Morning stand spots

[catman71]

what can you suggest for morning stand spots. I have the evening spots pegged well. but I rarely see a deer in the A.M. and many times I jump a deer on my way out to the stand in the morning.

What do you all do? (especially where there is WAY more cover than food)

[DeanoB]

get set up EARLY in a funnel leading to bedding areas. I try to get to my stand at least 1 hour before shooting light, so 1 1/2 hours before sunrise. (thats about 5:30 right now) travel routes are great like corners (as in fencelines,) narrow areas in the woods, ridgetops, intersections of land (crop & woods, crp & crop or woods etc) where i hunt in the AM, is a great funnel, the deer are coming through to go bed down, after a long night of partying out in the fields. good luck

[bigbucks]

My two GO TO morning stands are both double trunked white oak trees at the top of a ridge that plateaus out to a meadow. Same property but on completely opposite sides of a large swamp. The oaks are on the very edge of the meadow/old field in each case. They are both in the middle of the field edges not in the corners. They are both major travel routes within a few hundred yards of bedding areas. One has been a big acorn producer in the past, one has not.

Those two stands have accounted for 25-30 deer in the last ten years between two hunters, 10-12 by bow the rest by shotgun. Probably less than 10 of them have been killed in the evening. 4-5 out of one were killed on drives.

[TrophyEyes]

As the season gets later, and the weather worsens, I hit the East facing ridges and hill areas. Those deer tend to lay down over on those ridges to get that first sun and warm up in the morning. Be careful when you walk in, or if you can have a stand across from the ridge that you can reach with your gun/muzzleloader.

I have also had success, walking in just after shooting time has passed. Walk slowly and throw out a soft grunt from time to time. If you were jumping deer, it obviously means you are in the right area, and if your property does not allow you to get in and out of that area in the dark, then wait for light, sometimes you can see those deer that are "busting" you. Also maybe check your scent control if they are blowing out consistantly.

You also might want to hit the trails leading out of the "hot spot" and you can determine which area depending on the wind. We hunt some narley hill country and some of the area has over 50 deer in it, but we can't get in there and a drive is not effective due to the terrain, so we hit the trails in and out depending on the wind.