Overhunting stands
 

Is it possible to overhunt a stand when you are not seeing deer very often? I see sign in the area but the deer only seem to be coming thru every couple days. No pattern that I can see. Can I hunt one stand for a week straight? Or do I move everyday?

RE: Overhunting stands
 

I would say you are over hunting it, but I know how it is, when you only have 1 0r 2 stands. I only have 5 stands, ( 3 for a North wind, and 2 for a south wind). And my hunting spot is only about 10 acres. I move around as much as I can, depending on the wind.

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RE: Overhunting stands
 

I always hear that stands can be overhunted and I have done this in the past....successfully. They say even though you don't see any deer from that particular stand you are leaving behind scent which can be detrimental to your hunting. This is true but I have hunted stands consistently (3-5 days at a time) and I have been successful. The buck I got last year only came through every few days, very much like your situation. So I hunted that stand every evening for a few days. If I would have kept changing stands than there is a good chance I would not have gotten him.

Its a guessing game...it really is. You think you may be doing yourself a favor by moving around a lot but that day you do move may be the day the big boy comes through.

RE: Overhunting stands
 

I think it is very well possible, if done day after day.

RE: Overhunting stands
 

During the rut I hunt one stand because in my eyes that is the big buck stand. two out of three years big buck have been within shooting range. So I would say if you have one really good stand practice your scent control and hunt it hard.

RE: Overhunting stands
 

This comes up all the time.

IMO...if the deer don't know you are there. NO you aren't over hunting the stand. If they don't know you are there. They don't know you are there.

This is where a good pair of boots and good scent control comes into play along with hunting a good wind.

If you are busted on one or more occasions then, yeah. You probably need to leave the stand a lone for a while. Or move it to another tree.

RE: Overhunting stands
 

GregH changed my view on this, recently. I think he hunted the same stand like 25 out of 74 hunts in one season. He's playing the wind and practicing a sound scent control regimen....and he doesn't worry about it.

I move around a lot. But I suppose there's benefits of each method. If you now where he travels....you need to be there when he comes through. Greg's proven he knows where they travel.

RE: Overhunting stands
 

And if you get bored and want a change of scenery just move the stand 200 or 300yds here or there. If you have the trees to do it you can hunt 50 different places in a 10ac track of land.

RE: Overhunting stands
 

I do have afew different stands I hunt within about a 30 acre area. I believe the buck I saw this morning would have went by three of them. I saw him in front of one of them in the field
(200 yds away).I walked by another and there was a fresh scrape not twenty yds from it. He was less than fifteen yds from me in the other.
I guess I just have to wait for the bigger ones to come by. I will keep using good scent control and change it up every couple hunts, trying to use the wind. That is another topic!!! It always seems to change toward the end of the evening...

RE: Overhunting stands
 

I learned last year how easy it is to overhunt stands. My brother and I really hunted our favorite stand hard and by the middle of the season we had ruined the spot. We went from one night early in the year having 6 different bucks in range to not being able to see a single deer from the stand. We only had one way in and out and it was close to bedding areas on both sides. We kind of had a similiar situation in that we had very limited land to hunt and this was the best spot and one of the few spots that consistently yielded deer sightings.

I never got busted in the stand and he said he never did either so we just think the pressure of us going in and out and leaving our scent and sign behind pushed the deer off.

Droptine I hunt NJ also, southern portion, Gloucester County mostly. Some Cumberland and Salem also.

RE: Overhunting stands
 

This may be correct or it may be that the deer shifted their pattern naturally. Deer follow food and you said it was towards the end of the season? Wouldn't this be around the time of the rut?

During the rut, all bets are off.

RE: Overhunting stands
 

I do think part of it was a change in the deer's overall pattern StrutNTom. However, we started noticing our numbers of deer seen on stand dwindling before the food source they were concentrated on was harvested and prior to the beginning of the early rut stage. So probably some combination of both.

RE: Overhunting stands
 

this is not the senario tho, he is not seeing deer but he knows thier there.

RE: Overhunting stands
 

True HNI Jim, but I don't think you have to be seeing deer to overhunt a stand. Atleast IMO.

RE: Overhunting stands
 

Again...IMO.

If you don't get winded or "jump" deer going in and out. They shouldn't know that you are there. So they shouldn't go anywhere.

My main tract of land is 18ac. So, trust me. I know how hard it can be huntingsmall tracts.

RE: Overhunting stands
 

I think its possible to overhunt a stand, especially if you're not careful with your scent control. I also think it has to do with the particular spot and the amount of deer that frequent the area. During the pre and rut though, I think you can get away with it a little more because the number of bucks moving around increases and your chances of educating all of them is slim. I have a nature preserve that I have permission to hunt mainly to keep does in check. This I've found is actually harder than hunting a good buck because they really pay attention to detail and are constantly changing the trails they use to stay one step ahead of me.

RE: Overhunting stands
 

Depends... Deer can and will pattern you. Will every deer pattern you? Of course not.

In my opinion, most average guysdon't really play the wind so well. They're leaving loose ends untied on scent control, just being a little sloppy here and there. It happens. All the tiniest details make a measurable difference. How much will those particular deer tolerate? How intrusive is your entry/exit?

Take GregH for example. I'd tab him as one of the best whitetail hunters on this site. The guy hunts the same stand 33% of the time. BUT, he doesn't hunt it 100% of the time - just when the situation is right. He knows when it's right, and when it's not. Most guys wouldn't really know when the light is green.

It all comes down to knowing why that particular stand is great, and keying off of those factors. If it's a good pressure stand, be in it anytime there's hunting pressure. If it's a dynamite pinchpoint rut hunt, be in it in the rut. If it's a good transition area for a southwesterly wind, hunt it then.

So, yeah, I think if you keep beating the same stand to death, at some point, there will be a diminishing return. That's definitely not to say that you still can't fill a tag out of it. I just like to keep certain stands fresh and move around, if I have the opportunity to do so.