[adrenalinerush]

I assume that most people on here (AT) have several places to hunt or multiple stands to hunt in. What factors help you determine which stand to sit in?? In no particular order, I would have to give my top 5 as:

1) Wind Direction
2) Morning/Evening Set
3) Recent Sightings/pictures
4) Proven Results from the past
5) Time of year (late summer, pre-rut, rut, etc...)

Which factors do you feel are MOST IMPORTANT when choosing your set? Let's try to keep it to YOUR top 5 factors as we all know there is more involved when choosing.

 

[bearleft]

Wind,food,and with this years weather in KY I'll ad water

 

[Coldone]

Wind, time of year, morning/evening. Wind has to be right. If its October, thinking about food. If its November, thinking about tail. If its December, thinking about food. Morning/evening, heading to or from food sources and bedding. Your other two are to be considered too, since if you've seen a good buck traveling the same place day after day, better get there quick.

 

[Daniel Boone]

wind and trail cam pictures
DB

 

[bobbal]

Wind direction is the most important.
Active sign

 

[backroads123]

wind derection
morning or evening
time of the year

 

[ksgoosekillr]

i have 8 1/4's of land to hunt and 27 stands to choose from. first thing i do is make sure im hunting and area that IVE SEEN! large bucks in... next is wind direction

1. free available time
2. area ive seen large bucks in
3. wind direction that wont screw me up in that area

take away number one and you dont get 2 and 3, take away number 2 and its a waste of time unless your after meat, number three is just being a smart hunter

 

[dbertram85]

FOOD is key. You might not hunt the actually food but your usually hunting a staging area to food even during the rut.

 

[rob-c]

#1 wind,#2 day or night some stands are on a side hill so i have to watch the warm in the morning riseing currents and dropping cooling currents at night.i have one stand on top of the hill i see deer= day ,night,warm, cold,archery or gun season it does not matter i only hunt that stand with a east or west wind....

 

[ILbowhunter79]

Wind direction is no good if you can't get to your stand without spooking deer. You can have the wind right with tons of recent sightings and trail cam pics and end up blowing them all out of the area and trashing an awesome spot if you can't get there undetected.

 

[adrenalinerush]

Wind direction is no good if you can't get to your stand without spooking deer. You can have the wind right with tons of recent sightings and trail cam pics and end up blowing them all out of the area and trashing an awesome spot if you can't get there undetected.

So you would say that time of day is important then... I would assume that if you hung the stand, it would almost have to have a time when you could access it without spooking deer... If that's not morning, then it's evening. If it's neither, you wouldn't have hung the stand or the stand is worth risking blowing them outa there...

I'm liking these answers. I always hear water, but where I hunt, there is so much of it that it's not a factor. Also, food sources may fall under the "time of year" category because of when they are attractive to the deer. Example: we all know deer like apples but they really drawn to them when they ripen and fall to the ground... same with acorns.

 

[Campbell]

Wind direction, undetected access to stand, wind direction, wind direction, wind direction and wind direction

 

[adrenalinerush]

what about moon phase? does that make a difference in which stand?

 

[svillemartin]

what about moon phase? does that make a difference in which stand?

I personally dont believe in the moon phase theory. i tend to see more deer on a full moon then any other phase.

 

[happyhunter62]

wind and trail cam pictures
DB

will agree with db. let the trail cam photos tell you when and where to hunt

 

[Daniel Boone]

what about moon phase? does that make a difference in which stand?

I do use moon guides and make a difference on what days Im taking off for vacation. Never on a full moon.
DB

 

[hobbs4421]

1 Trail cam pics of deer
2 Amount of food in the area(Apples, accorns, and corn)
3 How successful I was in the past out of the stand
4 Time of year(Rut or pre rut)
5 How much time I have to hunt. I hunt after work, so I usualy try to find a place that is close to work to hunt.
6 Water(especialy during the rut and the hot days of pre rut)

 

[ftshooter]

1.Wind..
2. sign/Food,water and bed = deer travel =terrain
3. Time I have some closer spots and some further away ...On week days hunt close and weekends drive 2 1/2 hours one way to hunt..
4. rut,pre rut,post,rut
5. past experience in the area

Of course, this gos hand in hand ...

 

[hntnksn]

Wind

I'm fortunate enough to see bucks on 90% of my sits so I pretty much hunt good wind and know I'll see deer.

 

[ohiobowhunter75]

wind,food and best access.