Late season bowhunting?

Do most of you focus more on hunting the morning or evening's?

Our late season archery opens up the day after Christmas. For me I usually have a little more success in the evenings. Its just easier for me to target the deer heading to the food source. I have only ever been able to take a couple doe during this time of year but it can be a lot of fun!

We always shut down the week between Christmas and New Years at work and I love it. Tough hunting for sure but the rewards are worth it.

The most intense chase I've ever seen was 4 years ago on that week right smack dab in the middle of the day. 7 bucks franticaly trying to run down one of that years doe fawns and man where they gettin' after her. She ran them past me and one got an arrow that day.

Funny you bring this up, I have been talking to some hunting buddies about this here lately. From my encounters so far this year its been all about the evening hunt... Mornings are yielding a few deer and then its almost like the numbers double or triple in the evenings and mainly those sightings are in the destination food source.

Its a little early still to turn my main focus to evening hunts, but its getting closer to that time of the year.

Heres some thought... When do you all get to the stand on your "evening" hunts? I sat all day with my pops on the 27th and the morning yielding two young button bucks and at 0130ish the deer started popping in the main food source (cut corn). Never went more then 30 mintues without seeing deer in the field and at one time we had over 15 deer in the field... I say this because I know I use to try and be in the stand by 130-2 but now I am thinking 1230 or 1...

mid day to evenings around here....but if I am on vac it doesnt matter, I am going to be out and about

For me it's mid to early evenings, I try to position myself not to far from their bedding area which is a large cedar swamp.

Late season I pretty much go to afternoon mode. We start yote hunting in the mornings and I hate hunting mornings cause the deer are on food at night and it's hard to get in close to the feeding areas without busting them in the mornings.

That being said, the biggest deer I've ever had an encounter with came on Dec 31st a few years back. He too was chasing a doe that came in on her second cycle and that woodlot was full of bucks that day. If you can find a hot doe in the late season I don't think it matters what time of day it is, your in for the hunt of a lifetime!

Late season bow hunting can be very productive. If you hunt mornings, make sure you can get by the feeding area unnoticed, get on a funnel that is leading to a bedding area. Most of the action I see late season is early morning, hunt is usually over pretty quick. In the evening, I try to get right on top of the food source, but want to be in a spot where multiple deer will come in and not wind/see me.

If we get extreme cold weather, our standing bean plots get good late in the evenings. I'm already try to work up a stratigy for a late season bow hunt myself.

Our late season starts the day after Christmas ( unless its a sunday ) and I have always tried to be in a stand from 10:30 until 1 ish , then back out by 3. If I'm working I will get in the stand asap. My buddy and I used to get to the one farm by 4 am, we would get to our spot and watch deer until day break. Then by 8 am we were done cause all the deer would be back on the prison property !! The guys that showed up 30 minutes before light hardly ever saw a deer because it was just too noisy to walk in at that time !!

I tend to hunt only the evenings after about the second week of december. I just do not have any luck at all in the mornings. So i stay out and slip in about 1 or 2pm and usually hunt over a picked bean or corn field. I have seen some great rutting activity into late december out on these fields. but it is usually just one random night and never consistent.

Have to agree with you Nantzh- afternoon's have always been better for us- especially after the 2nd week of Nov

Got to love, afternoon sits on food plots for late season

Well, scratch me off the list for a late season bow hunt.

Finally got to scratch the 2 year bow tag itch tonight.

bowGal wrote: Do most of you focus more on hunting the morning or evening's?

Actually Barb my focus is when I get out. Due to work mornings are far fewer sits that mornings and it depends on the wind and the stands I am wanting to hunt. What I am saying it really does not matter. I like mornings better, but hunt it far less. Good discussion topic..