I don't hunt them in the morning's, but CNC's picture of that stud buck at 8:00 am, got me to wondering if i was missing something. I'm mainly talking during the rut. I could see where a buck out all night whoring around, might would stop by a nearby plot to scent check before bedding down. I know this has been talked to death probably, but how many of you have success taking mature bucks like this, not 2.5 y/o?

I never hunt food plots in the mornings. Then again I don't hunt them in the evenings much unless I sit with the wife or a grand kid.

I've done it a couple times. Cameras don't lie. I've seen some big bucks in them in the am hours. My dad has killed quite a few that way. All of them on the wall too. My problem is approaching them early without spooking deer already there.

I don't usually hunt them at all, I usually hunt around them, off in the thick timber. I catch bucks after sunrise wind checking plots during the rut sometimes.

I've got a stand about 30' high that watches down 3 cut lanes in some thick stuff and you can see a 1 acre plot that borders a cutover. The stand is probably 50-60 yards off the plot. We've killed 10 good bucks from this stand in the last 15 years. About 8 were shot in the lanes during the evening hours. I've hunted it a few times in the mornings with no luck, but i've hunted it a lot in the evening with no luck. I did kill a mature buck on the other side of this plot in the morning a few years ago. He was lip curling after smelling the ground when i shot him, so i guess i'll spend more time around these plots in the mornings.

I guess you're shaped by your experience, but I can't ever remember seeing a good deer in a plot in the AM, but I haven't done much of it.

I think during the rut, in the am, a food plot is a great place to catch a buck cruising. That's about the only time of year you'll catch him using the open ground to travel IMO.

Not necessarily from older bucks so much…..but I see a lot of activity in my food plot here behind the house in the morning times. Usually the best activity is on really cold mornings when we have hard frosts. When that happens you can just about take it to the bank that I’ll have deer come out and feed for a brief period right after the frost burns off. They usually feed for 10-15 minutes and then ease back in the woods to bed down. I’ve also seen numerous 3 year old bucks cross over late in the morning checking the doe groups that are bedded up around the perimeter. When the rut kicks in, bucks will be visiting and cruising through those high doe density areas…. and many times these areas are adjacent to a good food plot.

Here you go blum…..Like Matt said….Cameras don’t lie. This is the very next morning following the pic of that big one crossing at 8:00. One of the does using the plot had went hot and was dragging them out. I know this is just a young buck, but this is a big field so there’s likely activity occurring that my camera wasn’t catching. I bet this field would have been a good AM setup during this period of time.

I agree with cameras don't lie and according to the cameras is to whether I will sit one or not. Before cameras we had a new member sign out a big food plot one morning for him and his son to sit. I saw few eyes roll until after his son shot a stud ten point at about 8 am in that plot

I think it all depends on the location of the plot. If they can hit it early morning on their way back to their bedding zone then you'll see bucks. If it's not within their route they wont show up til late at night. In the rut they're where the does are whether there's a field there or not. It not grass on their mind at that point.

Me and my son saw a stud last year about 10:15 in a plot. This was during the rut so I expect he was checking it for a hot doe.

Pressure matters! I usually don't sit a FP in AM and I would have to make myself do it during the rut. But if pressure is not too high, sitting a FP in the AM isn't a bad choice.

For hunting mature (5+) bucks there are lots of better places to sit in the morning. For that matter in the afternoon too.

Only plots in cutover, and that I can see other areas not just a field

Had pictures of bucks on greenfields around 8am at the house. It's hard for me to hunt it but I do sometimes

Had a kid at our club kill a heck of an 8pt on a food plot on opening morning of the youth hunt last year.

I like to get into a field about 7 AM and sit to 11 AM and I have had some luck in the mid morning hours. Not as much luck when I go before sunrise..probably because I am ready to get out of the stand by 8 AM after sitting for a while. If possible i like to be in the woods early and maybe sneek into a field for the last part of the morning.

I have a hard time choosing anything else in the morning times besides a powerline (which is planted but usually catch them crossing) or a cutover (my favorite morning setups).

If you put 0 pressure on them til the right time it can be a slam dunk.... No walking around looking for tracks,shooting a couple of does early but leaving them completly alone. If there is a dozen does out there in the rut he's gonna come especially if a younger buck is there hounding them.