Stands per Acre
 

My buddies and I are in a disagreement and need some help.

What would be concidered a good number for stands on any given acreage? We own 80 acres but, also, hunt adjoining state land. There are six of us hunting, actually only five (at the most) hunt at any given time. Some of the guys want to put up more stands - some say we can't oversaturate the area.

There is, also, a related question as to how close the stands can be to each other.

Any help here would be much appreciated and could help us settle our disputes.

RE: Stands per Acre
 

IMHO two stands on 80 acres is plenty.

RE: Stands per Acre
 

IMHO two stands on 80 acres is plenty.

Yes,it is. Just tore down a stand on one or our 80 acre places. That leaves three but only two will be occupied at the same time.

RE: Stands per Acre
 

I think that it depends on the type of terrain that you're hunting. ie cropland less stands, thick swamps or woods will allow more stands.

RE: Stands per Acre
 

There is a big difference between the number of hunters on a property and the number of stands. I think 5 or 6 hunters on 80 acres is too many. I don't think you can have too many stands on a property. I have 9 stand locations on my 42 acres. Two of those locations have both a tree stand and a ground blind. I also have 4 more locations in mind for stands in the future.

Different locations are for different times of the season, different wind directions, etc. Some locations may not even get hunted some years if the situation isn't right for that stand on a day when I am able to hunt.

Usually I am the only hunter on my place. Occasionally my dad or brother may hunt a day or two. Except for them, I do not have anyone else hunting my property.

In your situation I would be more concerned with the number of hunters on the property, than I would be with some of them wanting to add more stands.

RE: Stands per Acre
 

One thing to keep in mind is the entrance and exit routes. If you are spooking deer entering and/or exiting the stands you will definitely ruin the area regardless of the number of stands or hunters!

RE: Stands per Acre
 

We own the 80 acres but, as I said we hunt on state land to the west, the south, and the east of us. We have a couple of stands on the 80 and a few stands off the 80. We try to push the newest members out to the fringes some but, they don't seem interested in going to far.

RE: Stands per Acre
 

I wouldn't worry about putting too many stands in the woods as much as I would worry about putting too many people in the woods.

RE: Stands per Acre
 

Agreed.

I have 4 (getting ready to be 5) stands on about 90 acres. Granted, I am the ONLY one that hunts this land. But, the # of stands should be irrelevant IMHO. In fact, I believe the more you have, the better off you are. I am slowly proving this to myself. My last 2 years including this year are by far my best ever. I'm seeing more deer every hunt, and spooking them less. Why? B/C I have more options to work with. ;)

More stands & less hunters = more success.

RE: Stands per Acre
 

The number of stands are irrelavant. Shortly after you put the stands up they becomes part of the terrain to the deer. Like others have said its the number of hunters that matter. I believe in a hunt club you should never have more that 1 hunter to every 50 acres.If you get to dense with hunters you can easily have a hunter leaving early ruin your hunt of worse yet get in the line of fire 300 yds. behind you deer.