Well this is a depiction of how consistent it is during an evening hunt in southern New Jersey. Is your hunt like this?
I got to my home made ground blind around 3:40. got settled in, to a few practice draws.
Now it begins 3:50 all is quiet and now the birds come down. Blue jays start flying from tree to tree, small peeper birds shoot for the ground rustling the leaves. At a distance you can hear a wood pecker tap tap tap. this goes on for 20-25 min. then it stops
Now silence for about 5 min. then around 4:15 the squirrels come out running, chattering, and crunching the leaves. some even come onto the blind. This goes on for about 30 min.
4:35 Now silence, dead silence! then the cold starts in I feel my fingers getting cold, my legs start to get stiff. You feel that tingle in your bladder telling you that you need to go soon(even though you only had a cup of coffee at noon and already peed three times).
4:40 You hear a plane off in the distance, and as it goes by,You think you hear leaves crunching and start looking in every direction.
4:50 By now its that golden last half hour the sun is below the trees. Everything starts to look gray.The excitement starts, its go time!
5:00 you start to think you see deer moving in the scrub oaks. you hear crunching in every direction.Your hands are really cold,now C.B.S.(cramped butt syndrome) has set in from not moving. And now your bladder is saying I'm past full,and your about to get wet.
5:10 your squinting now the light is almost gone and you are hunched over in the chair peering into the scrub oaks thinking you see a deer moving in the distance, totally knowing you cant see more then 10 yards out.
5:15 there it is the crunch you have been waiting for...... but its behind you! your done.
5:20 long walk back to the truck thinking next time i will get one.
Stay hunting my friends!