BSK
Well-Known Member
I've written many posts about this topic over the years, but was just going through some data and noticed the obvious - how much older buck sightings decline from a stand as it is hunted repeatedly through a single hunting season.
From 14 hunting seasons encompassing 1,409 individual hunts (a "hunt" being any time a person climbs into a stand), the decline in sighting rate (deer seen per hunting hour) for only bucks 3 1/2 years old and older is 66% from the first time a particular stand is hunted in a season to the 5th time a stand is hunted that season. In fact, the decline is gradual and continuous, with each hunt, on average, producing a lower sighting rate than the previous hunt. In essence, over those 14 years, the 2nd time a stand is hunted produces a lower 3 1/2+ year-old buck sighting rate than the 1st time the stand was hunted. The 3rd time produces a lower sighting rate than the 2nd time, and so.
If I could figure out this Open Architecture presentation software I'm using instead of the original PowerPoint, I would post a slide of the graph. Surprisingly, 2 1/2 year-old buck sightings decline with each progressive hunt even more dramatically than 3 1/2+ year-old buck sightings. Yearling buck sightings also decline, but nowhere as dramatically as older buck sightings, and in fact, for yearling bucks the sighting rate the 2nd hunt is slightly higher than the 1st.
The lesson is, your best chance to kill a 3 1/2+ year-old buck from a particular stand is the first time you hunt it. Odds decline with each subsequent hunt from that stand.
From 14 hunting seasons encompassing 1,409 individual hunts (a "hunt" being any time a person climbs into a stand), the decline in sighting rate (deer seen per hunting hour) for only bucks 3 1/2 years old and older is 66% from the first time a particular stand is hunted in a season to the 5th time a stand is hunted that season. In fact, the decline is gradual and continuous, with each hunt, on average, producing a lower sighting rate than the previous hunt. In essence, over those 14 years, the 2nd time a stand is hunted produces a lower 3 1/2+ year-old buck sighting rate than the 1st time the stand was hunted. The 3rd time produces a lower sighting rate than the 2nd time, and so.
If I could figure out this Open Architecture presentation software I'm using instead of the original PowerPoint, I would post a slide of the graph. Surprisingly, 2 1/2 year-old buck sightings decline with each progressive hunt even more dramatically than 3 1/2+ year-old buck sightings. Yearling buck sightings also decline, but nowhere as dramatically as older buck sightings, and in fact, for yearling bucks the sighting rate the 2nd hunt is slightly higher than the 1st.
The lesson is, your best chance to kill a 3 1/2+ year-old buck from a particular stand is the first time you hunt it. Odds decline with each subsequent hunt from that stand.