# What do you do during the middle (heat) of the day?



## bowhunt3r4l1f3 (Jan 12, 2011)

Thought this would be a fun topic, what's your mid-day hunting tactic?


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Go home, shower, watch some tv... nap, head back up in the evening.


-DallanC


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

Take a nap or go fishing until it is time to get back at it. I usually hunt too far away to go home and when I am out in the wilds I could care less about TV


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## Hoopermat (Dec 17, 2010)

Make lunch and glass


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## Bowhunter50 (Oct 14, 2014)

With archery Mule Deer sometimes I'll be making a stalk on a previously located buck. If I haven't located a buck I'll hike to another spot and glass and sometimes throw a nap in


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## neverdrawn (Jan 3, 2009)

I switch from hunting game to hunting a big shady tree under which I nap and reflect on how fortunate I am to be in the woods.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Critter said:


> Take a nap or go fishing until it is time to get back at it. I usually hunt too far away to go home and when I am out in the wilds I could care less about TV


Watching Open Range out in the middle of the bookcliffs during "down time" is an awesome use of free time.

-DallanC


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

Nothing worse than heading back to your stand in the afternoon, and looking at your trail camera photos of all the deer and elk from 11:00-4:00. I have shot a lot of animals during the heat of the day when everyone else has quit.


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## Springville Shooter (Oct 15, 2010)

It all depends on the hunt of course but I do like relaxing at camp. I tend to head back out early for the evening hunt as I've had way better luck early in the evening than I have late in the morning. I generally call it quits in the morning around 10:00 and like to be back hunting by 3:00. Last season, I had just gotten to my vantage point at a little after 3:00 and started to glass when I caught a buck moving and was able to make a play on him. I had all the meat packed out and hung in camp by 'prime time'.

When I'm on an early elk hunt or late deer hunt, I hunt hard from dawn to dusk.------SS


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## willfish4food (Jul 14, 2009)

I usually don't have a lot of days to hunt, so I try to make the best of what I have. I leave well before the sun is up and don't come back to camp till the sun is long since gone unless it's with a downed animal in tow. Makes for a long day, but since I don't have many in the woods, I prefer it that way. Also, I've seen a number of animals up and moving mid-day that I would have otherwise missed had I gone back to camp.


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## USMARINEhuntinfool (Sep 15, 2007)

I love a good nap on the mountain, few things are better than that in my opinion. I like to stay out in the woods for as much time as possible, naps included.


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## AF CYN (Mar 19, 2009)

I like to take a nap in the woods, and then sit on a watering hole until the evening hunt. The exception is LE hunts where bounteous game animals are available all day long for the taking.


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## 3arabians (Dec 9, 2014)

If I hunt close to home, I enjoy Dallan's midday strategy. If I am more than an hour from home nothing beats a nap. Especially on the opener when you haven't slept the night before. Usually I lose focus around 10 am and get back after it around 330 or so.

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## KineKilla (Jan 28, 2011)

I rarely get a nap in but usually get back to camp for some lunch, then back on it a couple hours before sunset.


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## 2full (Apr 8, 2010)

I usually hunt till 1030 or 11. Then head back for lunch and my nap. 
I like to head back out about 2 or 230 and hit the spots I know that they like to bed. 
Then come back and hang around the watering holes for the evening hunt.


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## TPrawitt91 (Sep 1, 2015)

I have to go back to camp for lunch. I'm very food driven, hence the hunting. But I don't stay long, an hour lunch break tops.


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## 30-06-hunter (Sep 22, 2013)

The spot I hunt the most is an hour plus hike in, so we pack a lunch and enough water to stay on the mountain all day, granola bars and sardines or jerky with a crisp apple are always in my pack. Sometimes it works out to get a short rest in, but I seldom sit long enough to fall asleep, most of the time I will just take something with a mild dose of caffeine in it and get back on the trail.


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## goosefreak (Aug 20, 2009)

For elk, I spot and stock through their beds in the thick timber during mid day.. its proven success


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

Wow! We have a lot of nappers on this forum. Ask my buddy about napping on the mountain and he will tell you he won't ever do that again. I woke him up with a shot from my 30-06, he saw my cow elk drop and his spike elk run off. It was probably better he was napping because one elk was an all day job with the packout.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

The best time to hunt is from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm when hunters are walking back and forth from camp spooking bedded deer and elk.

However, recent studies show that mule deer will not get out of their mid-day beds if approached by hunters thumbing their cell phones.

.


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

I don't know if Wyoming has cellphones yet(I don't think so), but here in Utah we have laws that say you can't "manipulate" your cellphone while hunting, but it is OK to talk on them. So, you won't have people "thumbing" their phone while hunting. Back to the mid-day nap.


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## Tall Tines (Apr 16, 2017)

BPturkeys said:


> I don't know if Wyoming has cellphones yet(I don't think so), but here in Utah we have laws that say you can't "manipulate" your cellphone while hunting, but it is OK to talk on them. So, you won't have people "thumbing" their phone while hunting. Back to the mid-day nap.


If that was the case, then zac Griffith would have been arrested years ago for such offense. Gosh **** his selfie obsession gets ridiculous during the hunts.

If I'm hunting pronghorn, I'll hunt all day. Elk, I usually glass in the morning, head to a good waterhole late morning and sit there until around 5. Then go glass some elk and try to stalk one. Deer, depends on the season and where I'm hunting. Usually I stay all day due to how remote some areas are that I hunt. It wears a guy down prettt fast hiking in and out of these places twice a day


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

*RUCRAZY?*



BPturkeys said:


> I don't know if Wyoming has cellphones yet(I don't think so), but here in Utah we have laws that say you can't "manipulate" your cellphone while hunting, but it is OK to talk on them. So, you won't have people "thumbing" their phone while hunting. Back to the mid-day nap.


Oh I didn't know Utah had that law and I'm glad everyone adheres to it. They should have that same law for operating a motor vehicle in Utah. I see hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Utahns using their cell phones while driving.

.


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## hazmat (Apr 23, 2009)

I enjoy two beers(only two) eat a burger then take a nap for 45 minutes when I head back to camp.
I usually get in far enough to where I just ride the day out and stay put on the mountain until late evening. And enjoy my two beer limit at the end of the day


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

wyogoob said:


> Oh I didn't know Utah had that law and I'm glad everyone adheres to it. They should have that same law for operating a motor vehicle in Utah. I see hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Utahns using their cell phones while driving.
> 
> .


I think BP's making a tongue in cheek joke about road hunters.

But technically modern cell phones are illegal in Utah while hunting. You cannot have any device on you that amplifies light.. ie: camera. Modern phones dont even have a IR filter on the sensor anymore, the software is so good at filtering it out... you can download camera apps now that dont filter IR light, giving you remarkable night vision imaging.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fingersoft.nightvisioncamera&hl=en

-DallanC


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

If your hunting with someone up on the mountain. It's fine to nap but try to have one person glassing while the other is napping and take turns. Deer and elk will get up throughout the day to change beds and get a little lunch of their own. There may possibly be several bucks or elk bedded under cover and it only takes spotting one of them moving around at mid day to possibly having a very productive evening. Then watch that spot as evening comes and you might see a lot more animals show themselves in that same area.


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

Wait, people don't take naps?

I'll take a nap any time it's available


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## 30-06-hunter (Sep 22, 2013)

I have a hard time taking naps even at home, even less so when I have elk on the brain. We have watched elk move around well into the afternoon before, but not as often if it is hot.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

Wait until you get a little bit older, you will find that a 5 minute nap does wonders.


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## 2full (Apr 8, 2010)

I have found that the elk start moving around about 2 in the afternoon. So if I am usually back out about then if I am looking for elk. Has worked out pretty well. 
Of course, that is after my power nap.......


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## dkhntrdstn (Sep 7, 2007)

go back to camp and eat relax and some times take a nap. but if it was a full moon that night before we dont go out and hunt tell 12 and hunt tell dark.


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

Relax and eat.


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## 7mm Reloaded (Aug 25, 2015)

Fowlmouth said:


> Nothing worse than heading back to your stand in the afternoon, and looking at your trail camera photos of all the deer and elk from 11:00-4:00. I have shot a lot of animals during the heat of the day when everyone else has quit.


I've shot my biggest and missed many more in the afternoon around 1:00 to 3:00. My theory is they hear everyone leave the forest at about noon and then then calm down and decide to move. Seen it many times and always mature deer.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

One should note, there is a heck of alot of difference in noontime during the archery hunt and noontime in the rifle hunt. Archery it might be +90F degrees, rifle it might be -10F in a blizzard.


-DallanC


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

DallanC said:


> One should note, there is a heck of alot of difference in noontime during the archery hunt and noontime in the rifle hunt. Archery it might be +90F degrees, rifle it might be -10F in a blizzard.
> 
> -DallanC


True story for sure. Roughly 16 - 20 hour days during archery season winding down to a measly 8 or so hours on the any weapon deer hunt.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

middlefork said:


> True story for sure. Roughly 16 - 20 hour days during archery season winding down to a measly 8 or so hours on the any weapon deer hunt.


We're talking about Utah, not Alaska.


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

ridgetop said:


> We're talking about Utah, not Alaska.


I guess it depends.

During archery season our group normally leaves camp between 4:30 AM and 5:30 AM and don't get back to camp until 9:30 PM or later. Legal hours right now are something like 6:00 AM to 9:00 PM.

If I'm not mistaken legal hours during the any weapon deer hunt is something like 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM.

YMMV


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## mrkrik (Jan 26, 2016)

When chasing elk with a bow I try to stay in the woods as much as possible. With only two weeks a year to chase them, I enjoy being out there as much as I can. I shot my best bull at 1:00 in the afternoon a number of years ago. On nice days, it's hard to beat a short nap under a nice tree.


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## BeaverDam (Mar 29, 2017)

Find a nice spot to relax on the mountain and read a book that I take with me.


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## bullsnot (Aug 10, 2010)

Forget a normal day....I want to know what the hunting will be like during the eclipse! Where I'm hunting the moon will cover about 93% of the sun. This could make critters think night is coming on. It will be interesting to see.


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