GMMAT

Let me ask you this, Greg....

Let's say you hunted the 250 acres I do, currently. Would you concentrate your stands (if you were going to hunt say....80+ times a season) into only a few stand sites....and hunt them over and over? Or ....would you move around a lot?

Whichstrategy do you think would lead to YOU being patterned more easily?

Is that a fair question?

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MOTOWNHONKEY

Can I play? I would concentrate the stands and have a buck on the ground in about a third of the sits. Hypothetically

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GregH

I would start off with the bare minimum of stands (say one for each wind direction), then only move them if I got busted or contaminated them to a point of being non-productive.

Note: I may have more than one stand for each wind direction in order to cover different types of spots in an area. I'm not sure how many because it depends on the area, but I know it wouldn't be 70 for 250 acres. Maybe 10 to 16 stands.

TEmbry

I just see being patterned as a bigger picture than just an entry route. Deer have the same chance of smelling you on each individual setup, regardless if it is your same entry or a new one each time...same amount of scent dispersal.

Here is my point, lets say hunter A has 5-8 determined stand sites with their own entry routes, hunter b (jeff) has 70+ stand sites for the season. Theoretically they both get their entry route busted the same amount of times, since both have same scent levels and both entries arent careless and are well thought out. Hunter A and B both have a entry trail winded 7 times that season. The question is, does a deer only avoid that specific trail you take? or the small woodlot in general? I see getting winded at 7 different entry routes in the same small block of woods, as being WORSE than being winded on the same one. In my mind, this could drive them to vacate the woodlot all together (just as the concentrated setup could). You view individual encounters in the same small area as separate vs using the same trail...I view them as the same. You get winded in a 20-40 acre chunk of woods twice...it will have the same consequences whether it was on same trail, or one was 50 yards down the line from the first.

GMMAT

That statement neither threatens me or makes me second-guess Chris. He may be right.

Confession! IF....ALL I wanted to do was take one of the best bucks on my lands.....I'd agree (More) with what you guys are saying. See....I'm not hard-headed!

The fact of the matter is.....I like to hunt. So...I hunt...every chance I get.

So let's say I did it you guys' way. I determined my best chance for a certain size/age class buck....and I concentrated my stand sites on those locations. Absolutely agree "your" way would work. In reality.....it's what I do. When I'm "Hunting".....I shy away from buck areas. When I don't have a good wind.....ditto. When I (and I'm learning) "Hang to kill".....I go to those spots with one thing in mind....and basically ONE deer in mind.

Where I'll stray from you all is......I STILL vary my entrance/exit just to ensure I'm not easily patterned. The big 7 I was after.....I set up on him only 5 times after seeing him the first time. I sat in 5 different trees in doing so......and this "area" was "maybe" an acre. I ended up encountering him (there) on 3 of those occasions.

I DO see what you guys are saying.....and I agree with you (now that I think about how I hunted that/those specific deer) more than I previously thought.

Thanks for keeping this informational.....and sans emotion/"questioning". I appreciate that a LOT.

MOTOWNHONKEY

For the record, your getting it done no doubt about it. You lay a nice one down every year. It's hard to argue with success. You know you were growing weary this year. All that climbing, thinking, stratagizing, rethinking, will run you down. I know I've done it. Some comfrotable well placed hang on's in key areas puts more enjoyment back into it for me.

Critr-Gitr

I am more of the mind of not changing stands too much unless there is a reason, at least for the style hunting you are talking about.

One extreme for me is a very small little corner of woods I get to hunt. It is funnel, and a good one. Irrigated alfalfa on one side, bedding on the other, neither of which I have access to. Just the couple of acres of woods between. Pure travle corridor and staging area. The deers movement patterns through the woods are basically the same year to year, but there is some variation. I have four stands up in there, for various winds/situations. One has not been moved in four years but it doesn't get hunted often. It is a good spot but conditions must be just right for it, only three sits in the last two years. Another one has been in the same spot for three years and I will move it about 5yards this year just to tweak it a little bit. It is a workhorse, has probably had 15 or 20 sits in the last two years. Shot this years and last years bucks out of it. Two more have been floating. One of them found a permanent home this year, got 8-10 sits, it's going to work out well I believe. The other is okay but will move next year due to some habitat modifications that will go on. I will also set up a few trees this spring for my Ambush Saddle, for some of those "Special Situations" that arise on occasion. The fact is, there are only so many ways the deer can move through there, and even fewer ways I can get in and out. "Changing it up" doesn't help me too much unless I get flat busted in a stand and need to give it a break.

Now when I hunted the 300 acres of brush that I used to be on, that was different. No trees for treestands, I would just walk in with a stool and some clippers and cut a hole back in the brush whereverI wanted. Depended on time of day, wind direction, current travel patterns, light intensity and directionand such. Rarely did I sit the same place twice, but it was a radically different sitution. More similarities to spot and stalk than to stand hunting.

early in

This might be like feeding the sharks, butI'll do itanyway.I have hunted on the edge of this roughly 16-20 acre thicket (I've shown this pic several times before) 32 times this season. Thirty of those times were from the same stand site. Now, I realize the first thing someone's going to think/say is this guy's not a real smart hunter, and is overhunting that spotBIG TIME!
Now, let me explain a few things about this area. First of all it's public land, where folks are constantly walking/hiking, horseback riding, and obviously hunting. These deer see/smell humans on a daily basis. This large thicket has a 20ft wide, tallgrassy path that runs right down the middle of it. It was actually a farmers field a long time ago, and has since grown back to become the thicket that it is today.
There are only TWO ways to get to the back of it, due to the way this land is layed out.One is through the woods on the back side of it, which means you disturb the woodsmaking a lot of noise getting back there. Or go down the grassy path which allows for a totally silent approach, which is what I choose to do.
I almost always have the proper wind for hunting this area.Anywind is great for this spot except for a N orNE, which I won't hunt.I'm able to get into this spot litterally without making a sound. In fact, yesterday at 1:00PM, I no soonerclimbed with my LW, got set, was nocking an arrow and this doe was feeding right on the edge of the thicket! She obviously she didn't hear or scent me coming in. She didn't come the extra 10yrds that I needed for the shot.[&o]I have yet to get busted by a deer from this stand this entire year.
This is also the same stand where I let that 6pt & 8pt walk earlier in the season. I haven't been seeing very many deer this season at all, but I don't think for a moment it's because I'm over hunting this spot. All of the other hunters I've spoken to at the parking area haven't seenmany deer this year either, for whatever reason. All I'm getting at is if you hunt a given stand site with the right wind direction, and you can get in/out quietlywithout alerting deer, you're not overhunting it. JMHOHere's the doe from yesterday.