Middle of the day

Depends on the day. Overcast, rainy/snowy days are my favorite for still hunting thick country all day long. I've killed more than a few bucks mid day. When a storm front is moving in, deer will feed all day before it hits. Great hunting then. I've yet to kill a buck napping in camp.;)
 
i sleep on the hill a lot. once i leave camp its rare im back there before dark. most of my hikes are a pain in the ass enough to do once a day much less getting back up there in the afternoon.

elk sometimes i do morning and afternoon hunts depending on the areas and bugles but usually out all day for them too.
 
It's unreal to me how much happens in the middle of the day when you just sit still and watch. That's my favorite thing to do rather than spend the time to go back to camp. I'd say pick a spot that seems worth a whole day, glass from daylight til around 10 am, then go sit somewhere that you can relax, read a book, nap, whatever suits your fancy while still being able to see a decent amount of what's around you.

I have found noon til around 2ish to be surprisingly good glassing. Animals will get up to stretch their legs and mill around a bit before repositioning in better shade.

Then I like to be set up for the evening glass for two or so hours before dark.

Daylight - 10ish am: Prime glassing
10ish - Noonish: Get comfortable and wait for what happens around you
Noonish-2ish pm: Generally great glassing
2ish-4ish or 5ish depending on season: Relax/eat/nap
4ish - Dark: Prime glassing
 
My favorite thing is to take a nap. It’s the best sleep I have all year. It could be hunting or shed hunting, but naps are the best. I tend to have the best, most memorable dreams too. I have all of mine planned out. I have to have a soft spot in a wash that’s in the shade and my pack is dug in a little to prop my head up slightly.
 
A little snooze can be nice but man it can be tough to shut it down. I spend my time glassing or moving between glassing spots. I think deer stand up to stretch or grab a quick snack far more often than we think mid-day.
 
I pack a hammock for good weather and a 6x8 foot tarp for bad weather!

because theres nothing worse than a solid afternoon nap only to be woke up by ants biting/crawling all over u!

I stay out all day on every hunt that I go on regardless of weather!

If the weather is nice enough, then I set up the hammock on the hill in an area that I can glass off and on.

A lot happens and moves during the day if you are patient!

You can camp anytime!

But your hunt only comes once a year!
 
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As mentioned several times above. It's a great time to take a nap and glass from time to time. One word of caution....be super careful napping in buzz snake country! A couple weeks ago I fell asleep with head on the ground in the shade next to a giant boulder. I woke to the sporadic sound of a rattle right next to my head. When I opened my eyes and raised my head there was a rattler coiled up around 1 1/2' from where my head was laying. I'm positive the snake could sense my warm head and am amazed it coiled up next to my head. It didn't get excited until I rose to my knees fairly close to him. I was certainly grateful he didn't strike! I was tempted to kill him but let him live. I've included a photo of him.
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Steep mountains are called one-a-days for a reason. Pack a lunch, take a nap, and keep glassing. Some of our good bucks have been found when they got up to stretch, or move out of the sun to a new spot. Especially true for Coues deer!
I'm rarely close enough to camp to ever return in the middle of the day. Keep hunting. Eating and sleeping are what I do the rest of the year!
 
Travel hunts are always a limited window...I hunt all day...maybe a mid morning nap...but really its boots on the ground all day start to finish.
 
As mentioned several times above. It's a great time to take a nap and glass from time to time. One word of caution....be super careful napping in buzz snake country! A couple weeks ago I fell asleep with head on the ground in the shade next to a giant boulder. I woke to the sporadic sound of a rattle right next to my head. When I opened my eyes and raised my head there was a rattler coiled up around 1 1/2' from where my head was laying. I'm positive the snake could sense my warm head and am amazed it coiled up next to my head. It didn't get excited until I rose to my knees fairly close to him. I was certainly grateful he didn't strike! I was tempted to kill him but let him live. I've included a photo of him.
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That's crazy.
 
It's unreal to me how much happens in the middle of the day when you just sit still and watch. That's my favorite thing to do rather than spend the time to go back to camp. I'd say pick a spot that seems worth a whole day, glass from daylight til around 10 am, then go sit somewhere that you can relax, read a book, nap, whatever suits your fancy while still being able to see a decent amount of what's around you.

I have found noon til around 2ish to be surprisingly good glassing. Animals will get up to stretch their legs and mill around a bit before repositioning in better shade.

Then I like to be set up for the evening glass for two or so hours before dark.

Daylight - 10ish am: Prime glassing
10ish - Noonish: Get comfortable and wait for what happens around you
Noonish-2ish pm: Generally great glassing
2ish-4ish or 5ish depending on season: Relax/eat/nap
4ish - Dark: Prime glassing
I like your schedule. I've never considered that noon - 2pm could be great glassing.
 
I look for "parts"

I hunt open country with mixed grass and brush.

I look for legs or ears or just a piece of the deer sticking out of or under a bush.

I get to where I am "level" with the opposite side of a steep canyon. Its absolutely amazing where deer will bed.

And I have watched canyons, moved, and circled back, and found deer getting up and moving for the sun, then bed back down. All day.

I also hunt very small areas and cover them very carefully. I used to "cover country" in a vehicle. Now i find sign and glass until i find the deer. If the sign is there, the deer are there.

3 bucks in the top photo. 1 buck in the lower photo. All bedded. Bad smoke. So not real clear.

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Usually I set up in an area deer exit that were spooked by the lunch time crowd heading back to camp.
Has worked quite a few times.
 
I like to stay put, Glass the area's when all those guys start back to camp to eat and get ready for the afternoon hunt they will make a few animals move around good time to see a good one or see where they use escape routes.
 
We have a cabin at 9000 ft and the days we came back to the cabin in the middle of the day during the recent elk only season, it was interesting to notice the “resident deer” in the subdivision moving around and eating. All day long. Not to mention the deer we saw driving during the middle of the day. Now bucks prob don’t move as much but they get up and stretch, reposition and even eat a little at all times
 
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Hunt! My wife had a muzzy tag this year on a limited entry hunt and we hunted the morning came back had some food and left camp again by like 2:30. She killed a smoker about 1 hour later. So my opinion, which don’t matter much, is to hunt and not wait until early eve...
 
Some of my most successful Deer hunts have been around 1:00 PM. We figured out where the Bucks were bedding and their escape route, Wait till after lunch and post up two on the escape route and two to push them out. Ambush complete. It takes days or years to figure this out tho.
 

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