Can a stand or area be over-hunted??

[PA stickbow boy]

I have some stands on piece of property that I hunt on. I have been trying not to hunt the area more than 2 days in a row and try not to sit the same stand more than 2 days in a row. What are other peoples thoughts on this topic? I can hunt almost every evening. Can an area be over-hunted?

[bfrbmj]

Yes

[pdk25]

Pretty sure you know the answer already, but of course it can.

[longbowben]

Yes it only takes a few sittings in a row and a stand will usually go dead.To much sent left going in and out, As deer go in that area an hour or two after you leave cross your scent trail and get alarmed.And the wind cant be good that many days in a row to sit in the same stand day after day the wind switches morning to evening almost every day this time of the year.

[PA stickbow boy]

What I'm running into this year is that my cousin started hunting the area/property too. What I'm trying to get him to do is have us both only going up on the same days. I don't want him say to hunt monday, then I hunt tuesday, we both hunt wed. & etc. More like say we both hunted Saturday, neither one of us hunt Monday, both go up Tues evening, I can't go Wed or Thurday so I'd like him to wait and us both go up Friday evening and Saturday. He has some other places to hunt and he's fairly new to archery. I'm not sure he get's my idea so I thought I would post here and then I can show him other fellow archers feel the same way.

Thanks for any and all info Tradgang.  This is a great sight with many wise people I learn from.  

[KentuckyTJ]

Absolutely, I very rarely hunt more than twice in the same setup. I think you must keep them guessing. Remember even after you leave when they come through there at night they know you have been there and alter their travels.

[nampook93]

Well in my opinion I would say maybe. If you are seeing deer and spooking them or shooting at them a lot, whether you are harvesting deer or not, then you maybe over hunting it. And soon you will see less and less deer. But if you change it up then no. Just try and keep the deer guessing. They are not just in one area tied to a tree waiting on you. But good luck with it all.

[LCH]

Every time you go into the woods you educate the deer to your presence. So after a while of hunting every deer in the area will know you are there. LCH

[Bill Carlsen]

Yes, and that is why baiting is overrated. Deer pattern you pretty quickly. Stay as scent free as possible....rubber boots, showering before you go in, etc. As for your cousin, if you want to remain friends you need to work out some agreed upon "rules" that  you both will follow. It can take only one of you to mess up the whole area for days at a time. Laura and I own 23 acres in a swamp. We have our own stands, scouting stands,  hunting stands, etc. We are very careful about the wind and hunt certain stands only when the wind permits....and that can be a factor going in and coming out.

[JO_EZ]

We have 3 stands that for various reasons never change and are hunted year after year. Over the years, I have seen the trails in these areas actually start to move to avoid those spots all together. That is one reason why I like the ground hunting that I have started doing. Each set up is a one and done deal. I rarely sit the same spot twice in bow season. I don't even, set up ground blinds ahead of time.

[YORNOC]

Absolutley can be overhunted.

[Bowwild]

You bet. It is possible to over hunt sooner or later depending upon how you enter, leave, and what occurs while you are hunting those stands of course.

In the early 1980's, when I was still a whipper-snapper in my late 20's) I had a GREAT place to hunt on the MI/IN state line.  I kept a diary of deer sightings for two hunting seasons.  I hunted stands day after day until I wasn't seeing very many deer from the stand. In some places I'd from seeing 30+ deer (in bow range) to just 1-2 per hunt.

Then I'd scout out a new stand location and move. Every time I moved I immediately saw more deer. Wrongly, I congratulated myself on being such a good scouter that I always saw more deer.  It wasn't until YEARS later that I realized what had been going on.  I burned out stands and when I moved to a new one sightings went up before dwindling again.

Oh, to know then that I've learned since (still not nearly enough though)!

[Jim Rocole]

NO DOUBT ABOUT IT. ON THE OTHER HAND I HAVE SEEN ON MY 40 BECAUSE I AM ACTIVE ON IT WITH MAKING FIREWOOD, PLANTING FOOD PLOTS, CHECKING CAMERAS AND JUST WALKING THE DOGS THE DEER BECOME USE TO THE SOUNDS AND SMELLS I CREATE. I CAN BE IN MY STAND AND THE WIE WILL BE TALKING TO THE ups MAN OR THE DOGS WILL BE BARKING AND NO REACTION AT ALL FROM THE DEER OTHER THAN TO LOOKTHAT WAY. i GENERALLY STAY ON THE TRAILS BY HABIT AND STAY OUT OF THEIR BEDDING AREA. IF I KILL A DEER THOUGH I DO NOT HUNT THE LAND FOR OVER A WEEK AND MOVE THE STAND I KILLED THE ANIMAL OUT OF.

[7 Lakes]

What if you walked into your dining room / bedroom or somewhere in between and saw a smelly guy sitting there.  After flipping out would you go back, or if you did wouldn't you be fully focused on your surroundings.

[PA stickbow boy]

Great stuff guys.  Thanks!  

[BAK]

I try to never hunt the same stand more than once a week in my regular hunting area.  If I were to go on a week long hunt somewhere I'd modify that considerably and likely only move once or twice if it was a hot looking spot.

[KSdan]

Absolutely.  I rarely hunt a site twice.  Never leave a stand in the woods and rarely go to an area more than once-twice a season. Every mature deer I have encountered is first time on a stand.  

Case in point:  I just went to an area a few days ago to observe more than actually "hunt."  I am very careful about my boots; never wearing them in the car, washing them, wiping them down with scent killer and osage. . .  I checked out some areas in a large crop field, and in final approach to my chosen site location I was anal about where I stepped and what I touched.  Long story short. . . I had does- especially the mature does, and a bobcat follow where I walked in the field. I watched them check on every piece of grass that inadvertently would have touched my body. Now, they did not spook - but they KNEW I had been there as they looked for me.  The bobcat found me- coming right to the base of my tree.  

Now imagine AFTER I LEAVE how many animals, especially a MATURE deer, knows I was there and where I was set up.  DONE deal for the year in my mind.

Keep on the move and don't educate those mature does.  Gig is up if you do.

My 2C
Dan

[Easykeeper]

Stands in feeding areas will definitely be learned by resident deer.  I have a couple old does that walk out into my food plots or hay field only after looking directly into the stands near them...they definitely know what's going on.

On the other hand, if I hunt in the public land (big woods area) I usually set up in a funnel between swamps and try to catch a cruising buck.  Hunting multiple days, as long as the wind is right, doesn't seem as damaging in that circumstance.  Probably because the bucks cover a lot of ground and I usually only see them once, unlike the does and fawns at home that I might even have a name for...lol.  Cruising bucks at home are similar since they are often just passing through.

[Gen273]

Yes, I like to give a stand at least a week between hunts; and more time if I spook something during a hunt.Unless it is during the rut, then all bets are off, because deer can be anywhere at any time.

[Wiley Coyote]

Yes!! I have 7 stands up right now and I will probably put a couple more up shortly. Wind and deer patterning you are the main reasons and I like to know what is going on in several areas!