NOt had more than ONE surgery to my back, but still fighting arthritis inroads… So tree stand hunting only lasts for me for a couple hours, then I have to bail…

As for AM or PM hunts… I’d say your area’s deer population and their activity would dictate the BEST time to hunt, don’t you think?

On the other hand, you might want to consider terrain and your physical condition. If you’re chompin at the bit, and pushing the envelope slightly, perhaps you should wait for full daylight to venture in to ensure better footing and not stumble and undo whatever repairs were done?

Avoid twigs, stumbles, falls, pokes in the eye… and still enjoy the hunt… then if you see little, perhaps as your gait/stability improves, you can do a venture to a stand in the dark for AM hunt…fwiw.

Good luck and enjoy being there!

Whenever you feel best is what I say. Don’t push it if you don’t have to and you may enjoy it more.

Sometimes after surgery, a fall in the dark, could undo a lot. That’d be my only concern! I see more critters in the AM as day breaks, but enjoy hunting the evening watch more…

Hunt both am & pm! Until you’re exhausted, then sleep in and hunt the pm.:D

We have to remember that the objective here is to have fun, suffering is not fun.

Left the stand early last night, and did some scouting as I was freezing my important parts. Might have seen something if I had stayed on stand, but would have been too stiff to do anything about it. 🙁 Should have practiced wearing 5 layers last August. Drawing the bow is a lot different with all that fabric. Not enough room in my jacket for enough layers to keep warm. Off to wallmart to get more toe warmers, did you know that they expire? Last years do NOT work.:evil:

Bum– I admire your spunk. But do you absolutely need a tree stand to have a chance of making meat? Thing is, while early and late definitely align with the most deer movement, they are out there all the time and the single most important aspect of hunting success I have found is “putting in the hours.” If you can be more comfy in a ground blind and put in more hours, that’s the way I’d go. Certainly, you won’t have much luck sitting in the open in a lawn chair at noon. But my point is, given your med situation, you might consider hunting longer from a more comfy situation, rather than choosing a short time frame. Or maybe not. It’s just another alternative to consider. Healing is most important, and not putting that at risk.

As was said. Get out there and spend some time. Deer, no deer. Good for the soul and good for healing. Of course fresh, free-range meat is good for healing too! Dwc