How still do you sit?

[tom_guy]

Alot of people have been talking about sitting all day long, but if you do how often do you move, I was told by my father that it should take almost a minute to turn your head from left to right.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Depends on how serious you are. I move far more than that. But I work hard on making sure my location is pretty well camo into my surroundings. On a noise, you hear behind you, yes you should turn slow. If you are just scanning, I dont think its all that important to go super slow mode. Its all up to you.. its about having fun out there more than anything.

[TrophyEyes]

I have a very unique situation for my stand location. I sit at the top of a revine in a tree that has very little cover. I am pretty much siloetted from every direction. This traditionally would be a very bad set-up, but it is one of the most high traffic area in this part of the woods. I don't bow hunt out of this stand because I cannot shoot from the angle they come in at without being seen. It however has been a very productive spot.

To answer your question. I sit very still until I see a deer. I don't have all that much time once they come out of the thick stuff to make a decision and drop the hammer. I move pretty fast once they emmerge. If I was in another location I would move much slower. I have thought about a ground blind, but I am on state land and that is more obtrusive than me sitting up in that tree 4 days out of the year.

[BobT]

Put it this way.

One time while bow hunting some CRP land, I was kneeling on the ground. It was a blustery, snowy, rainy, cold, late September day.

Every once in a while I could swear I could hear the sound of footsteps or possibly a chipmunk hopping along the ground. I dismissed it because it was so windy and wet that I just couldn't imaging I would hear that.

The sound persisted to the point that I decided to take a look around. I turned my head only to find that I was staring eye-to-eye with a small doe! It startled me so bad I dropped my bow and nearly dropped a few other things as well.

She immediately jumped about 10 feet away and stood there trying her hardest to make me jump. I had all I could do to not bust out laughing.

You don't get that opportunity without being very still.

It was fun.

Bob

[bigbucks]

My best answer would be, not very. I'm a leg shaker-fidgeter person who never sits still anywhere unless I'm asleep or close to it.

My heads on a swivel, I just try to keep looking all the time & at every movement, without snapping my head around really fast, so I can catch them before they're too close. Like others said, I try to keep my stand sites out of the deer's natural line of sight. I stand up & sit down pretty often too, but I try to limit it to no more often than a half hour between major moves. I find that I have very few stand sites where the deer aren't coming from a fairly good distance & you can see them before they get too close. The ones where you can't, they can't see you anyway.

[bassman2012]

I dont sit as still as i probably should.. i hunt out of mostly permanent stands with mesh siding allowing me to move more then if i was sitting in a portable or latter stand. still probably to much, but i try to look around good before making any major moves.

[Wanderer]

Just be smooth. It doesn't have to be slow motion, just no quick, jerky movements.

But picking a stand site that keeps you out of their sight line is in your best interest.

I'm a little unorthodox in the way I set up. When choosing a tree, I look for the one I "can't" see - meaning one that is not obvious. Look around the woods some time you'll see what I mean.

I also hang the stand quartering away or on the opposite side of where I think the deer will come from. Then I stand. I rarely sit. I think my standing profile blends with the trees better than my sitting one. Especially if I'm leaning against the tree. I can then rotate my fidgeting self slowly and scan ALL around me.

My ears do most of the work. I rarely do not hear a deer before I see it. As soon as I hear it, I get my weapon ready and freeze and watch.

This has served me well.

[Johnny_Namakan]

My dad used to say the samething. It should take a minute to turn your head. he also said it should take me 20 minutes to walk 20 yards. three steps and stop.....three steps and stop. But I think this was more to get it into our young heads that speed means nothing in the woods. take your time and be observant of your surroundings.

I agree with wanderer. Be smooth with your movements and you shouldn't spook anything, and if you do, then they were watching you the whole time anyway and already had the upper hand on you. I also rarely have a deer come up on me with out me hearing it first, but the couple deer that did sneak up on me happened to be a couple large bruisers. Two years ago during muzzie season I was working the grunt call. I swore I heard motion a few hundred yeards out in front of me, which I'm very sure I did hear. After a couple minutes of nothing I brought the gun back down from shoulder and relaxed. As soon as I did this, I hear a snort behind me. I turn, and 40 yards away staring right at me was a huge buck. Our eyes were locked. Well I'm sure you know who won that staring contest.....let's just say he was gone before I could even think about lobbing a shot off at him. Then there's the other side of the story. I hate to admit how many bucks/does I've taken with a pop and a smoke in my hands, chewing on a granola bar. But all in all, I try to be as still as possible, but more importantly try to be as quiet as possible. If you move try not to make the stand squeak or make any other sounds. I think out of the three ways of getting busted by a deer, sound is the first. First Sound, then Sight, and thirdly smell. That's just from my experience and is my $.02. It all depends on your stands location, surroundings, etc.

[brassman]

My last years deer cannot be used in this instance because I was sleeping right before she showed up. I opened my eyes for whatever reason and she was 30 yards out, I waited till she walked behind a tree and stood up. then when she turned her head I grabbed my bow and drew back on her. In that particular tree there isn't any cover except the background is pines. Other wise I am in a popple and no branches for another 20 feet. I stick out like a sore thumb but I'm a good 16 feet up out of the line of sight. Or atleast I think I am. I try to keep still but I know it never happens, however I get up and stretch every 3 hours or so.

[Jim Almquist]

I sit in my stand most of the time and I try to minimize any movement other then my head and like the others I will move it slowly. I am always trying to hear the deer or see it before it gets to me.I try to look as far off as I can trying to detect any movement so I bust him before he bust me.Its funny how many little critters you will see when using this method. We have the luxury of taking showers before we go on stand and all of our cloths are kept outside hanging on the porch. It is very cool to watch a deer wander by and never detect that you are even there and I have even had them sleep below my stand.

[Coach1310]

Not near as still as some of the diehards will tell you to sit. My theory is, for me to stay in a stand for a long time I need to get up, stretch, do some scanning, etc. By changing positions, sitting, standing etc. I am able to stay in the stand longer, which to me is more important that staying still for a shorter period of time. I'm not out there to be uncomfortable, so I move around a bit.

[Dahitman44]

On the flip side though -- you have to be scanning a lot.IMO. I saw a nice buck, briefly, while I was bow hunting this year. Had I not been moving my head at that time I would have missed him.

all in all use your head, be "slowish" and try not to get too excited.

[JustLOVEit]

To me it depends on how high i am sitting on my treestand and where. If i'm sitting on flat land, 15+ feet on my treestand i don't worry too much about how much i am moving, but more of moving quietly. If you can't move without making any noises then i recommend not moving or limiting your movement.

[wdgold]

On opening day I sit in my stand all day long without getting off. I like to be in my stand during the time when a lot of hunters are heading out for lunch break, and when the rut is on deer can be moving all day long. One time I shot a nice 8-point right around lunchtime when people are normally moving around.

[SSSTaxidermy]

I try to keep my movements to a minimal. Move my head in a slower fashion. I too rely more on my ears. It takes some concentration to do so. Which is kinda fun and challenging in itself. To pass the time and to remain still, I either play a game on my cell phone, or bring a hand held electronic game like poker, yatzee, etc.

[Bear55]

I also try and keep my movements to a minimum but I do a lot of scanning so I might be moving a lot compaired to some. Where I hunt the woods are very thick so you might only have a few seconds to see a deer and decide to shoot or not. I don't know how many times I have turned my head to see a deer just standing there, I haven't had one spook on me yet. They may stare you down for a while but if you freeze right away they usually calm down. If I think something snuck in on me and is very close I do turn my head about as slow as possible.