New hunters often wonder when they should be hunting and the answer cannot be simplified to a single time as there are several factors that effect the answer including the type of game you are hunting, local laws, and time of the year. The most broadly applicable answer to this question is early in the morning at or shortly before sunrise with the second best time typically being evening at sunset. One of the most important factors to consider is local laws on hunting and shooting in your area, the majority of US allows you to start shooting 30 minutes before sunrise and up until 30 minutes after sunset. There are certain area and game specific laws to be aware of as well, for example, in CA if you are hunting upland birds (doves, quail, etc) you can start shooting 30 minutes before sunrise, but you can only shoot until sunset you do not get the additional 30 minutes after sunset that is typically allowed for other game hunting. So before planning a hunt make sure you are fully informed on the local laws and regulations of the area you will be hunting as well as the game you will be hunting.

The next thing to research when deciding when to hunt is the type of game you are hunting and their usual tendencies. A great example of this is White tail deer, White tail deer are most active in the early morning before sunrise so that is when you are most likely to see them walking around and eating. During the middle parts of the day White tail deer will usually be bedded down in some sort of cover and with their heighted senses they can typically detect you and run before you even have a chance to see them. If your schedule doesn’t allow you to hunt in the early morning or late evening you can still try you luck hunting deer or bear, but you can increase your odds of success by targeting game that is more active in the middle of the day. A great example of this turkey hunting, turkeys tend to be more active than most other animals in the middle of the day which increases your odds of a successful hunt midday.

Another commonly overlooked factor when deciding when to hunt is the climate of the location you are hunting. This is especially important when hunting big game that take an extended period of time to skin and process. If you decide to hunt in the evening and you end up shooting a large game animal such as an elk, moose, bear, etc you may not have enough time to skin and process the meat that night, in which case you will be forced to leave the carcass overnight to retrieve it the next morning. Depending on where you are in the country and the time of year it is there are several different dangers to leaving a carcass overnight. Leaving the carcass overnight could result in meat loss due to bears, wolfs, or other predators as well as potential meat loss due to weather conditions, spoilage if it’s warm and freezing if its cold. For these reasons it is almost always preferable to shoot a big game animal in the morning so you insure that you will have plenty of time to probably skin and process the meat to maximize the amount of meat you can harvest from the animal.