When to leave your stand?

Wondering....what dictates when you leave your stand? and if anyone has a story of lowering your gun or bow, standing up or walking out and jumping a big buck that would probably have came within range?

TRR wrote:

Wondering....what dictates when you leave your stand? and if anyone has a story of lowering your gun or bow, standing up or walking out and jumping a big buck that would probably have came within range?

Ususally never have a set time to leave for a morning hunt... I usually sit pretty long but of course it all depends if I have something I need to be back for. Also depends on other factor like time of year (can't sit as long as you want due to the cold in the late, late season because of the extreme cold), deer activity (do the deer seem to be moving at all?), hunting location (am I hunting public land where another hunter might push a deer towards me if I stay in the stand longer than him?) Like I said, everything is all situational. You just gotta go with your gut feeling.

Two extremes I can think of are one time I knew I only had about an hour and a half for a morning hunt on a Sunday before church. Shot a decent six in that short time. (It was the last day of the season too). Another time I only planned on hunting the morning and I ended up in my climber all day because there were deer everywhere around me that morning and around mid morning a bruiser came through that I just could not get a shot off on. I decided to sit all day because I did not want to take the chance of boosting him off when I walked out (It was a small pinch of land) and I though he might come back through the same area before dark. So that ended up being over a 12 hour sit.

The stand question is a tough one with no real set answer. Weather, time of year, location of stand can all play a role. If it's nearing the rut then you may not wanna leave till it's dark. If it's hot and the deer aren't moving then coming out after the morning hunt are fine. I've sit dark to dark and I've come out of a stand at 830 in the morning. The more you hunt the more experience you gain and can better judge when you should leave your stand
Of course the old saying goes "you can't kill deer unless you are hunting" so the longer you sit the better the odds

Depends on where I am. There are some places I hunt where the deer move like clocks. If its past 9:00 Imight as well head out, trail cams have reinforced this. If I'm in a new area, I like sitting as long as I can stand it. I've seen a lot of deer in he 11am-1pm slot.

During the early season I usualy hunt the first few hours in the morning and the last 2 or 3 hours in the evening.When the rut starts kicking in I'll hunt as long as I can.I shot one of my biggest bow bucks by telling myself to hunt 10 more mins around Nov 4th.It was right at last light.

LawCoBowhunter wrote:

During the early season I usualy hunt the first few hours in the morning and the last 2 or 3 hours in the evening.When the rut starts kicking in I'll hunt as long as I can.I shot one of my biggest bow bucks by telling myself to hunt 10 more mins around Nov 4th.It was right at last light.

X2 Same here.

Sit as long as you can, unless you have evedince that deer are only using the area at certain time like Zach said. If you know an area well and the deer have a pretty firm pattern, leave when you know they will not be in the area. If deer use the area just as a travel corridor then during the rut stay put as long as you can. I've had deer move thru funnels all day long when they are looking for does. Just like everyone else has said, it all depends on the stand, weather, and time of year. Trail cameras will deffinitely save you countless and deerless hours on stand.

I would have to agree with everyone else and it really depends where I am hunting. Over time you get to know what the deer do as the seasons change for the most part. I have stayed in my stand a number of times 30 - 45 min after in gets dark because of the deer movement around me. I had to wait for them to pass. I stay longer more often the more I hunt because it's that gut feeling you get. In my younger days of hunting I learned that I spooked deer out almost everytime I went hunting because I would get down to early. Now that I am older and have more patience I stay in. Haven't use trail cameras but can definitely see how it can help. Good Luck.

I usually set as long as I can during the rut usually all day long. Yes i have had my bow hanging from a pull rope and had deer walk in.

I've also walked in with my climber for anafternoon hunt and climbed to my hunting height and when I looked down to pull my bow up realied that I already had deer coming in on me...

I sit all day during the rut and the last 4 hours in the evening all other times. In the morning it depends on deer movement when it's not the rut.

Yeah, Im pretty much like the rest of you. early season when the temps are high and the deer are laid up I hunt until around lunch, go hit the buffet head back to the woods around 2ish take a nap and hunt until dark. Around mid Oct the temps in middle Tennessee are cooling. The bucks are on the their feet much more during the daylight hours so I try and find soild travel routes and sit all day there.

One thing I will add early season when I go back into the woods I almost always NEVER hunt the same spot I hunted that morning for a few reasons. One would be that 4 trips to a stand leaves a bunch of scent behind and noise made, two most times what maybe a great early season morning spot may suck for evening hunts. Nothing will ruin a good hunting spot more than over-hunting it.

TRR wrote:

Nothing will ruin a good hunting spot more than over-hunting it.

I would have to agree...

Dave wrote:

TRR wrote:

Nothing will ruin a good hunting spot more than over-hunting it.

I would have to agree...

X2 Most definitely.

For the first 4 weeks of archery I shift my work hours so I can get out every evening early enough to hunt. So that's till dark unless I get hung up not wanting to spook anything getting out. Last year I hunted every day till I killed a buck on the last day of getting out early. That leaves a few Saturday mornings and typically I need to get at other things after 10am. Most of my early season trailcam activity is done by 9:30 so I don't think I'm missing that much.

If my tag makes it to the rut you can't beat dark to dark. Some of those days I may switch locations round noon-2pm. Depends on what I see.