Over-hunting stands

[Shooter77]

I also want to reiterate; these are average numbers over time. I'm sure everyone has a particular stand location on their property, that due to habitat and/or terrain features, is always good no matter what. It's located near a major intersection of travel patterns. It won't matter how many times it is hunted; hunters still have a chance of seeing a good buck from that stand, especially during the rut.

We go to great lengths to move our ladder stands around every couple of years to prevent deer from memorizing their location and avoiding them. Yet we still have a couple of ladders that have been in the same spot for 10 years. Why? Because they are great spots!

I have a stand that I've hunted out of for 17 years (1-3 times a season). I have a trail cam about 60 yards way on a 1/8th acre food plot flat. I get a lot of pics during and after season of MATURE does looking right at the stand. I had one set where she stood there looking for 4.5 mins while the other 4 does/fawns feed around. I've been wanting to move it, but it's hard to get to as it's on a steep ridge on the back of my property with no atv access. May just need to suck it up and move it or put a 2nd stand in the area.

 

[BSK]

I'm 42 and can't make myself put my climber down. Ladder stand placement can be hit or miss, but even with a "hit" you're still educating the deer with every sit. Plenty of data here I'm sure to say my thinking is flawed as well but I'm just stubborn I guess

I don't think your thinking is flawed at all. If I were younger, and didn't hate using a climber so much, that's all I would use. I would stay constantly mobile, trying a new spot every hunt.

 

[BSK]

Here's another interesting anomaly from the data: stands that are "new" in a given year (1st year in that location) display a much slower rate of decline in older buck sightings with each successive hunt than stands in place for more than one year. In essence, they hold their own over the course of the first year they are in place, no matter how many times they're hunted. However, the 2nd year stands, which are actually better on average that the new stands for the first two hunts of the year, plummet like a rock after that.

The 2nd year stands are initially better because they are comprised of only the really hot "new" stands from the previous year (all the dud new stands got moved and are new stands the following year), but why the plummet in effectiveness so quickly after the first couple of hunts their second year in place is a mystery.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

I'm 42 and can't make myself put my climber down. Ladder stand placement can be hit or miss, but even with a "hit" you're still educating the deer with every sit. Plenty of data here I'm sure to say my thinking is flawed as well but I'm just stubborn I guess

You're not alone. While we have over 50 stands on our place, I still use my climber or saddle a ton.

 

[Ski]

Here's another interesting anomaly from the data: stands that are "new" in a given year (1st year in that location) display a much slower rate of decline in older buck sightings with each successive hunt than stands in place for more than one year. In essence, they hold their own over the course of the first year they are in place, no matter how many times they're hunted. However, the 2nd year stands, which are actually better on average that the new stands for the first two hunts of the year, plummet like a rock after that.

The 2nd year stands are initially better because they are comprised of only the really hot "new" stands from the previous year (all the dud new stands got moved and are new stands the following year), but why the plummet in effectiveness so quickly after the first couple of hunts their second year in place is a mystery.

Could be just ebbs and flows of property dynamics. One example is browse. An area of saplings with buds 2'-3' off the ground will next year be above a deer's head, out of reach. To us it'll still look like a thicket but the way the deer use the area will completely change. I see similar situations with forbs. Seems every year it's a different weed dominating the landscape, and that alone will majorly alter deer activity. I guess the most obvious example is hard mast. This past year was horrible acorn production and look how it affected deer habits. It's even more evident now after season has ended. Deer are out all day long in the wide open grazing like cattle. That's not their nature. They just didn't get enough energy reserves from acorns to pull them through winter, so they're scrounging to stay alive.

Point being, while I have zero doubt hunting pressure and human presence negatively affect deer activity, we can't ignore that environmental conditions play maybe an even bigger role in deer being here today and there tomorrow.

 

[Ski]

You're not alone. While we have over 50 stands on our place, I still use my climber or saddle a ton.

Same here. I've got preset stands at every habitat improvement feature and pinch point, and I constantly move about from one to another. But I spend at least as much time being mobile. Fairly often I don't use a stand at all. All three of my bucks this season were taken from the ground. I didn't plan it that way. It just happened to be how it panned out. Spent all year prepping stands, clearing shooting lanes, trying to direct deer movement to in front of stand sites. But I never shot one deer from a stand this year. A big part of my luck comes from being fluid and flexible, going to the deer rather than expecting them to come to me. It's great when they do but if they don't I'll go find them.

 

[Sasquatch Boogie Outdoors]

This thread has me thinking. 2 seasons I hunted a red oak 2nd week of October, deer ran over me. 3rd season they stayed 45 -60 yards away at white oaks ( with the exception of a few freezer fillers). So I moved my stand 2 seasons ago closer to the white oaks and at the end of 22' I decided to leave it in the woods thinking they would get used to it. Well, they must have got used to it and avoided it like the plague. Finally decided to change it up and relocate 100 yards away….. deer on me daylight to dark! Finished the season with the climber moving around in less than an acre of a 12 acre block. 6-8 hunts and all were active.

 

[BSK]

Pretty good article from Lindsay Thomas Jr. of National Deer Association (NDA - which used to be the QDMA). It discusses how quickly deer react to hunting pressure, using GPS collared deer. Basically, 24 hours after hunting season opens. The researchers found it took four days after hunting ceased before deer started to return to normal behavior. Because of this pattern, in areas where deer are being hunted just on weekends, Thursday and Friday were the best days to hunt because deer were finally returning to normal patterns after the previous weekend's hunting pressure.

A "Rutcation" Gives Deer the Advantages. Can It Still Work?

A week may be too long for one or more hunters to saturate the average deer-hunting property. In this rutcation post-mortem, a new strategy emerges.

deerassociation.com

As I've said many times, looking at trail-camera data, I don't need to know what day hunting season opens. I can clearly see it in the data. About 48 hours after hunters start hunting, buck movement shifts dramatically more nocturnal.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Pretty good article from Lindsay Thomas Jr. of National Deer Association (NDA - which used to be the QDMA). It discusses how quickly deer react to hunting pressure, using GPS collared deer. Basically, 24 hours after hunting season opens. The researchers found it took four days after hunting ceased before deer started to return to normal behavior. Because of this pattern, in areas where deer are being hunted just on weekends, Thursday and Friday were the best days to hunt because deer were finally returning to normal patterns after the previous weekend's hunting pressure.

A "Rutcation" Gives Deer the Advantages. Can It Still Work?

A week may be too long for one or more hunters to saturate the average deer-hunting property. In this rutcation post-mortem, a new strategy emerges.

deerassociation.com

As I've said many times, looking at trail-camera data, I don't need to know what day hunting season opens. I can clearly see it in the data. About 48 hours after hunters start hunting, buck movement shifts dramatically more nocturnal.

Very revealing. I haven't read the article yet, but your summary pretty much sums up what I have been replicating the last 10 years or so. We mostly just hunt weekends and I've had great success on Thursdays and Fridays

 

[BSK]

Very revealing. I haven't read the article yet, but your summary pretty much sums up what I have been replicating the last 10 years or so. We mostly just hunt weekends and I've had great success on Thursdays and Fridays

Unfortunately, my brothers have figuring out my "trick." When everyone else is showing up Friday night for a weekend hunt, I show up Thursday night and hunt Friday by myself. Can't tell you how many bucks I've killed on one of the solo Friday hunts! Now my brothers are showing up for the Friday hunt. Guess I'll have to start scheduling Thursday hunts!

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Unfortunately, my brothers have figuring out my "trick." When everyone else is showing up Friday night for a weekend hunt, I show up Thursday night and hunt Friday by myself. Can't tell you how many bucks I've killed on one of the solo Friday hunts! Now my brothers are showing up for the Friday hunt. Guess I'll have to start scheduling Thursday hunts!

do it. They can be very productive. So much so, I typically take off thurs/fri, thurs/fri, thurs/fri during November

 

[BSK]

do it. They can be very productive. So much so, I typically take off thurs/fri, thurs/fri, thurs/fri during November

The super-hot Friday hunt has been the last day of MZ season, the day before gun opens.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

The super-hot Friday hunt has been the last day of MZ season, the day before gun opens.

NO JOKE??? Same for us! That's when our guys started following me taking Fridays off. That's what pushed me to also take Thursday's off

 

[DMD]

Yep. Have to agree with this for sure. This season was a perfect example on our farm. I killed a buck on a Wednesday late in the morning. There was a doe present.? Wife sat that same stand Thursday, she saw several including a good buck but she couldn't get a shot. I think she hunted the same stand on Friday and saw several again. Saturday morning I hunted the stand and killed a mature 8.

We have a stand over our back field, that I usually have food plots in. There have been countless late season good bucks killed from that stand, after it had been hunted a lot throughout the season. There have been times we have killed a buck from that stand in the morning and gone back later that day and and seen different bucks.

My philosophy for a lot of years has been to find the right place(s) for this deer season, and stick with it. Now, what makes it the right place? Several factors. Terrain features, food, and does primarily. I hunt places that have several terrain features that come together - coupled with food and doe traffic. I stick with that spot, hunting it regularly. I have been pretty successful killing mature bucks that way. Now, that's not to say there aren't other ways or even better ways. It's just what has worked for me.

 

[Snake]

Alot if interesting data and senerios because of different hunting tactics and terrain but I know I've really enjoyed all of the responses that should surely be of some help to someone thanks guys !!!!!

 

[Ski]

Alot if interesting data and senerios because of different hunting tactics and terrain but I know I've really enjoyed all of the responses that should surely be of some help to someone thanks guys !!!!!

Agreed. It's interesting reading all the different ideas, experiences, and approaches. It would be nice if folks included in their post the type of hunting such as bow or gun. There's an enormous difference in sitting a couple hundred yards off a spot and sitting directly on it.

 

[backyardtndeer]

Agreed. It's interesting reading all the different ideas, experiences, and approaches. It would be nice if folks included in their post the type of hunting such as bow or gun. There's an enormous difference in sitting a couple hundred yards off a spot and sitting directly on it.

My previous reply with details from this year's hunts were in the woods, and while we were gun hunting, both the deer I killed were both just out of bow range.

 

[Snake]

Agreed. It's interesting reading all the different ideas, experiences, and approaches. It would be nice if folks included in their post the type of hunting such as bow or gun. There's an enormous difference in sitting a couple hundred yards off a spot and sitting directly on it.

I concur .!!

 

[Sasquatch Boogie Outdoors]

Agreed. It's interesting reading all the different ideas, experiences, and approaches. It would be nice if folks included in their post the type of hunting such as bow or gun. There's an enormous difference in sitting a couple hundred yards off a spot and sitting directly on it.

I primarily archery hunt but do enjoy burning the powder. The scenarios I've mentioned are all based on archery hunting so as you know a deer shifting it's routine by 30 yards can be the difference in back straps or tag soup.

 

[Bushape]

I primarily archery hunt but do enjoy burning the powder. The scenarios I've mentioned are all based on archery hunting so as you know a deer shifting it's routine by 30 yards can be the difference in back straps or tag soup.

Archery only for me on a lease where 7 other guys primarily rifle hunt. I mentioned hunting primarily out of a climber which does allow slight adjustments when needed with regards to stand sites. However, one of the bigger reasons for me is after I've done the leg work on locating a buck I want to target I don't want to set a ladder stand up for everybody to see.