How many hunt till dark? If not what time do you quit?
I hunt until I cannot see detail any longer...if there are animals nearby I will wait until they depart before leaving my stand area. Our legal hunting time ends 1 hour AFTER sunset but usually it is too dark inside the woods 20 minutes after sunset. On a large field with bright cloudless sky maybe 30-40 minutes with naked eye.
I stay until absolute dark usually...but when I cant see well enough to pick a spot the arrow goes back in quiver and bow is hung on limb until I leave.
Here in MD the DNR sets hunting hours from one half hour before sunrise to one half hour after sunset. 30 min after the sunset for that day would be the absolute latest for me.....sometimes earlier depending on how well I can see to shoot.
Do a search.....lots of threads on this subject. As with most things YRMV.
I am getting too old to be bumbling around in the dark trying to follow a blood trail...leaving an animal overnight with the number of coyotes we have around here just would not make sense...I am not a subsistence hunter and will live quite nicely even with tag soup...I go fishing about 2 hours before dark
DDave
When I can no longer see well enough to pick an exact spot on a critter, I head home. In dark timber that time is often before legal sunset, so I can hunt another spot on a field edge until the end of legal shooting hours.
Got trapped in the stand last night by a big mouth doe who just wouldn't give up blowing, stomping and creating a ruckus around me. So I got down anyway, I was hungry. According to my tables quitting time was 7:02 which was when I wanted to get out but had to stay 10 minutes longer thanks to Ms.Big Mouth.
CT deer hunting, any weapon, is one half hour before sunrise until SUNSET. But we can shoot small game until half hour after sunset, any weapon.
Half hour befor and half hour after sun here too. In thick swamps usually I can't see before legal light ends.
I stay until legal light is over or I can't see anymore.
Yes I always hunt until well after dark. Legal shootings hours which is 30 min after dark plus a little just so I don't bump deer.
At my age, I like hunting banker's hours...9-5, and with a 2 hour lunch. :D
Yes. I hunt withiin legal times. Which in Ohio generally means until dark. I have killed deer 3 min before end of legal hunting that I had no clue were headed my way 10min before legal end.
Often in early season I quit early because of lack of light though. Hard to shoot them if you can't see them. Once leaves fall and snow flies its a totally different scenario
I hunt until I know that I cannot see the individual limbs on the trees around my stand..... We have a point restriction in MO.
I did make the mistake of calling it too early a couple years ago and lowered my bow down just to have a hot doe bring in a REALLY nice buck come in right under my stand.... :banghead: Hoping they didn't step on my bow!
All I could do was watch them until some cows came in and spooked them. Now I wait an extra 10 minutes, just so that doesn't happen again!
Last Monday evening, a smallish eight pointer came by me. He was on the wrong side for a shot and behind and down the ravine from me, eighteen yards. He passed by some brush and I could barely see him, when he was 10 feet behind me he smelt me and bolted. It was 7:05 PM, I supposedly had 20 minutes of legal shooting time left. All situations are different. I have one rule for shooting light that I never break, if you cannot see the hit, you cannot take the shot. The second rule is about the same, if you cannot see the twigs and stems you need to shoot through, you cannot take the shot.
If we aren't seeing elk, my wife is ready to be at camp by dark, if we are seeing elk, I have to practically drag her off the mountain when it gets to dark for me to shoot, and it gets to dark for her to shoot well before me, my night vision is pretty good.
Hunt till legal sunset,sit till dark
We are 30 minutes after sun down. I can tell you that buck I shot last Saturday was 25 minutes after sun down and I could barely pick a spot on him. BILL
Even though I know that the longer I can hunt, the better my odds are of getting a shot, sometimes I will quit early. Like this evening I will probably head home early because of having to work early tomorrow. Beau
ok here is the deal. 30 before sunrise to 30 after sun set. During that time you are a HUNTER out side those times you are a POACHER!
I will stay in my tree until very dark so as not to run off any deer that may come in earlier the next night.
I usually hunt till dark, or about when I cannot see small branches and twigs anymore. I believe I owe more to the deer then to be selfish and wound one for an extra couples minutes to try and shoot.
I hunt the legal time set by WV DNR, but try to sit until I am sure I am not going to bump any critters.
Tom
I usually head out before dark and hunt my way out, especially when I'm in a bear area. Same thing going in for morning sits. I step out of the woods at dark, I rarely ever have to use a flashlight.
I shot at a doe well into the evening one time and luckily missed clean when I deflected off unseen branches. Won't happen again. When it's that dark you can't shoot accurately anyway. Way too much can go wrong and it's not worth it.
Coming down out of a tree in the pitch dark is not all that wise either.
Half hour after official sunset and I'm climbing down UNLESS there are deer around my tree that would catch me moving. If that happens (rarely) I quiver the arrow, pack up, and quit hunting.
I strongly believe in knowing the legal shooting times for each day. The time changes about 1 minute/day.
There have been times when cloudy and no moon that I couldn't see to pick a spot 30 minutes after sundown. I come down then.
I hunt mornings mostly . Will hunt maybe 4-5 evenings in our season . Just don't like the fact that it is getting darker every second you wait on a deer . Plus I hardly ever see bucks in evening .
QuoteGot trapped in the stand last night by a big mouth doe who just wouldn't give up blowing, stomping and creating a ruckus around me. So I got down anyway, I was hungry. According to my tables quitting time was 7:02 which was when I wanted to get out but had to stay 10 minutes longer thanks to Ms.Big Mouth.
Interesting, if the doe was still there even if blowing she was not convinced you were a threat and didn't know exactly where you were I think. By you getting down she now knows and is going to tell all her friends.
:laughing: :laughing: :laughing:
A lot of concern about legal hunting time I just didn't get that in the question.
I hunt according to the time of year and what stand sight I have decided to hunt for that day. I have stands that you have to be in at first light settled in and quiet, usually a half hour before light but some days a little earlier. I have never considered myself a poacher for that, I love listening to the woods in the dark and watching the world come to life again, but that must be against the law I guess, I didn't know that.
During the rut I sometimes walk in at first light, if I'm hunting all day and know deer travel through an area all day. I like to get in between bedding areas and food plots like a lot of guys. What is the difference in still hunting in the morning or in the middle of the afternoon when you get bored? If you are using the wind correctly and still hunting correctly sneaking into your stand could be a good thing at daybreak. There are so many different times to be on stand or getting to a stand. A lot depends on the deer and what time of year it is.
:dunno:
Hunt as many hours as I can, when I can. Afternoon hunts are always until I can't see which is before legal shooting hours ends.
I have more luck in the evenings than mornings. I stay until I can't see to shot a deer right under me. Have kilt a number of deer right at dark
I killed my best one yet by the light of the moon at about 11pm. On a full moon I like to stay a little longer on stand. It gets dark for a while but when the moon rises you can see pretty well if you have clear skies. Our equipment is well suited to night hunting what with no sights and all...
(http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa194/togo1987/Cujo005.jpg) (http://s202.photobucket.com/user/togo1987/media/Cujo005.jpg.html)
Had you going for a minute didn't I?
My favorite time of day to hunt is about 4pm until dark. I have seen and gotten close to far more critters in the afternoon and evening than on any morning. So yup, I hunt until 30 min after dark.
I stick it out the 30 minutes after sun set OR until I can no longer see because of not enough light. Last night I called it early thanks to a sow and cubs.
If one wants to hunt the full 30 minutes after sunset, it is easier if you are in a nice bright open area like a hill top corn field. The 30 minutes after thing does not work so well in deeper ravines with lots of dark cedars. What makes me nervous is that right now we have the early season muzzle boys in with us and one of those is convinced that everything that moves is a huge buck. I don't make a move in low light with out shining my flash light around first.
I used to hunt till pitch black. Not any more!! Only time I hunt till dark is on fri or sat evenings... The reason
I hunt after work. And getting a deer at dusk is a PITA! You got work next day. You have to find it, get it out. And then I do my own deer so it's a long long night. If it seems dead. I'm Outa there before dark. Packed up and walking out. I don't worry if I spook one or not. I didn't wan to shoot it anyways.
Tough thinking but that is how I do it now. To many nite time tracking jobs and long nights being worn out for work next morning. Plus I doubt I miss much anyhow. I figure good lord would have given me one if it was to be.
I always hunt until dark. I just always make sure I leave a flashlight in my coat pocket so I don't forget it and have to walk back to the truck in the dark.
What redshaft said for me too,
I generally don't hunt evenings, even though it is a great time for it. I just don't want to be in the position of possibly trying to track and handle a deer late into the night.
I hunt every minute of legal shooting time i have. Unless it's been a long day at work and I'm hungry or the wife is waiting on me for a little "honey on the biscuit" back at home. :biglaugh:
I'm with Redshaft... But out here its about the cold. Whitetail hunting is a November game in Montana (elk, antelope, and pheasants sort of chew up the early season)
Anyway, the temps regularly go from 30 something during the day to 0 after dark in November. Tracking and dressing and packing out deer in the single digit degree range late into the night is not a ton of fun. I must be getting old. :)
Heck, I'm usually half hypothermic by the time I leave the stand in the evening and sometimes GLAD I didn't drop the string.
Your in New Jersey Bucky...just as many bears as there are deer and I think this has you looking over your shoulder when your leaving the woods.
Prime time is that last 15-20 minutes before dark. Hang in there, then ease out quietly. Those bears are more afraid of you than you are of them...I hope... :eek:
One thing that can help if one is pushing the 30 minutes after sundown time limit. As an amatuer astronomer, I have learned that it takes a minimum of 15 minutes for human eyes to fully adopt to low light. Try avoiding looking at the sunset, you will be able to see into the shadows better. The evening that I lost sight of the 8 pointer, I remember it was a beautiful sunset with lots of bright clouds reflecting yellow, white and gold.
Agreed, Brock
Skipper those bears couldn't care less when I was there. Brazen and unafraid of humans. Unfortunately in NJ it is illegal to carry a pistol or bear spray for protection from bears. I do know of archery hunters who bring a couple blunts to whack the bears with to chase them away from their stands.
come on BUCKY!!!those jersey bears just need a hug!!HAHAHA!!!
Nope, Seldom hunt past 3pm.....
I've only "lost" 4 deer in my life, and all of them were shot in the evening.....
When bow hunting public land, during gun season,I sit until the beam from my flashlight is visible from a long ways off.
I hunt until I cant see , and when I get out of the woods there is usually enough light to see where I am walking .
I hate bears.
....but they love you!
BUCKY they are all over up here with the warm weather!
Thanks Mike,just what I wanted to hear.
BXBXBXBX[bear hugs!!]
I hunt more mornings than evening for various reasons but evenings can be the best times.
I usually hunt until I don't feel I can see well enough to pick the exact spot on the deer. When the leaves on the ground start losing detail, I know I am done.
I like it a lot better if someone else is close by to help me look or drag but I do go alone if I have to.
It depends on the location I am hunting. Washington is half hour before and after sunrise/sunset. If I am in thick stuff I leave when I can no longer see to get a good shot, if there are deer present I wait until they leave or it is DARK. If I'm hunting with snow on the ground and it is brighter I will stay later. I prefer to hunt evenings but will hunt the am hunt if deer are moving good.
I usually hunt until I can't see well enough to tell if the deer is legal or is really a doe (not a spike). After that, I tend to quietly get down and leave. Plus, I can generally see well enough to leave without using a flashlight that way.
Of course, I wear one (head lamp) for walking thru certain areas that might be "inhabited" (I hunt public) cause I don't want to get shot by someone who has better eyes than I do and stay in the tree much later (being clear. . I mean AFTER shooting time is over, I won't walk thru them during the last seconds of the day).
ChuckC
I don't know how regulations read in other states, but here we are required to leave the field at the end of legal shooting hours. Staying on stand after the end of shooting time is considered hunting. Makes sense to me because it is impossible to look at a hunter in a tree and determine whether or not he intends to shoot a deer.