HHaisten

I will have our land to myself tomorrow. we have about 6 permanent stands. As I have said before, I have not seen a buck all year--only about 1/2 a dozen doe. I have been hunting a scrape area. my question--would you stay in one stand/are all hunt long, or move around every so often?

Tazman

It all depends upon the stand, if the stand is along a travel corridor than I would stay the day, but some stands are morning stands and others are afternoon stands. I would pick out the stand you have the most confidence in and spend the day if it is along a travel corridor, or I would pick the morning stand I had the most confidence in and spend the morning there and then move to the afternoon stand for the rest of the day. Hopping from one stand to another is not a good idea unless you are one heck of a good still hunter.

The Tazman

Ansel

Taz makes a lot of good points but one thing to keep in mind is the wind. You may be forced to move to another stand if the wind switches direction. If you have it all alone, I would keep all you options open, play it by ear. Hunting is fun and should remain so. If you want a change of scenery - go for it. If your confident in your location though I would try to stay put.

Tazman

Ansel is right on when he speaks of the wind and I will say I am kicking myself for not having mentioned it, heck I got a little 4 point yesterday because he winded a guy about 150 yards upwind of me, little fella came right my way after he winded him, the guy he winded said the deer was within 20 yards of him, but it was to thick for him to take a shot.

The Tazman

deerslayer still

I've sat in stands all day that I had the utmost confidance in but didn't see a deer all day. I have to add that i just picked a stand and went out there in the morning without doing any scouting first. Had I done my scouting I would have found that the deer were moving from across the river 1/4 mile away to a rye food plot to eat all day. I found this out from my dad who had set up in one of our 3 stands around the rye and passed up several bucks during the day before taking a nice 8 pointer in the early afternoon. The confidance you have in a certain stand makes it much easier to sit still and not fidget too I believe. Do your scouting and see what the deer are up to.

HHaisten

thanks--this are I have been hunting--obvious deer travel route as well as adjoing a bedding area. that is the problem--they are bedding almost right where they eat. I spook deer each morning coming in. I am wanting to sit and stay a while (more than usual 2-3 hrs) and see what happens.

I've sat in stands all day that I had the utmost confidance in but didn't see a deer all day. I have to add that i just picked a stand and went out there in the morning without doing any scouting first. Had I done my scouting I would have found that the deer were moving from across the river 1/4 mile away to a rye food plot to eat all day. I found this out from my dad who had set up in one of our 3 stands around the rye and passed up several bucks during the day before taking a nice 8 pointer in the early afternoon. The confidance you have in a certain stand makes it much easier to sit still and not fidget too I believe. Do your scouting and see what the deer are up to.
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Nomercy

I like to hunt a good morning stand, then move to a nearby field and still hunt for the day, then move into a stand on a good evening trail by 3 or 4. It keeps me on top of the deer, and it maximizes the area that I can hunt.

deerslayer still

If they bed just a short distance from where they eat, Can you set up in the afternoon over where they eat and ambush them on the way from their beds? What kind foods are they eating? Are they browsing? Are they eating in a field?

NattyBumpo

I tend to spent the hold day in the woods, not always in the same stand. Some stand I hunt tend to be morning stands, others evening, some are both. I've got one stand that's in a thicket with alot of plant growth that the deer seem to like, I've seen deer from this stand at all times of the day. I've hunted this stand off and on for about 10 years, I try to rotate between my stands so not to over hunt a area, or wise up the deer. This approach seems to keep the stands fresh.
There also seems to be Buck and Doe stands and even these tend to change between Bow and gun season. This year instead of hunting a buck stand (the deeper, heavier cover stands)I decided to take advantage of this fact; so opening day I setup in one of the more open doe stands and filled both of my doe tags with some very large does, saw 24 altogether. The next day moved to one of the deeper stands, saw a few doe,(that I normally would have shot) then came the bucks. Missed a very large hard running buck, passed up a 4pt, then I killed a 8pt with a 15" inside spread. It was one of six bucks chasing a very hot doe.
So maybe you should look at your stands in the same way and find out when it's prime time for each of them.