I think #3 gets a lot of people ! I hunt with guys who are getting off the stand at 9 A.M. to go make breakfast. I see a lot of deer between 9 A.M. and 11 A.M. I usually take a break ( If I am not doing an all day sit) at about 11 and return around 2 to 2:30 . Just to much opportunity being missed out on if I don't .

I agree a million percent. Unless I have responsibilities to our group back at camp then I always go out before daylite and stay till dark. Most of my good buck were killed middle of the day. No sarcasm at all when i say that i have learned that eating breakfast and lunch and football and naps etc are more important to some guys than killing a big buck--nothing wrong with that at all but its just not me. I can do those things in the offseason. Of course some of my favorite stands are an hour across the Ranch roads to get to, so thats a long drive just to eat a sandwich.

You couldn’t pay me to sit in a deer stand past 9AM. The only reason I’ll sit in one that long is because my youngest son loves to deer hunt. I’m not that mad at them. Killing a big buck doesn’t mean anything but meat to me anymore, but it is a lot of fun to see my boy get so fired up about it.
If my boys don’t go I’ll usually stay at camp and handle the cooking and the beer drinking.

A lot of times the deer don't seem to start moving until at least 9 am on my lease.
You hunt an area long enough you can gauge when it's time to leave the stand. If the deer are moving early and then things start to taper off, or you don't see anything early I usually sit a little past 9 am. and see if things start to pick up.
I guess what I'm saying is 9 am is a little too early to be throwing in the towel.