Hi all.
What do you think is the minimum amount of time to stay put and still be useful? I know there are a lot of different factors and such. But I'm just looking for opinions.
I know the goal should be to show up before sunrise and stay motionless until after sunset. That isnt what I do.
I've been shooting bows for a long time and hunting deer for a long time. But next year is going to be my first year of hunting deer with a bow. Rifle season ended yesterday,today I start to get ready for next year bow season.
I have some old injuries that make it difficult to stay put for more than 2 hours. So I am figuring and looking at all of my options, IF my 2 hour(or so) limit is something that must change.
Thanks!
There will be lots of replies to this.
My view is, if your homework indicates very little activity till an hour before the end of day, being there five hours before may not be necessary. If you can sneak into the stand five minutes before the deer come thru, that is enough.
In my swamp, although anything CAN happen, generally, a buck is gonna come thru from 1 to 1.5 hours before the end of shooting time, while a doe will be closer to 1/2 hour before, maybe even closer.
I am USUALLY there a few hours early, but I sneak in and hunt from the ground. Really, do I need to be there that long if getting in front of a deer is all I am after ? Probably not.
I have had many deer (dozens perhaps) come in bow range while I am getting settled or minutes after. If you have ability to time them you really don't have to be there hours before, but it never hurts and the woods are a good place to just sit....
Remember this is supposed to be about having fun. Hunting is about enjoying yourself. Sit as long as you can when you can. If that is 2 hours great, 4 hours better, 20 mins better than 10 mins!
Also don't limit your self to the " normal hunting time thought process". The whole hour at first light and hour at dusk idea is crazy. I see deer all hours of the day all times of the year. So if you can plan a day of hunting where you sit for an hour from 8-9am. Take a break and hunt 11-1 then another break and hunt 4-6 you would have tremendous odds of being in the right place at the right time. If you can only hunt from 11-1 that day it's as good if not better than any other time. Don't be affraid to break away from the normal mentality and remember to have fun and enjoy yourself
I'm too fidgety to hold still in a stand for very long, so if I'm going to have any luck in a stand, one of two things has to happen: either a deer has to come along in the first couple of hours, or I have to fall asleep and wake up when he's in range. I've been lucky enough to have both things happen to me, but I wouldn't claim to be as successful as someone who can sit there like a statue all day.
Wow there are so many variants that come in to play here that can change with changing patterns, making no set time amount the right answer. For instance In times of slow deer movement, why would you want to be in a stand all day if the deer were only moving in low light near both ends of the day? Yet, why would you leave a stand early, in a well traveled buck travel corridor smack dab in the most prime portion of pre rut or rut? I realize you have limitations, but my point is there is no right answer, except being there when the deer are there as well.Timing either by design, or luck, is the trick. Ive many times barely got up in the stand and pulled my bow up only to nock an arrow and shoot a few minutes later. Other times I have waited on stand from dark to dark, and never had a deer close enough to shoot with a rifle let alone a bow. Timing, and a bit of luck have to meet.Just do what you can do, and quit worrying about it friend.
I only hunt mornings as a general rule, I try to get in the stand by about 6:45 and stay until about 10:30, if I can hold out that long. When I was young, I would often stay till nearly midday. Now, I just get fidgety long before then.
Deer hunting is funny, as you know. Sometimes while walking into the woods in hard dark, I run deer out my stand area, only to see others come in before I can get the bow ready. Other times, after not seeing anything, they roll in while I'mm getting out of the stand. I stay in the stand as long as I can hold out, but my aged butt is just not as tough as it once was.
Seldom ever sit more than 2 1//2 hours, either morning or night.
I don't want my hunting to feel like work so I sit for as long as I feel like it. Generally I do stay 3-4 hours but if I get antsy I'll get down and look around. Evening hunts I do stay til dark but the only deer I had a shot at this year I only had 1 hour and 15 minutes to hunt. I know I won't normally see anything til the last hour most of the season. So sit when you can and enjoy it
I've followed the same protocol for most of the 46 years I've bowhunted whitetails from tree stands.
I hunt 80% mornings (I don't have to move through feeding areas to access my stands).
If I can't be in the stand at 20-45 minutes before shooting light, I don't go.
Depending upon where I'm sitting and my scouting I'll stay 2-3 hours after sunrise.
It is extremely rare for me to spook deer (that I know of) going in or coming out. Oddly, the times when I have most often bumped deer are going to evening stands. I generally head in about 3 hours before legal shooting light ends. If I have only an hour to hunt, I don't go. It bugs me very much to bump deer. I'd rather my wife snapped at me (for good reason) than hear a doe blow!
While I don't doubt the value, I have never hunted from sunrise to sundown without leaving the stand for at least 2 hours. I know I've missed some opportunity by not hunting, generally from 10am-2PM, but I'm recreating not working.
My greatest fault in bowhunting is overhunting favorite stands. Hoping to move around more in 2017.
Minimum time to stay in a blind or tree stand, 5 minutes.
QuoteOriginally posted by pavan:
Minimum time to stay in a blind or tree stand, 5 minutes.
Did you forget to take your bow?
I like to be 1 hour before sunrise in tree stand and stay 3-4 hours. In afternoons I tend to be on stand 2-3 hours. Add an hour or so if in ground blind. I have done some all day hunts in a blind, but get too cramped up.
I was given a trail camera as a birthday gift several years ago. The one thing I noticed where I hunt is that 90% of the deer movement was occurred the first hour of legal shooting light and the last hour of legal shooting light. This is during the hunting season. I have my camera out usually from June through December, I will see more activity spread out during summer months but as days become shorter the movement appears to become compressed. That said my minimum time is two hours.
McD it was the right 5 minutes....
CHuckC
I say do what you can and keep it fun. If 2hrs is all you can sit, then so be it. I've killed lots of critters with less than 2hrs on stand.
Bisch
About 2 1/2-3 1/2 hrs. morning and evening. Longer, maybe even all day during the rut.
As soon as I get out of school, I rush home and get out in the woods, which if I hurry will usually give me 2-2 1/2 hours. On weekends, I usually sit a bit longer, as well as on morning sits. I've never really gotten bored since there is always something to entertain me. The only time I've cut my sits short is because of really heavy rain.
McDave, when I was using a climber, five minutes, that is how long it took me to drop my back quiver to the ground twice.
If you can only stay put for two hours then I would focus on afternoon hunts. When hunting I try to get to my spot at least two hours ahead of last legal shooting light and tend to do pretty good.
On morning hunts I try to stay out until 10-ish at least and end up seeing lots of deer between 9-10 depending on the stand.
QuoteOriginally posted by Bisch:
I say do what you can and keep it fun. If 2hrs is all you can sit, then so be it. I've killed lots of critters with less than 2hrs on stand.
Bisch
Bingo.......sit for a bit and if you need to get up, do it, take a walk or still hunt for an hour, then come back a sit for a bit more.
"Remember this is supposed to be about having fun. Hunting is about enjoying yourself. Sit as long as you can when you can. If that is 2 hours great, 4 hours better, 20 mins better than 10 mins!
Also don't limit your self to the " normal hunting time thought process". The whole hour at first light and hour at dusk idea is crazy. I see deer all hours of the day all times of the year. So if you can plan a day of hunting where you sit for an hour from 8-9am. Take a break and hunt 11-1 then another break and hunt 4-6 you would have tremendous odds of being in the right place at the right time. If you can only hunt from 11-1 that day it's as good if not better than any other time. Don't be affraid to break away from the normal mentality and remember to have fun and enjoy yourself"
X2 My thoughts EXACTLY couldn't have said it better.
It doesn't matter how long you sit. Fifteen minutes or 15 hours. When you get up to leave an animal will bust out from under your nose. :biglaugh:
I hunt Blacktail deer in a rain forest where there are no food plots to pattern behavior so I use apples as an attractant. If deer are showing up more at a certain time than another I'm there at those times.
I do lots of daylight till dark sets but only if I'm getting regular daytime photos, so I let my trail cameras tell me when to set.
I don't think your "handicap" is a handicap at all. I learned a long time ago to hunt the high percentage times and do something else the low percentage times. If 95% of the chance to kill a deer is daylight to 9 or 10 am, and the last couple hours of daylight, why sit the other 6 hours or so in the middle of the day, for that other 5% chance, and GUARANTEE, 100%, that you are screwing up your setup by scenting up the woods those extra 6 hours? Sure lightning may strike at 1 pm, and you might win the lottery too, but I don't buy tickets for those either.
I RARELY get into a stand before I can see to shoot in the AM, I like to sneak in quietly without a light. There is no way to get in as quietly in the dark as when you can see a bit, period. Also flashlights spook game. The added bonus is this gets you in the stand after the pre-dawn does, but before the cruising bucks. Since I started doing this I very rarely, almost never, get busted going into the stand in the AM.
PMs are easier to get in undetected.
My average sit early season - 2 h, AM or PM. Rut probably 3-4h AM, 3h PM.
I do OK on mature whitetails. ;)
R
Depends on the time of the season and what you are seeing. I may only sit 1.5-2hr during early and late seasons once I have an idea when the most active times are. During prime time it's more like 3.5hrs at a time; that's about 7hrs on stand for a day, that's about all I can stand. I had been out a little over 3hrs when I killed my buck this year. I know some guys do all day sits during the rut - I just can't do it.
It can happen at any time. If you know your deer and have done the scouting that should tell you about when to be there for a ambush.. I hunt mostly by the " numbers" for me this means I base it on math meaning with a certain number of hours in a location that holds the bucks I'm after eventually they will show. This has worked well for me. My avg sit for the season was 5.4 hours and I had encounters with 4 of 7 of the bucks I was after. With that said my last sit was over in 15 minutes so timing is the key.. It can happen at any moment. Keep it fun!
When you are in the RIGHT place time flies and the day is too short. When you aren't confident in the spot, 15 minutes can be torture.
Length of the day is a consideration. Location might would be a big factor. At home, in suburbia/small farm country an hour or two morning or evening. Any more is a waste of time.
In the big woods, sits can be 3-4-5 hours or all day easily, depending on a lot of factors.
In Wyoming for whitetails in September...any time of the day is better than the best hours back home but we usually hunt about 4 hours in morning and 4 hours in evening. The days are long in September.
These are just generalizations of course. A lot of times family and job intervene. Gotta take care of that first.
Tedd
I agree with most of the above except the light. It depends upon the stand location whether I use a light.
The vast majority of my stands are on the edges of cover or just inside about bow range. I almost never use a light to get to most of my stands and I'm walking in an 30-60 minutes before legal shooting light. The rare times I use a light it is a low red light. I use this on a few stands that require more than a bow-range sneak-walk in the woods.
By the way, I go lightless as much to get in the "mood" for hunting as I do to keep quiet.
There have been some times in my life where I've used a "muffled" light, hid in my fingers with just hints coming through, because I feared a trespasser might be in my path. I don't want to get arrow-shot like the young husband did about 35 years ago in Northern Indiana. He was walking in a power line before shooting light. I think about him when walking in the dark on unfamiliar property.
I sometimes lead other people to their stands, they often use lights even though they are walking right behind me. If my grandson is with me, I'm fine with him using a light. I've found a lot of people don't realize how their eyes will adjust if they keep the light off. As odd as it sounds, the use of the light makes it darker for me.
I would use a light if hunting unfamiliar property and for stands not on edges.
If, for some reason I'm late getting out I will change my stand plans. I have one stand I can be in 13 minutes from the back door. Other stands are further, some 30 minutes. If I don't have that much time, I try to do better next time.
I abhor spooking deer in, out, or on stand. Of course I've killed deer on such days but my confidence goes way down if it happens early.
I can sit in a stand for most of the day. Usually take a half hour break or so.
When bear hunting I have sat from 3:30 until 10:30 in Northern Canada- don't remember for sure but think that was about right.
The least amount? Twice I have climbed into a stand at about 7:00 and shot a deer within an hour and a half.
If two hours is ALL you can do, don't waste it by sitting for an hour before legal light, IMO. I do many two hour hunts throughout the season. Do what you can, when you can. Better than two hours on a couch.
The buck I killed last year, I spotted within five minutes on stand, five minutes later he was dead.
really changes with conditions, time of year, feeding activities and moving post rut, rut pre-rut, location of stand, day light hours and critical feeding need (+10 compared to -30), etc.
for me I can normally only sit for 1-4 hours depending on how cold it is to how my body holds up and comfort of stand.
So I look at when movement is happening at that time and how long I think I can last in the stand. (experience, trail cameras/timers), etc.
no matter what you do you will miss deer and opportunities, you just have to try to manage the risk of not being there at the right time.
I have not read a post maybe missed it.I read when hunting stands small paperbacks I can stay on stand longer than just sitting looking at the same trail.I can usually set aside the book and grab my bow hanging with an arrow on the rest and held with a rubber band that silent when drawing.Kip
The only rule is enjoy yourself. When it starts to be a drag, do something else.
I would not worry and push yourself
To being miserable!
Who cares. Go hunt. If ya gotta move. Move.
Go in right at first lite to maximize sitting time. I no longer go in at dark anymore. Do what ya need to have fun and be comfortable.
Here n NC during early bow season it is so hot the deer really don't wiggle to right at sunset or sunrise? Just don't move as much??
If I was sitting on food just be there for the first or last hour. If I am sitting in a cool bottom area where they bed I might spend more time.