I have a question about stand placement when bowhunting.

For the last couple of years my evening stand has been located at the edge of a large field. I' ve always had pretty good luck with this spot. It' s consistantly presented me with shots on decent sized bucks, however, none of them have ever been " monsters." I was recently reading an article that said the big boys hang out in the woods about 75-100 yards from the edge of the field until well after dark and then move into the fields.

Have any of you experienced this? Should I move a stand that' s been working for me, on the chance I might find something better? Was a big 8-10 pointer walking around behind me while I was sighting-in on the 6 pointer out in the field?

In my experience, most mature and even some immature bucks will stage just inside the woods until past legal shooting time. Ive killed two decent bucks by placing my stand about 40 yards from the edge of the field. Both of these bucks were shot about 5 minutes before the end of legal shooting time. They both approached and stood there apparantly waiting for the last bit of light to fade.
The heat of the rut can change this though. When the rut is in full swing just follow the does.

I have read similar articles and have heard it mentioned on some hunting videos. If you are looking to take a trophy, move the stand back into the woods on evening hunts. If you are a meat hunter first like me, leave the stand where it is at. It is producing shots.

That is usually exactly the case. This is usually refered to as the transition zone or staging area where the deer will hang out and browse before entering a field or food plot. The exception may be during the rut but at the same time, bucks will often cruise inside the woods around a perimeter of a field looking for a receptive doe path.

You' ll loose shooting time but gain the possibility of taking a more mature buck while hunting these transition zones/staging areas and especially if your transition zone has a natural funnel effect but the loss of shooting time might not be noticable when the bucks cruise in and your arrow finds it mark.

With the risk of sounding like a broken record..............

Your afternoon " stand" not stand' s.

there is no reason to move a good stand - but I can give you 50 reasons to set up a few more. If you can only afford one perminant stand - set up the trees, cut the lanes, make your routes into it and get it all ready to go. Do this for as many trees and areas you can - set up every dang tree in the woods if you can.
Then move the stand around. I have a 3 month season here and I will rarely hunt a stand more than 3 or 4 times in the whole season. The best way to ruin an area and hurt your odds is to over use a stand.

So Yes - move much further into the woods - and set up as many spots as you can.

Of course, all this should of been done months ago

But you still have time - Good Luck and welcome

Thank you all for your responses.

Rack-attack, I kinda figured someone would suggest that I hang more stands, and I thought about re-phrasing my question, but I had already posted, so I left it. I suppose what I should have said is, " What tree stand should I be in?" instead of " which tree should my stand be in?" I already have a few stands up, I' m just trying to pin-point which one will be my best bet for getting a nice buck. Because, like Lefty, I' m first and foremost a meat hunter. I have a stand that has produced for me in the past, I don' t want to go chasing ghosts hoping to find something better than what I have. That' s why I wanted to hear about some other people' s experience with this situation.

Thanks again.

In my opinion being further in the woods is the place to be. If you are downwind or a slight cross wind from a bedding area you will see plenty of does, more than enough of them to fill your freezer and your chances of seeing a good buck just went way up. Good luck what ever you choice.

You say your a meat hunter first well take your first deer from your existing stand then move back into the woods about 60-100 yds and see what happens.

In the woods for me also. In our area if the bucks ever enter a field, its in the dark! In 25 years of hunting I can count on one hand the big bucks I' ve seen in a field. Most of those have been pressure or jumped and ran into a field. I do think there is terrain and differant states where hunting the field edges may be the ticket, but my area of central MN rolling oaks and birtch/poppal slews its time to be in the woods!

Good Luck!