Stand Rotations
 

I have about 5 stands hung in the area that I've been hunting for the past 16 years. The area has produced quite a few deer for me, but no real monsters. I have a self imposed 3 day rule in which I hunt a stand for 3 days and evenings before rotating to another stand. Would you consider this over hunting a stand or is this a good rule of thumb?

Thanks,

Jake

Id say youre doing ok, but try not to keep the same rotation. Remember play the wind, set your stands up for different wind directions. I never keep the same rotation of stands, I usually just pick a stand and hunt it. But alot is determined for wind direction.

Could be that there are very few large bucks in your area. The ones you have taken thus far could be exceptional for the area you are hunting.

Do you hunt the same stand 3 straight days and 3 straight evenings? If so, you may be overhunting your stands, IMO. That would be a lot of going and coming to one stand(assuming you are not staying put all day). Unless I hunt a stand all day, I very seldom hunt the same stand morning and evening or day to day.

May be overhunting them a little bit. I don't like to sit the same stand two days in a row unless there is some pattern that is can't-miss. Wind of course is all important factor. If you have one stand set for a particular wind, and that's what you get, then you are left with that stand unless you push your luck and hunt a bad wind.

Too many variables.

How big is your parcel(s)

Are you using varying means of egress?

Are you hunting only when the correct wind is present for that stand?

Etc...etc...etc...

I charted the times I've been on my best piece, last night. I've been out 36 times, this season.......14 of those on my best property (see map). I have access to almost everything you can see.....but only a VERY small portion of my sits so far have been in the best spots. The time will come when those spots will be GREAT. If I'd hunted them when they're not......they would never be (IMO).

See green dots for 2009 sits

I, too, think that a three day morning and evening is overhunting them. If you want to rotate then I'd rotate daily. It's more hit and miss that way, but as they always say, the first time/day in a stand is your best opportunity... the more you come and go, the more the deer pickup on human intrusion and change their daily routines... I'd go in one day and then out to another the next. Deer that notice a change only one day wont mind as much coming back if they feel like it was just a passerby...

My spot is 15 acres, and I have 3 stands set upfor a North wind,and 3 stands set up for a South wind. I try not to hunt the same stand 2 days in a row. And I never hunt the same stand 3 days in a row. For me tho, alot of it depends on the wind.