How important is first light...?

[dana]

Joshbazz

My best advice for WT is get in the bush and away from large openings and cuts. A lot of WT don’t even come out in theses areas or only do so in the dark

My best results are in thick bush where you are lucky if you’re shooting lanes reach 50yards max. Everyone always thinks I can see and shoot x distance so the try to use it to their advantage but often the WT are cruzing the bush in daylight hrs.

Odds are with you seeing lots of sign the WT were there but 50-300 yards in the trees where you could not see them

Sound advice! The same rings true with muleys. Night time feeding in openings is very common in the late season with all movement in the daylight in the timber.

[joshbazz]

Joshbazz

My best advice for WT is get in the bush and away from large openings and cuts. A lot of WT don’t even come out in theses areas or only do so in the dark

My best results are in thick bush where you are lucky if you’re shooting lanes reach 50yards max. Everyone always thinks I can see and shoot x distance so the try to use it to their advantage but often the WT are cruzing the bush in daylight hrs.

Odds are with you seeing lots of sign the WT were there but 50-300 yards in the trees where you could not see them

OK, that make's a lot of sense there...

Sound advice! The same rings true with muleys. Night time feeding in openings is very common in the late season with all movement in the daylight in the timber.

Good to know about Muley's too. My sister lives's in Agassiz and I was going to try to get a few days to stay there and hunt north of the Provincial park for MD... Looks like a little elevation and woods surrounding some cutblocks...

[Wild one]

OK, that make's a lot of sense there...



Good to know about Muley's too. My sister lives's in Agassiz and I was going to try to get a few days to stay there and hunt north of the Provincial park for MD... Looks like a little elevation and woods surrounding some cutblocks...

Agassiz is blacktail and they are even more nocturnal bush deer

[joshbazz]

Agassiz is blacktail and they are even more nocturnal bush deer

Right, my mistake - I just only recently read the differences.

Does that mean they will usually be bedded in the woods during the day?

[Wild one]

Right, my mistake - I just only recently read the differences.

Does that mean they will usually be bedded in the woods during the day?

Everywhere is different but in general BT stay out of the open in daylight hours in high traffic areas. I also know of places BT will sit in the open feeding mid day

Something I figured out long ago is every pocket I hunt is different and there is no magic rules on what deer will do. You really need to spend time hunting/scouting an area to know the habits of the deer in the area it’s the only way to know

BT are tough do to the terrain/bush, human traffic in the area, lower numbers, and they are skiddish

[Darksith]

I think there is a midday shuffle as I call it. The deer feed in the mornings, then they bed down and process their breakfast, then they eventually get up and move, then they go inactive again for a while and up again at last light. Weather conditions, moon cycle, hunter/predator pressure, rut all affect this, but I do seem to catch a lot of deer moving around noon in the fall. It is more around 1:30 earlier in the fall/late summer. But ya first light...it depends how you hunt but the deer are getting up and moving in the morning.

[Jelvis]

A. Under the Ministry's rules you have 30 minutes b4 sunrise and 30 minutes after sunset to legally shoot a deer anything else is closed to firing at a deer.
B. Check the official time of sunrise and sunset on the weather channel -->
C. If your going out hunting deer in the morning then go out from your home driving to your spots in the dark and by the time you get to a shooting area it's light enuff

Jelly -- Bean -------> You and your hunting buddy or on your own you start driving out from home in the dark and get into the bush when it's light enuff to shoot. -->

[okas]

I usually have more luck mid day. Like after 10:30

I had a camp set up in 2015 lots of hunters around mostly driving around first light and just before dark . So we started at around noon and all on ground around 2 in the afternoon . as just less traffic and they felt safe

[whitlers]

A. Under the Ministry's rules you have 30 minutes b4 sunrise and 30 minutes after sunset to legally shoot a deer anything else is closed to firing at a deer.
B. Check the official time of sunrise and sunset on the weather channel -->
C. If your going out hunting deer in the morning then go out from your home driving to your spots in the dark and by the time you get to a shooting area it's light enuff

Jelly -- Bean -------> You and your hunting buddy or on your own you start driving out from home in the dark and get into the bush when it's light enuff to shoot. -->

It's one hour Jel. But still sound advice

[.264winmag]

A. Under the Ministry's rules you have 30 minutes b4 sunrise and 30 minutes after sunset to legally shoot a deer anything else is closed to firing at a deer.
B. Check the official time of sunrise and sunset on the weather channel -->
C. If your going out hunting deer in the morning then go out from your home driving to your spots in the dark and by the time you get to a shooting area it's light enuff

Jelly -- Bean -------> You and your hunting buddy or on your own you start driving out from home in the dark and get into the bush when it's light enuff to shoot. -->

Should read the regs again.