I have had more success over the course of my life in the evenings, but nothing beats the morning and watching the woods come to life. As far as the rut goes, if you want to take a trophy you have to put in stand hours so an all day hunt is a no-brainer and once it pays off you'll never do it any other way.

Every deer I've seen and killed have been during the evenings. But I love the morning hunts. Can't beat seeing the sunrise and the woods come alive on a clear, cool morning.

No question, the best time for me is when it's been raining all night and it stops just before sunrise. I would easily sit in the rain for an hour or more before sunrise to be in the woods on a morning like that.

IMO, having a smartphone or iPad to check local radar to know when the rain should break is as important a hunting tool as anything else, short of a gun and ammo.

I prefer to hunt evenings. I have shot the majority of my bucks and by far my best bucks early afternoon (2-330)

I also like it when I can sit late on mornings, till 11 or noon, always seem to see new deer then.

matt

Seems like everything is awake and moving early in the morning.

At my first lease the mornings were the most active. Didn't see as much activity in the evenings. On the current lease it looks like mornings and afternoon are even. Not much going on in the evening, but things can change. I will just have to sit at different times throughout the day and see what works best.

I have shot probably twice as many deer in mornings as evenings though some of my largest were shot within 30 minutes of dark, so I would say about even when all said and done.

N E Time!

+1

past experience I have killed all of my big bucks in the evening. But mid day is great too.

Evenings for sure, i always see more deer in the evening, but occasionally I'll see a couple does in the morning.

I just like the evening hunts best, and the feeling of the temperature dropping.