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Ah, hunting camp. The cabin rumbles with the snoring of a half dozen hunters, each dreaming of the bragging-rights buck that will walk past their respective stand in the morning and hang from the meat pole that night.
At 4:45 AM, the community alarm clock sounds and rouses the groggy hunters from their slumber. Within minutes, coffee brews, bacon sizzles in a massive cast iron pan and talk of antlers and backstraps fills the cabin. It’s a magic time.
And sometimes, I sleep right through it.
No, it isn’t because I stayed up too late the night before. Rather, it’s because of something I learned from an accomplished deer hunter and sometimes - when my hunting instincts dictate it - I follow his advice.
I encountered this hunter many years ago while hunting a large piece of public land in central Minnesota. I was coming out of the woods at about 11:00 AM after spending a long and fruitless morning on stand. The plan was to meet up with the crew, have some lunch and do a couple of drives before taking the evening stand. As I was coming out, this fellow was heading in.
He recognized me from the television show and we got to talking. As it turned out, he always began his deer hunting day around 11:00. “About the time most guys are calling it quits,” as he put it.
He had two reasons for this tactic. The first reason was deer-related. Deer generally have three periods of daylight activity. Two of them are morning and evening, as we all know. The third period of natural daytime movement occurs during midday, between 11:00 and 2:00. In a typical day in the life of a whitetail, unbothered by man or other predators, a bedded deer will routinely get up during midday to stretch and browse. During the whitetail rut (when many state’s firearms deer seasons occur), bucks take advantage of midday deer movement to hopefully intercept receptive does.
His second reason for midday hunting was man-related. Being on-stand when other hunters are “calling it quits” makes perfect sense. As these hunters walk out, they usually don’t attempt to sneak out the same way they snuck in. Instead, they walk out at a normal human pace. Believe me, deer recognize the sound of that crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch walking pattern and move to avoid it if they have to.
The savvy hunter can capitalize on forced deer movement by situating himself along an escape route or in thick “safety” destinations. When those deer get bumped in the afternoon, they can get bumped-off by the midday hunter.
“When you combine a deer’s natural afternoon movement with forced movement by exiting hunters, there’s no better time to be in the woods,” this veteran deer slayer told me.
Since our conversation, I’ve put his approach into practice with great results. Many of the whitetail bucks I’ve harvested following our chance meeting have fallen to my Browning A-Bolt between 11:00 and 2:00.
If you want to sleep in this season and give this tactic a whirl, you’ll want to religiously follow three requirements. First, pick a stand site that capitalizes on both natural and forced deer movement. Thick pinch-points in your hunting grounds are perfect areas. Bucks use them as travel corridors when cruising to check on doe groups during the rut. And all deer use them as escape routes when disturbed by hunters and other predators.
Second, approach your stand site with extreme stealth. Still-hunt your way in, taking a step or two and then stopping to survey the terrain. Try to sound like a deer or squirrel with your steps, especially if there are crisp leaves or crunchy snow under-foot. You don’t want to be one of those hunters who inadvertently spooks game upon your approach.
Finally, do everything in your power to control and contain human scent. I personally rely on Hunter’s Specialites scent-elimination products to outwit that wily whitetail nose. Naturally, you should practice good scent control on every big game hunt you take.
If that hunter I met all those years ago is reading this, then to you I say “thanks.” Because now, between 11:00 and 2:00 during deer season, I’m exactly where I need to be: on stand.
Sleep well.
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