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.

RE: Stands per Acre
 

I have 3 on 22 acres....1 on the NW side,1 on the south side and1 on the west side.This is to compensate(spl)for wind direction and movement........there is a pond on the east side.........

RE: Stands per Acre
 

In my neck of the woods, a stand about every 40 acres is as close as you'll ever need them.

However, keep in mind this is the number of stands, not the number of hunters. This same land can only handle a harvest of 2-3 mature bucks per section, not 16. If there were a hunter in every stand, and every hunter shoots a buck, they'd be shooting nothing but yearling bucks by the second season.

RE: Stands per Acre
 

Exactly. I have about 10 stands on my 40 acres. Some are used regualrly by me and some rarely. But I like to wander and sit wander and sit. It would be rare for there to be more than 2 people in the woods at the same time, usually it's just me.

RE: Stands per Acre
 

"In my neck of the woods, a stand about every 40 acres is as close as you'll ever need them."

That is just about right. One has to carefully place the stands so the he/she does not spook the deer while getting to the stand. All our places are small-80 acres. Each place has a heavily wooded deer sanctuarythat we almost never go into, especially near deer season. One place has the greenbrier patch from hell that deerlove to bed in.

RE: Stands per Acre
 

In the hardwoods I hunt you could go as high as 1 guy every 20 acres if there's good bedding or food sources, though I'd reccomend a useage schedule.

RE: Stands per Acre
 

I have 19 acres, entirely wooded and hilly (actually cut up with small creeks and ravines). The deer enter my property at 4 major points. I have stand sites at opposite corners of the land and could easily accomodate two hunters at the same time who could enter and leave the property and not even be aware of each others presence during bow season. In that terrain a gunshot from the opposite corner sounds like it is miles away. In the part of Illinois where i own land, one would be hard pressed to find many stands that arent within 300-400 yards of another on someone else's property.

RE: Stands per Acre
 

i'm in a lease with my best friend and his dad of 80 acres, we have 11 stands set up, and we keep tract of where each other sits and when. there are probably 2-3 stands that could be taken down with ease, they maybe get sat in once or twice a year. a lot of it has to do with wind direction and season, too, so that way we do have selections. only two of really hunt it, the third is only in there like twice a month, like many others have said, watch the number of people hunting it!

RE: Stands per Acre
 

yeah, 2 stands on 80 acres wouldnt be enough for some people..i would want stands to play the
wind and hot spots...rut stands in funnels and such...i might say 6-8 stands

RE: Stands per Acre
 

You didn't state where you are from and what kind of hunting you want to do. Just to hunt deer, big buck hunting or what? At my parents we have 6 stands plus 2 blinds on 20 acres and all but one you can see someone else in a stand. We are just there to hunt and kill deer. If we have a good buck come through all the better. Our property isn't that thick but it is a sanctuary between a no hunting park, golf course and houses. Even if we drive it 5 days a week they are right back in there the next morning. The big bucks don't hang around but during the rut if the does are there the bucks aren't far away. It all depends on what you are hunting for deer or trophy bucks and how your property is set up.

RE: Stands per Acre
 

I live on 95 acres and we have a total of 21 stands. One box blind (was there when we bought the porperty) 3 hangon stands. 16 ladder stands. and 1 permanant stand(was there when we bought the property). THe stands don't really matter. Its the number of hunters IMO like said before

RE: Stands per Acre
 

Never too many! I hunt 175 acres, with open fields, hardwoods, thickets, hills, ravines, swamp, you name it, we've got it. We just keep moving around, depending on the wind. There are only three of us that hunt it, and if each of us hunt the entire property 4 times each during bow season, its probably a lot.

RE: Stands per Acre
 

We've got 102 acres and 13 stands. This is for an avg. of four hunters. We choose a stand based on wind direction and we let areas cool off and hunt new stands every few days.

RE: Stands per Acre
 

figure this we have 160 acres that we mainly hunt on out of 300 acres we have 5 stands on that 160 acres

RE: Stands per Acre
 

well if u found were the deer r beded at.y not put a couple stands up in dif direction so u can hunt it on any wind

RE: Stands per Acre
 

iAGREE