BSK
Well-Known Member
I've talked about this data before, but just wanted to show the data graphed out for anyone that is interested. As I've stated before, the more a stand is hunted, the lower the odds of seeing an older buck. Bucks, especially older more hunter-wary bucks, are very sensitive to hunting pressure. They don't have to see you in a stand to know the area has been hunted. We shed human scent constantly, and that scent pours down onto the ground around the stand. Deer coming through days later can pick up on that accumulating human scent. Deer also have excellent memories. They remember where they encountered danger, and either avoid the area all-together, or move through only after dark.
Below is a graph from approximately 6,000 hours of hunting time, collected over 30+ year period, displaying the average sighting rate of older bucks (2 1/2+) from stands for each successive hunt from that stand for that year (older bucks seen per hunt). Notice what a drastic reduction there is between the first time a stand is hunted and the second. In addition, the sighting rate continues to decline with each successive hunt. Now that sighting rate never falls to zero. There's always a chance of seeing an older buck from a stand, even on the 10th time it's hunted. But statistically, the chance of seeing an older buck is much higher the 1st time the stand is hunted is compared to the 4th or 5th. In fact, on average, the sighting rate declines 69% from the 1st hunt to the 5th hunt. Recalculating the data for only bucks 3 1/2+ years old finds the same decline, about 64%.
Now that doesn't mean there aren't those very unique stands - usually involving an escape route pinch point, or a stand with a couple hundred yard view across agricultural fields - where it can be as good the 5th time it's hunted as the 1st time, but those type of stand set-ups are the exception rather than the rule.
Below is a graph from approximately 6,000 hours of hunting time, collected over 30+ year period, displaying the average sighting rate of older bucks (2 1/2+) from stands for each successive hunt from that stand for that year (older bucks seen per hunt). Notice what a drastic reduction there is between the first time a stand is hunted and the second. In addition, the sighting rate continues to decline with each successive hunt. Now that sighting rate never falls to zero. There's always a chance of seeing an older buck from a stand, even on the 10th time it's hunted. But statistically, the chance of seeing an older buck is much higher the 1st time the stand is hunted is compared to the 4th or 5th. In fact, on average, the sighting rate declines 69% from the 1st hunt to the 5th hunt. Recalculating the data for only bucks 3 1/2+ years old finds the same decline, about 64%.
Now that doesn't mean there aren't those very unique stands - usually involving an escape route pinch point, or a stand with a couple hundred yard view across agricultural fields - where it can be as good the 5th time it's hunted as the 1st time, but those type of stand set-ups are the exception rather than the rule.