How early do you aggravate yourself out of bed?

Y

yankytrash

New member
Well, here it is 3:15AM and the huntin day doesn't start until 6:45.

I rolled around and tossed and turned in the bed until I finally got POed at myself for being awake too early. Got up and started brewin the coffee for the thermos.

I'll probably get in the woods around 4-4:30 so I can slowly staulk up to the place where I know I got a small herd of deer sleepin. I'll wait about about 100yds out for them to come in.

But that's still too early. I hope I don't fall asleep against a tree waiting for 6:45.

Needless to say, this is the first day of deer season I've been able to take a full day off of work for. I already got my buck and doe, but I'd sure like big 12-point for my first full weekday hunt. It's got me as antsy as the first day.

Pretty pointless post, really. Just killin time like a kid that wakes up to early for Christmas.:p
 
Sometimes I've got an hour drive to even get to the place I'll be hunting. Then 04:00 is just about the right time to leave!

Have fun.
 
I've had my best luck either walking during the middle of the day, or sitting in a stand from just before sundown.

Ergo, to wit and therefore, I sleep in. The Good Lord invented mornings so I could stay in my sleeping bag and listen to others gripe about how early it is.

:D, Art
 
I always make BIG plans for getting out of bed about 5:00, to be waiting to ambush 'em by sunup. I actually follow these plans about once outta 3 times, as Art knows. Less, if Art or someone like him's up and making coffee and good conversation. I find myself often getting up in time to go out when I said I would, and then enjoying the companionship of a pot of coffee. Sun gets a little higher, we'll see what we can see.

That said, about 1/3 or better of the deer that I've seen within good shootable distance were seen within an hour of sunup. That's really a pretty good arguement to get outta bed earlier, if you're really serious about getting a deer. This is especially so if you have a draw for them; i.e., a watering hole they like to come to, a food source they like to visit, or the like. Early morning ambushes can be quite successful, and I guess about half the deer I've shot were hit at early morning. Beats hell out of popping one at the last second of legal hunting light and then trying to find a blood trail or tracks after dark.

[story mode]One morning, the last day of a hard-hunted deer season years ago, I got out early, to find a small group of deer off in a field. This was at dawn's earliest light, and I began belly-crawling into the open field. I crawled until I'd reduced the distance from about 1/4 mile to 300 yards (yes, I know that's only 140 yds, but I'm being dramatic, here!). The deer, getting skittish, began to leave the field to my right. All but a nice older buck. Finally, he too began walking toward the edge of the field, demarcated by a fence and medium-thick mesquite brush beyond it. From prone, I shot the old boy from a stepped-off 300 yards. Well, I was a little inexperienced back then, and didn't account for the fact that Mr. Bucky was moving along at a rate of a few knots when I touched off that 100g .257 Sierra spitzer at a measley 2800fps. So I hit a leeeetle bit further back than I intended; say, the back edge of the near lung and a solid liver hit. The shot felt good, but he ran off to my right, jumped the fence, and disappeared in the brush without seeming to much notice it. I gathered up my friends, and we went into that brush for a mile. We looked and looked and looked. Not a sign! We finally came back, walked the fence, and found a set of tracks crossing the fence MUCH closer to me than I had thought. We found him about 50 yds into the brush, curled up under a mesquite tree. I had had no clue he would run toward me.[/story mode]

The point of the above hunting story is that I might never have found that fine big buck if I had shot him that evening. We three hunters found him after about an hour or more of looking in the daylight, and nearly missed finding him. Looking at night is, well, aweful. Good argument for morning hunts. ;)

Well, I've rambled, and my coffee cup is empty.

Good huntin', y'all.

L.P.
 
Out west here, I don't stand hunt like I did back east. So, I try to be at the highest elevation I can by sun up so that I can observe as much country as possible. I then hunt downhill for the first half of the day. I plan where I want to be in the morning during the evening hunt the night before. I almost always wake up in the middle of the night, and am where I want to be long before day break sitting there freezing my butt off especially after climbing up there and getting my shirt soaked with sweat. I sit there wondering why I didn't eat anything or drink coffee or something before I left, to kill time, instead of sitting here in the dark.
Last year I was walking to where I wanted to be when I came face to face with a mule deer buck. I am too paranoid to use a light. I just follow the GPS, the whole time worrying about posibly running into a mountain lion. So this of course scared he crap out of me. We were so close that I leveled my rifle instintively and made something like a bayonet thrust to back him up. He couldn't tell what I was and he grunted and snorted for about a 1/2 hour before he decided to just circle around to the downwind side. Of course just about the time he spooked, it was getting light enough for me to see but it was too late for a shot. It was probably for the better though. About two or three rises over I nailed a very nice 4x4 buck (that is an 8 point for you guys back that way).
Last year I hunted for almost a month and a half out of a tent in three different states. Every morning the same thing. Never learn. And I guess the excitment never goes away.
 
For deer? Usually about 8:30 or nine, then a leisurely brunch and some early afternoon TV football, trying to get in the woods by 3 PM.

It is too foggy in the Deep South in winter to risk driving in the predawn hours.
 
i always get up at 5:30. Whether it is the opening day or the last day. I feel that I increase my chances if i wake up earlier and are ready for my day ahead. If I wake up to late then i not have the energy to get up and get dressed and wake myself to my spot.
 
Let's see I work evenings And for the last three days I've shot my limit and twice as many shells (yes My name is Evan and I'm a skybuster) for ducks. I don't even know If I still have a bed yet here I am telling you about it.

Need Sleep:o
 
Evan, I hear you. When I am working it is all about sleep deprivation. It gets worse with every shift. I go back to work tomorrow. Get up at 0415. I won't get enough sleep tonight because I am well rested and can't go to sleep early enough. That starts the cycle. I won't get more than a couple hours sleep a night/day for the next nine days.

Get some sleep buddy. It's good for you.
 
About 10AM I'll roll out of the bag. What the heck though, sept, we still have about 13+hours of sunlight (give or take). Besides I wake up every day to work at 3AM, When I hunt I'm on vacation and I'm sleeping in a little.:D
 
I'm still young and excitable so every day from opener to close, I am sitting on something cold an hour before you can see your hand in front of your face. Usually around 5:15 It can't hurt my chances of filing my tag.

Last year I took the only buck anywhere in the area because I was willing to c.r.a.w.l. 300 yds into the middle of a farm field at an obscenely early hour. It was -15 F and the wind was gusting up to 30mph. The windchill was astronomical. But by god my windburned heiny was dragging a decent buck back to the truck about the time the sun was breaking the horizon.

Memories like that, and Christmas Morning syndrome, have me up at 3:30-3:45. When I'm o.l.d. I'll nap 'til noon. :)

-Tol
 
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