Which do you like better. I like evening better,but like to watch the sun come up.

I prefer mornings... nothing in the world more frustrating than watching a deer and not having it come into range before the light goes at sunset.

Mornings are my preference

When I am out, usually I am out all day, which includes hunting them in the day. I prefer taking one in the morning so can I have the rest of the day for whatever. I am not fond of breaking down anything at night.

I prefer mornings, generally find them more productive. I also like having more daylight to deal with any tracking or dragging. This time of year though, anytime is a good time to be out there with all those horny buggers trolling around.

The bad part about mornings is getting out of a warm bed and driving off in the dark to your walk in the dark. When I hunt evenings I usually leave my spot before dead dark unless I’m close to my car. Tagged one on the way out a few years back that I wouldn't have seen if I’d stuck to my spot ‘til the bitter end.

Back when my hunting time was limited and I had to travel to where I hunted, I used to stick all day, though that seldom seemed to pay off. Half days are “just right” nowadays.

I enjoy both, but there is just something special about being in the woods when its dark, then hear everything start to wake up and move at first light. If your in the right spot it seems like the woods are coming alive. Especially when Bow hunting. You don't have the problem of a late shot just before dark, then dealing with a blood trail in the dark.

Same. Once I can't see to shoot, I get down, even if there's still a few minutes of legal time left. No sense spooking up stuff you can't see anyway. I generally sit about 3-4 hours in the morning, go home for a few hours to eat and tak a little nap, then go back out a few hours in the afternoon until dark.

I like mornings best, as I like watching everything come to life as the sun rises. I can't say one is more productive than the other though. I've killed quite a few big bucks in the middle of the day.

I hunt dawn to dark so no real difference to me.

I would say I tend to be a bit more "excited and on optimistic" in the late afternoon even tho I shoot most deer 10am-1400.

I do enjoy watching the woods come to like in the am tho.

Morning and midday. I don't hunt in the evenings for deer.

Morning man here get there before daylight hunt the mountain evening time hunt low in the fields both have been rewarding

As some posted ^ ^ ^
I sure don't like having to dress an animal
at night time, much less having to track
one if need be, transporting it, etc.

The ones I've killed right off the bat first
thing first day were never disappointing
for me even though some have told me
that it was a shame to kill one right away
and something "better " might have come
around later in the season

I prefer mornings because of the joy of watching God's creation wake up. Plus I've killed.more bucks in the AM - but 10:00 to 2:00 has been pretty good to me in PA because of the lunch crowd. I rarely go back to camp during the day......

Mornings when the woods come alive.

^^^This^^^

^^^^^^^ This ^^^^^^^

Evenings by a bunch

Just seem more productive.

Hell, Ive killed more deer in the afternoon than I have in the morning.

Yep me too uncle Johnny. 👊🏻

Evening

Yep, same here.😎

Doc_Holidude

I love watching the sun come up. But I prefer afternoon and evening hunts.

I have to hunt in the mornings. Can't remember the last evening hunt

Morning especially when bow hunting. I like to have light when tracking a shot deer.

Being Patriarch of camp, I maintain the log. Based on 20+ seasons of data:

Morning hunts are significantly more productive than afternoon hunts.
A preponderance of bucks are taken in the morning.
Doe dominate the afternoon hunts.
All of the biggest bucks have been taken before 0900 in the morning. The biggest was taken before 0700.

That's what the raw number say. However, there is a lot more going on. For instance, if somebody bags a deer in the morning, he's likely to take the afternoon off. After that, given that KY only allows one buck per year, he's likely to hunt his remaining doe tags in the afternoon, when it's warmer.

Another dynamic is that we generally like to use the hunting venues that are in the woods in the morning. This is for two reasons. First off, our deer tend to come out into open pastures more in the afternoon than the morning. Secondly, if we're going to drag a deer out of a ravine, it's better to hunt that venue in the AM, when we have all day to drag it out. Additionally, a deer taken in the afternoon needs to be dealt with quickly in order to get it to the processor before they close. It saves a lot of time if you can just run the truck up to the carcass and throw it in.

My personal tastes are that I like watching the sun come up. I also like walking out in broad daylight.

I like to hunt the woods in the morning and fields in the afternoon. If the woods are wet, the wind is blowing or creeks are running I'll hunt the woods in the afternoon. If I can hear myself walking that's negative that I can't overcome.

I prefer mornings, but don’t find them any more productive than evenings. Evenings tend to fit my schedule better, so I likely hunt evenings twice as much.

Morning hunts just have a different feel, the woods wake up and you get to hear critters moving about but I've had better luck hunting afternoons right before last legal hours.
I prefer morning hunts though.

For my area, I prefer evening hunts. I know where they tend to bed and where they like to move generally later in the afternoon. That said, we'll hunt both when we are out there.

it don't matter to me

Actually i'm kind of a mid day kind of hunter during the later deer season. I hunt mostly public land and kill the majority of my deer from 10-4. I firmly believe deer pattern us better than we do them.

Killed deer all hours of the day ...
Anytime you’re outside, there’s a chance to kill a buck

And conversely, if you're NOT outside, you chances diminish sharply?

I prefer mornings and they seem to have been most productive, but evenings are still good. I don’t mind tracking in the dark, but field dressing, etc… by a flashlight sucks. I’ve never killed a deer mid-day despite regular efforts to do so years ago. Pretty much stopped trying several years ago. I will get down and hike:scout mid day though.

All times.

Killed more bucks between 11:30 & 2 though.

Or having a big one walk by 10 minutes before you can see your sight pins.

Do you walk in before daylight in the AM??

My dad gets down when it is still somewhat light. Says he can't see to shoot. I tell him he can't see at 5:30 in the morning g either but he gets in his stand in the dark. I refuse to hunt the plot if he is hunting about 100 yards behind it. He is down and into the open while I can still see my pins.

I stay til pitch black, no need to tip deer off to your stand and where you come and go from. Plenty of deer can be 50-100yards away and just stand there watching a person climb down and walking along.

Growing up in PENN I always hunting early mornings and always enjoyed watching the sun come up in the woods. Being on your stand in the dark was kind of spooky sometimes. A raccoon climbing down a tree and jumping in the dry fall leaves sounds like a charging white rhino when your a kid

Early season, it's before dawn to midday, because I'm trying to get at a good deer that's still moving in the lower stuff. But a lot of guys hunt the lower stuff, so the deer get pushed up into the high crap, and move less in the daytime. Once the sign dries up in the lower stuff, I head up high, and will generally not worry so much about being somewhere at first shooting light, but will hunt until late afternoon. I don't evening hunt anymore. Bad experiences trying to get animals out in the dark after a full day of hunting. Can't do it anymore.

I like hunting in the morning best but I've killed more deer in the evening.

I like evening the best. It is not the most productive at times. Early afternoon seems to be for me.

It is so much fun waiting for them to show in the last few minutes of light.

I LOVE hearing and seeing the woods wake up. So morning for me. But mid day 10-2 has been my most productive by far.

I stay in the woods all day, I've taken more deer in the morning but the last several years evenings have been productive too. I used to come out of the woods for lunch and a nap, but now pack a lunch and have seen many deer moving during mid-day.

I have had equal success. I prefer cleaning deer in daylight and wish I could shoot in the.morning. The thing I like about PM hunts is the closer to the end of the hunt the better the odds. In the morning after 10 It seems like a waste of time.

I prefer being out in the morning and I prefer dealing with dead deer in the daylight. That said, I’ve probably killed as many big bucks evenings and midday as in the mornings. If I hunt late, until dark It’s always from an elevated stand where I only have close range opportunities and I generally use my .45-70 which tends to leave a very good blood trail

It depends on what’s happening.

I start the season with morning hunts and usually see enough game to keep me interested. But after a while, morning hunts quit producing and I switch to afternoon.

That happened this year. I passed easy shots on four different young bucks, while looking for something bigger.
I switched to afternoon and by 3:00 was seeing a number of deer starting to move. I killed a good buck an hour before dark.

Hunting pressure, weather and moon faze seem to be the factors that guide the deer movement.

+2

With a few exceptions, I've killed the majority of my better bucks between 10AM and 2pm.

If I’m getting some freezer pleasers….

Evening.

During the Rut i like mornings.

I’ve seen more bucks in the first half they day then evenings….

I’ll sit longer also.

Maybe til 11 or so.

Then gotta go to Bumpers and get a hamburger and onion rings.

If I don't have to work the following day then it's easy for me, evenings.
Not that I don't like morning hunts as well.

Anytime

I kill most of mine 10am - noon. Takes an hour to hike in. Hunt a few hours. Kill one. Hour to bone out. Hour or so back to truck. It gets dark at 430 now so you can’t do too much screwing around. I always like to leave a few hour buffer in case I get turned around or hurt.

I have no idea if I've killed more in the morning or afternoon. Probably about equal. I typically only hunt for 1 1/2 to 2 hours at a time. My problem is my work schedule Mon thru Sat morning. I'll scoot out of here early on Fridays around 2:00 and I can be in a stand by 3:00. Hunt for a couple of hours Sat. morning and then go to work late. Then I can go Sat night and Sun. morning. Got home stuff to do or deer to cut up in between.

The mornings are really nice, but I have to get my ass out of bed and go, even if it's raining or something. It is a lot less worrisome about tracking if need be. It's also a lot easier when gutting it in the daylight.

I refer to the last hour of daylight in the evening as "Happy Hour". The majority of my deer taken in the afternoon is during Happy Hour. Shot a small 8 point Saturday night at dark thirty. Luckily he went down right away. If it was a little lighter out, I might have let him walk because there are some bigger guys hanging around. It was a little hard to see what I had.

It depends what I am hunting. I should say what I hunted because I am now physically limited.

Elk......I prefer to hunt alone, still hunting and smelling animals before I see them. Use to walk up hill for about two hours in the dark to get on a north-south ridge where the wind came from the west. When shooting time came I would still hunt north on the east side just down from the crest. Blowing snow was my favorite time to get close to good bulls after smelling them. Several were taken under 40 yards.

Mule deer ......almost the same as hunting elk.

Whitetail........Last hour of legal shooting time.

I typically hunt evenings. I work too much

O typically like mornings better. But killed the better bucks in the midway 11-2.