I know a lot of writers encourage folks to stay out all day.  I don’t.  A good reason is that I can come in. Deer Camp is less than a mile from my furthest stand, and I can usually call for a pickup and have a truck out in 15 minutes.  My routine is about the same throughout season. I try to be up in the stand a half-hour before legal hunting and I stay until 1030-1100, and then I’m back out in the afternoon with about 3 hours of hunting before end of legal hunting.

For the Rifle Opener in KY, that equates to:
Morning: 0615 to 1100 Afternoon: 1500 to 1755

My reasons for a 4-hour hiatus at midday are:

1) As the patriarch of deer camp, I have responsibilities.
2) Although I seldom hunted all day, I’m 58 now. It’s good to get in and give myself a break.
3) I change clothing, rifles, and gear, because I usually change venues from morning to afternoon.

What I can tell you from analysis of our log is that:

The 0800-0900 block sees the most deer killed, followed by the 0900-1000 hour. Third is the last hour of daylight. We have recorded only 7 kills between 1100 and 1700 in 15 years. Surprisingly, we’ve only recorded 4 kills before 0800 in that same time frame, but 3 of the 4 were our biggest bucks.

Another thing I can tell you is that my neighbors, voting with their rifles concur. During the peak activity there may be 3 shot-strings per minute. From 1100 to 1700 there are maybe 3 per hour. There just are not that many deer being taken.

If you’re planning your strategy for this year, one thing I would suggest is that you try to be the first in and the last out of the woods in the morning.  My reason for saying this is I have been in the same Opening Day stand for 12 seasons.  The neighbors, the Orange Army like to fire up their ATV’s well after I get in my stand.  That is also about the time I begin hearing deer moving in a big way off the neighboring property and onto mine.  Similarly, in the 9 O’Clock hour, they usually crank up their ATV’s and head back in.  I hear the same crashing through the forest as the deer run to get out of the way.  Make sure you the deer are running towards you and not away.

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