The hours surrounding sunrise and sunset are known as the golden hours for hunters. This is the time of day that the deer are most active and it doesn’t hurt that sunrises and sunsets make for beautiful views. If you want to maximize your time in the woods, try to hunt during the peak times. You may have to wake up before the sun does, but once you’ve wiped the sleep out of your eyes, you might spot the biggest deer of the season.

Creatures of the Night

Deer tend to sleep during the day, roughly between the hours of 12:00 pm and 4:00 pm. A night scope for AR15 will definitely come in handy during these hours. Deer are highly active during the hours just before dark. When they wake up between 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm, their first priority is food. They will venture out to the food source closest to their bedding area with reckless abandon. This is the prime time to catch the deer unaware because of their lowered defenses. Once they begin to eat, they become more alert to hunters’ presence. You’ll want to catch them when they are too focused on finding food to notice anything else. If you have one of our Feedbank Gravity Feeders on your property that you replenish consistently, chances are high that you’ve enticed the deer to make a bedding area somewhere in the vicinity. Check your cameras to be sure of when the deer are feeding, but it will most likely be in those pre-dawn, pre-dusk hours.

While deer are primarily nocturnal, hunting in the dead of night isn’t ideal for humans. You want to catch them in those transition times when they have just woken up or are about to go to sleep. If you prefer the morning shift to evenings, you can catch the deer on their way back to bed. Deer make the transition back to their bedding areas from roughly 6:00 am to 10:00 am. On their return trip they will be lethargic and sleepy, ready for bed. This is the opportune time to take your shot.

Know the Area

During rut, these rules are a little harder to follow because deer become active at all hours of the day. During the peak rut months specific to your region, it is harder to pinpoint an ideal time of day to hunt. The basic principles still apply, but they aren’t as concrete. It is also important to keep in mind the trends of your region. Deer are very in tune with nature and have a remarkable sense for when severe weather is due to hit. During the days prior to a severe storm, deer will feed more actively. If you live in a region that sees frequent storms in the fall, keep these patterns in mind as it might broaden the peak times or cause an influx of deer in one area.

Sunrise and sunset are the two windows of opportunity for hunters to have a successful trip. The prime deer activity hours actually coordinate beautifully with working hours since they are before and after a normal work day. You could get to the fields on a weekday if you wanted to. Imagine starting off an otherwise mundane Tuesday morning with a hunt. Follow the peak time guidelines this fall and make the most of your time while having fun doing it. Fill up your mug with coffee and watch a beautiful sunrise from up in the trees. What time have you discovered works best for you? Let us know in the comments!

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