Early season folk....

[iccyman001]

Lets use August 28- Sept 15th for this question.

Are you guys hunting the entire day?
Or Are you doing morning and evening hunts?
Does it change as the season progresses and gets deeper into your season?
What other factors dictate what you do?








I will be honest, for the first week to maybe even first ten days... I am hunting morning and evening.
When I say morning to evening that is official shooting hours to approx. 10 am. Then starting back up around 1500 til the end of official shooting hours.

In my area it just gets real warm during the day. I don\'t see much movement and I find no benefit to hunting it.
I also hunt a relatively decent area for entry and exit to my spots. So I have the ability to walk out, go to my camper, eat, relax and go back out.
This has been my routine for the past few years and I plan to keep it again next year.

Now as the season gets in the last few days, I am planning on staying out a little longer.
Two reasons, I am really trying to make something happen, and the rut is picking up. To me this means bulls are out pushing, chasing, searching and on the prowl more.

 

[Deertick]

My \"current\" plan (it may change, which wasn\'t in the plans) is to hunt the first week of September in a NEW spot. I\'ll be up at night a lot, hoping to locate elk. Thus ... I will sleep at mid-day. It depends, though ... a game-day decision might be to hunt water if it\'s hot and dry, and I\'m seeing good, fresh sign.

The existential thing about elk hunting is that it teaches: \"Make a plan. Then adapt.\"

\"Everybody\'s got a plan until they take a punch\", as whatshisname the boxer said.

My plan is to be ready for the punch this year.

Back to your point: I, too, plan on \"early and late\" as a base from which to adjust if needed. I\'ll use mid-day to travel and try to find concentrations of elk, and/or eat food and take a nap.

 

[cnelk]

Mornings and evenings for me.

Here is why.
Early season days are LONG!
Up at 3-4am and shooting light about 6am.
Sunset is 830pm or so and depending on where I am, supper can be at 10pm

That mid-day siesta sure feels mighty fine!

Plus, the thermals switch about 10am and they swirl most of the day

This has working well for me

 

[cohunter14]

Mornings and evenings for me.

Here is why.
Early season days are LONG!
Up at 3-4am and shooting light about 6am.
Sunset is 830pm or so and depending on where I am, supper can be at 10pm

I was thinking the same thing. Even with first rifle season, I typically come back to camp most days for lunch and a nap. I\'ve tried to hunt all day throughout a week of hunting and it\'s rough! A mid-day nap makes a lot of difference for me and helps keep me fresh.

 

[sn.outdoors]

You know me well enough to know I never stop. My breaks are when I walk slower, when I see an animal, or when I\'m sleeping.
Yes my odds are better morning or evening, but my odds are still better than 0% midday. Unless I have other obligations, family, fishing, or other game, I\'m going to be hunting all day.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[Zpd307]

I have always hunted all day. with a nap usually tried during the afternoon...

 

[Bowfreak]

One thing that is hard to ingest is that 15 minutes with the right wind is better than 12 hours with swirling winds. A guy with very limited experience like myself often has trouble understanding this. In their haste to be successful they end up blowing elk out of the country and would have been better off screwing around at camp. Also.....I don\'t know anyone that has been guilty of blowing elk out.

 

[bowhunter]

I am usually an all day hunter. If it is hot and the winds are not good I find a nice soft place in the shade for a nap. I don\'t have much problem catching some Zs :yawn:

 

[Guest]

Dan normally I\'d be morning and evening but this year I\'ll be morning and staying in the hills for lunch and after noon nap and just watching to going\'s on around me !! :upthumb:

As you know I\'ve found a couple really huge bulls last year and it\'s time for one of them to take a Wapiti Dirt Nap !!! The Reaper is on there trail !!!

I\'m going to wear of a jet boil on lunch meals !! :clap:

I won\'t be coming out of the hills until I have a quarter in my pack and a HUGE rack strapped to the pack !!! :thewave:

Trav

 

[ABQ_Chica]

While hunting alone, I find a shady spot to rest for a bit during the hottest part of the day. When treestand hunting with partners, we all usually go back to camp between 11 AM and 3 PM.

When I first started hunting early season elk, I hunted all day. Since then, I\'ve learned that taking a break allowed me to be sharper and more alert later in the evening when more animals are up and about. I also discovered that during hot, long, multi-day hunts, exhaustion (physical AND mental) was cumulative and got worse over time, even if I was in very good shape. Taking midday breaks completely reversed that pattern, for me at least.

 

[cnelk]

ABQ_Chica is spot on.

Most people are hunting for 5-7 days and go full steam all day everyday.
I have found that makes you make poor decisions, exhaustion builds and then you start stumbling or tripping over things where you typically wouldnt if you were fresh.

Elk arent on that 5-7 day timeline.
They could care less about that 1000 mile drive back home, the vacation days you are using or the fact that your elk hunt is once a year.

My elk encounters have gone thru the roof when I went to \'slow & steady\' mode, which includes mid-day breaks