Sneak in early or just on time?

[TurtleFace]

Currently I'm only hunting public land, that I hardly know well at all.

Last time I was out I was up the tree with about 45 min to go before legal sunrise, and I could have swore I spooked an elephant on my way up the tree. What I'm curious of is if I get up the tree at least two hours or more before sunrise, will I end up possiy spooking more deer or will any disturbance settle down for the area to be traveled by some other wandering deer?

[BowmanMike]

I think if you have the patience the earlier the better. That being said I generally dont make it in the stand much more than 45 to 60 mins before shooting light.

[TurtleFace]

I've certainly got the patience to wait for the sun to come up, and if not I'll easily be able to take a nap.

[Nomad]

I go in and up most times as it's starting to get light . Most of my stands I get to walking field edges and I prefer not to blow them all out of the fields .

If I can glass the fields as I move its easy to change routes or stand locations if deer are in them .

[Robhuntandfish]

depends on the situation and location.  I have some stands on field edges and been busted too many times going in the dark. But if i wait til I can just see if anything is in the field nearby it works out great.  I can work my way into a stand in different directions if I need to depending on where deer are . In some spots I like to be in early to be settled before deer are making their way back to bedding areas from the field/food. 

If you are hunting public land and know where everyone else always hunts in the morn a good move is to go in early and setup where they will push deer to.  Like real early 1+ hours. 

I have even had to sit in the stand in the evening well past dark because deer were too close for me to get down without getting busted.  I would play it by the location and other hunters and how deer are using the area.  Early and in the dark isnt always the way to go.