Ray,
You're doing it the hard way, the Texas Ranch huntin show I seen on TV the other day they were riden around in a crew cab Silvorado but you got to give them credit when they seen a buck worth shootin the shooter would leave the confines of the heated truck to take a rest off of a tree I love to hunt and know what hunting is but hate the thought of younguns watching some of these new huntin shows and thinking thats the way it's done and may miss out on the pleasure of actualy hunting.
(Nothing against Texas, just an example of what passes for hunting on film about anywere these guys have a camera.

I set up before first light

During gun season there's not a lot of reason to be in the stand before first light unless you are working the deer based on their patterns. I usually find the gun season comes right around the rut here in KY and the patterns the deer had just a few weeks prior don't apply and I usually haven't figured out the rut patterns yet.
So what I do is sleep in and wait until 8 or 8:30, eat a decent breakfast and have some coffee and then go get set up on the known escape routes. Between 9-11 AM all the Yahoos who got up before the crack of dawn and have been sitting on a stand freezing their butts off decide they need to move around and get warm. That VERY predictable human movement ALWAYS stirs the game up and I almost always see deer and more often than not manage to tag out.
Bow season is a very different beast. But during gun season and during the rut I see deer all day long. And if the deer are pressed hard they become completely nocturnal anyhow.
You guys keep getting up early....the earlier the better! Besides, I have to feed the horses and muck stalls before I go a'huntin...or Benny the horse begins pounding on his stall door.

[This message has been edited by Jeff S (edited 11-02-2001).]

Where I hunt elk most of my party gets up hours before light and treks to parts unknown before it is light enough to see.

The last two years I have taken it easy and timed it so I walked through decent hunting areas shortly after shooting light. Both times I dropped elk in areas other hunters had walked and rode horses through hours earlier in the dark.

Well...I will have to disagree with most of you, not because you are incorrect, but instead because I am a big chicken in bear country. Bears and moose can see much better than I can in the dark, and I am very cautious around bears. I don't want to get "too close" to one in the dark

Yes, I ride my ATV to my hunting spot in the morning darkness, and stay there until night fall. As some of you may know, by mid September (during moose season) it gets too dark to see by 10:00 PM. The earliest bull moose I have killed was around 7:00 AM, and the latest at 9:30 PM.

One option would be to sleep at a specific hunting spot, then hunt when one can see. Moving around in the dark spooks game, and a few hunters in Alaska have been killed when returning to the stand. A Dad killed his son that way a year or two ago.

On opening day of elk season I'd love to be out early before light but can't because I'm obliged by others in the hunting party (read ranch owners) to wait until daylight. We'd see a few elk but nothing for me to shoot.
On the third day I'm on my own. I get up early, pack a couple of flashlights, and head for my special spot. This year almost gave me a coronary when, as daylight broke, I saw elk everywhere around me. I counted 12 bulls within a 600 yard radius.All were headed from the open fields into the trees. Some were already there. Within a matter of a few minutes they would all vanish into the forest.
In the bitter cold I got so excited I fogged up all my optics trying to decide which bull was the one. I sure could have used a spotter that morning.
Finally a nice little 5x5 popped his head up 75 yards in front of me. He was to be the one. All the practice with my "super duper" 30 cal. magnum long range rig finally paid off.
This scenario has been similar - though not quite as spectacular - for the last 3 years. I just kiss off the first 2 days knowing the early start on the third gets me my bull.
For deer and pigs I also start early. For antelope, I sleep in, eat breakfast out, then leisurely head for the hunting area.
But nothing beats observing the breaking of day while sitting on a mountain on a cold morning. It's almost magic!

[This message has been edited by Herb D (edited 11-05-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Herb D (edited 11-05-2001).]

This seems to pre suppose that you have a particular place to be ie a high seat. I used to get there in the darkness but found that I was bumping to many deer. Now I'll go to a seat in darkness if it's on the edge of the area so I don't disturb anything getting there. Mostly I stalk in the morning though.

I always try to be at my blind before first light. As others have said I think it's the most productive time to hunt (deer).

Shawn

I've tried both ways and I've filled my fair share of white tail tags. In the process I have made the following observations.

1. Stumbling to a specific spot in the woods in the pitch black using a big flashlight, makes the typical hunter about as obvious as a turd in a punch bowl.

2. Most of the deer I have seen / taken have appeared after 0800hrs. (this may be attributed to where I hunt ie. beading area Vs feeding area)

3. Scouting the terain and identifying natural funnels, food / water sources, traveling routs, etc. play a much bigger part in hunting success than what time your alarm goes off.

Elk hunting, I roll out of the tent as it becomes just light enough not to break my neck on something. But then again, my hunting partner darn near got run over by a bedded bull 200 yards from camp 2 years ago --- we don't have to GO anywhere to be hunting, we just have to have our eyes open. FWIW, Dutch.

Man, I hope I never get so old that I loose my night vision and sense of direction

Flashlights?

You bunch of scare-d-cats!

It is not so much being afraid of the dark, I wholeheartedly recommend them to everyone mainly so you aren't mistaken for an animal! Especially in that twilight time when you have evreyone itching either to be the first one or else getting desperate because it is getting dark.

Here is something else I do- I even use different flashlights! In the morning I use a 2AA flashlight since I'm going into gradually lightening skies, and in the evening I'll carry either a 2C light or I have a 4AA light that is a little flatter so easier to keep in my pocket. In the evening I think I would carry a $1 cheapie 2D flashlight before a 2AA maglite.

I always get to my stand before day break. Point of fact the area I hunt has quality deer concentrations, should I get to my stand a little late I still get my buck. I have taken more deer between ten and three than any other time of day. So getting to the stand before day break has little effect on my success rate. always pack a light lunch to take with you along with your favorite liquid refresment.
Game animals are driven by instinct and empty bellies not a clock on the nite stand. Why race into the woods before day break when you can't see to shoot anyway. it is more important understanding the game animals habits and routes of travel and those ever present wind carrying human scent all through the area your hunting than how early you get to your early morning stand. Many hunters scare the game out of the area by taking the wrong route to their stand.
More game animals are moved to hunters by those hunters leaving their stands to get a lunch break, or they just can't sit for more than four hours at a time.
Getting into the hunting area before first light means nothing if done wrong. You may as well have slept in because you won't see any game because of that mistake.
Being in your stand before first light can only work to your advantage if done properly, when done wrong your wasting your valuable hunting time.
There are 168 hours in a weeks hunt, only 56 hours are spent in the field hunting during that entire week. What is done during the other 112 hours determine how successful the hunter will be.

Aquavit: You will.

In by flashlight out by flashlight.