Silly predicament
 

Im sure some of you will think this is silly but i feel very torn.

For the past 10 years I have hunted the same stand on opening day at the property I grew up hunting. I took my first deer from this stand and quite a few since then. The stand doesnt produce the most deer on the property but it holds a special spot in my heart i guess you can say, im sure many of you know what im talking about.

Well i hunted that stand a decent amount during the bow season and did not see a single deer (which is unusual).....there is another stand on the property that has been getting torn up all season long and since my uncle typically hunts that stand and will not be able to go out on opening day im torn as to whether i should hunt it or not.

basically do i say screw tradition and go after the deer movement? or do i take my chances and stick with my usual stand? Common sense would tell me go after the deer but everytime i think about it i just cant seem to commit



And this decision does matter bc where i hunt in upstate NY there is a TON of hunting pressure and after opening day i would say a third of the bucks around my property are harvested resulting in minimal deer sightings for the late season.


Hope you guys can relate and dont think im totally paranoid

Reminds me of my fishing
 

I vacated the river in the same general area, inhabited by the same fishermen.
A new fisherman would show up and ask me how I caught so many trout. I'd tell them, I fished over ten areas. They didn't want to hear that. They wanted to fish one area and have the fish come to them.

I'd say its time to move on for now but someday take your kid(s) to that same tree for their first hunt(assuming you don't already have kids hunting)

I'm not saying abandon it but you don't have to always hunt it to continue the tradition right?

do you want to stick with tradition in hopes of getting a deer or do you want to move around and get a deer? I hunt to put food in the freezer...while its nice to kill your first on your land out of your stand...I don't mind killing one some where else. Its like passing on a 6pt waiting for a giant 8 or 10pt...and at the end of season not having anything to show for it...if you are ok with that then by all means stay in your stand. but if you want to kill a deer you have to go where the deer are.

They may just not be there at the times you are...do you have a game camera up? bucks chasing disturb deer patterns....

I have killed more deer out of other stands then i have out of that particular stand it just wouldent seem right hunting anywhere else on opening day i guess. Yeah we have game cams up and there has been movement by that stand by usually at night. there is definitly less action at my stand this year then there has been in previous years but i think the majoirty of deer i see on opening day is do to hunting pressure. the stand is located at the far back corner of the property and three other properties meet at that spot so alot of deer do get pushed by, which is another reason why this decision is hard

hunt with your head and gut not your heart. If your life depended on your way of thinking you would starve to death

While this is true, him living on Long Island would lead me to think that's not the case. lol It sounds like to me he is just sentimental about that particular location/stand. I know exactly where he's coming from, I have a spot that holds such value to me as well. It's the stand "you're supposed to be hunting from".

Mine is on the edge of this thicket. It's a safe haven for the deer and I catch them coming out of it towards evening. I have killed maybe 6-7 deer from it, but it's a "hit or miss" location. No real consistentcy at this location. It's just one of the first spots I chose to hunt about 10 years ago. When I'm on this stand I just feel like "I'm there". It's not silly.

not for nothing, but how does your uncle feel about you sitting in his stand opening day?

and mabey its time to move or put up a new stand and make new memories. I have 9 different stands on my 40 acres and everyone of them have a story and a memory.

Hunt that stand opening day. If you still don't see anything - spend the rest of the season where you think the deer are.

Stands change in value with time. Trees grow and mature, and what was once an area with good food sources might become mature trees blocking out the light. It might be time to move on and start your next "legacy stand".