Stands too close?

[Rippinlip]

With the little private land I am able to hunt currently.

I have stands set-up at what I feel are productive areas, but that means that a few of them are within 100 yards of each other.

It normally is only my wife and I hunting, but does this make the area too overwhelmed with stands?

Anyone else have stands this close?

[newfish]

I think it would depend more on how frequent you and your wife hunt at those stands more so than have 2 within a 100 yards of each other. I sometimes set stands up that close to have options for different wind direction. Just my two cents on it.

[Brain_Melt]

I agree if your going out there frequently the deer will pattern you. i dont have much private land either and i also have stands within 100 yards of eachother but i will switch it up and go duck hunting one weekend or try some public land or hunt with a buddy on some of his land. If you and your wife are out there every weekend with less than adequate scent control the deer will figure you out.

[harvey lee]

I am very lucky with the acerage we have to hunt. We do not set anything up within 200 yards of each other.

It can work but the wind must be right for both stands and one cannot over hunt stands this close or as mentioned, the deer will pattern you.

[Cheetah]

My dad, brother and I used to hunt a smallish section of woods and would frequently be within 100 yards of each other. It was thick woods though and we usually couldn't see each other and usually wouldn't see the same deer either.

[mrklean]

like they said as long as you aren't in them 5 days a week and they patterning you i think your fine, i have hunted a few sections of land up north that we have stands about 100 yards apart and haven't had a problem with it. Will probably do the same thing this fall when my gf heads to the bow stand for the first time.

[bigbucks]

We used to have two permanents about 35 yards from each other. We hunted them at the same time a few times a year. On at least two different occasions we both shot deer out of our tree on the same outing. Since then the tree one of the stands was in has blown down, so they aren't like that anymore. The best wind for them both, worked for them both to be hunted at the same time. Sometimes we could see the deer the other guy shot & sometimes we couldn't.

[Rippinlip]

Thanks for the thoughts.

We do try to watch how much we hunt the area and are very cautious on scent control.

We will see how it plays out this year, might be cool to see her pull back on a shooter this year from another stand.

[bassnbucks]

My wife missed a good buck the previous night this happened, the stands we were hunting the night she missed were at least 1/4 mile apart. So we hunted a new spot and the stands were setup about 100 yds. apart It was two days before rifle season opened and I rattled in about a 115" buck. I could see him coming from about 400 yds. away but she couldn't see him. I let her know there was one coming by putting my fingers on my head and pointing in the direction he was coming from. It took about 5 min. before he got in front of me from when I first saw him. I could have taken him at about 15 yds. but I figured I would give her another chance at one. And I was pretty sure he was going to keep heading for her. She had some hot doe pee directly above a scrape about 5 ft. in front of her stand. He made his way over there, pawing at the scrape licking branches. It was cool to watch, except she was just sitting there watching him right in front of her with her bow in her lap. I just was sitting there wondering why the heck she hadn't taken a shot. He finally spooked and took off. She said she couldn't see him until he was right there (and right there was 5 or so ft. in front of her.) Oh well.

So I think having stands close together is not a bad thing if you have other places to hunt or don't hunt them everyday so you don't burn them out.

[goblueM]

i don't think there is such a thing as too close, as long as you play the wind right and are careful with scent

2 friends of mine shot a pair of does last year on opening day of archery season, and they had their stands in the same tree, at different levels don't think you can get closer than that

[Scoot]

In a lot of the woods I hunted growing up we often put stands around 50 yards apart. It was very common to have funnels that were just too wide to cover effectively with one guy, but you could cover them well with two guys. We'd sit in two great spots rather than one mediocre spot. Sometimes we'd be in plain view of each other, more often we couldn't see each other. Most importantly, you have to make sure the wind from one guy isn't causing problems for the other guy.

In the place I often hunt now, I wouldn't want another stand that close to me. Where I used to hunt we primarily hunted areas between bedding and feeding- the deer would walk through on a pretty clear and straight-forward path and not hang around long. Where I hunt more often now, the deer seem like they want to wander around a lot more and aren't always headed somewhere with a clear destination in mind. Since that's the case now, I wouldn't want another person nearby because he might mess up my chance for the deer to wander by me...

[HunterLee]

Like others have said, it dont matter how close stands are as long as they both work for the two of you at the same time. Heck on some small creek bottoms I have had up to 3 stands within 100-150yds, but most often I am by myself and they cover the other side of the creek or a different funnel.

You can't have to many stands, but you can over hunt a particular stand, or even if you get busted once its time let it rest or move it.