was 20 yds. from my stand and it only ran about 25yds. and dropped. maybe i got a little lucky-i don't really care-. point is if you want a deer then stay in the woods. anything is possible out there! you may want to consider a separate spot for the days you can only hunt an hour that way you won't overhunt/scent your main spot. goodluck to you!

Definitely! But what happens if you whack one in the last 5 minutes of your posting, or if your watching one work it's way to you........me I'd be late for work for sure!

The way jobs are hard to find, to no jobs, at all, I would do every thing I could to Please my job.
After all with no job, there would be no hunting at all.
You know, to pay the light bill, buy gas to go hunting, etc, etc, etc.
So I would do every thing to keep the job.
I used to get off work, and rush to my treestand, and have about 30 to 40 min hunting time also.
As long as you go scent free it should bo ok.

JMHO

Where I hunt, it would never work, the deer are up on their feet and moving towards the field a good 2 1/2 hours before dark.

I've do just what you are talking about when I can. Get off at 4pm and get to stand by 4:30pm. Don't know how many times a buck has stepped out 5 minutes before dark. Not all shooters but a few have been.

It really depends on if you think you can get to your stand without spooking the deer away. I am lucky enough that I can hunt only 15 minutes from the house, and as a rule the deer dont come out until dusk. If I have only 1/2 hr to hunt, I will try to be there in the right conditions. If you dont go out at all, you never know.
At the same time, I am very careful never to knowingly allow deer see me enter or leave the tree stand, because (whether actual or not) I believe once I am spotted, my stand is toast with the deer being more alert to my possible presence.

Yes, keep it up. Sure, it diminishes your chances but it doesn't kill them altogether. Take extra care to be quiet when entering the woods and its better than not going at all.

thanks guys my only concern is that the deer bed in the laurel right behind my stand and i have spoked them out when climbing up the tree. Now im thinking it might be best to just bring a 5g bucket and stay on the ground?

I do it all the time. ALL of the deer I've seen this year have been at dusk. My trail cam picks up NOTHING from 2 am to 445 PM.