SugarMtn

Just wondering everyone's thoughts on permanent stands like elevated box stands that you can hunt all day in no matter the weather. Do you think whitetails eventually get use to them? Or do the big boys know to shy away from them no matter how long they have been there? Does it matter how well they blend with the environment? Any thoughts on this subject would be much appreciated.

model722

I have a permanent stand been up for 5+ years it doesn't seem to bother the deer at all. I have to build another one next year I hope to get it into the woods early summer.

kingpin

I HAVE HUNTED THE SAME PERMANENT STAND FOR OVER 10 YEARS, AND HAVE KILLED OVER 25 DEER OUT OF IT........THE ONLY THING THEIR GETTING USED TO, IS GETTING KILLED THERE!!!!!!!!

Allen Denton

I have used them and the first time I put on up back when I was in high school, I went after school and put it up and was not going to hunt out of it until that weekend but while I was sitting admireing my work four does walked by. I could not believe it, I had stuff laying all over the ground and I was just sitting resting and they walked by. Since then I have used them though not as much because I got a climbing stand but I do not think that whitetails pay them any mind.

SugarMtn

Any of ya'll have fully enclosed (except for shooting windows) box type stands with roofs??? What we call a 'cadillac stand'.

SCBUCKHUNTER

WE have several box stands or we call them condo stands on our lease and the deer do not seem to care one bit that they are there. I killed a nice 7 point out of one this year and many of the other guys have had luck with them as well. We have 53 stands of which 8 are the condo stands and I would say that 50% of the deer we kill are out of the condo stands. Sugarmtn, ours do have roofs and are completely enclosed besides the windows. These do make great stands when the weather is not great.

propmahn

just make sure you face it the right way, i put my friggin stand in wear they were moving during the summer but during the opening day 12 deer walked behind me. and i dont think that it will spook the deer. thy dont seem to mind getting within 50ft of my house or even closer tot he barn, i dont know why a stand would make it any different

propmahn
save the world, reload your brass

varmithunter

Last summer I built a permanent stand. This sucker is huge. It is 12'x 9'. It even has a sun-roof. So far this year I've taken a big doe and a great twelve pointer out of it. There are always deer around it. Sometimes they come within ten feet of it. They deffinately don't mind it being there.

Nomercy

I don't usually build box blinds persay, however, I do build large blinds out of natural materials that are around there anyway. I usually make them so a buddy and I can sit back to back in there, with at least one of our girlfriends along with a camera, big blinds!!I've found that they'll shy away for about a week after I build them, but come back and never give them another look after that, one year while scouting, I even had a buck scrape on my blind while I was in it!!! I've only ever done one elevated blind this way, I found a good place while still hunting, and built a big shooting box up in a walnut tree, the first day, I didn't see any deer in it, nor the second, however, on the third I shot a doe that dressed down to 150#, so I don't think it bothered them much.

IMHO, the longer it is there, the more they get used to them, and worry less and less about them until they don't at all. They become just funky looking trees to them after awhile.

Screw the 10 ring, keep them in the zero!!!

kgkoon

I think the key may be to not continually spook the deer. The first stand I ever put up myself (back in highschool) was in a great place. The first year I hunted from it I saw deer every day. However, the stand was in an open area and I spooked a lot of deer also. The next year I saw fewer deer. The year after that I saw 1, that's right, ONE deer from that stand all season. I learned a valuable lesson: try to place your stand in a way that will minimize spooking the deer. I now have no problems seeing deer each year from stands I put up because I try to minimize my impact on the area.