Why Bucks Are Avoiding Your Treestand

How Was the Test Conducted?

A lot of GPS collar studies are done with young bucks, but this test consisted of ten bucks that were 4 years or older, nine were 3 years old, ten were two years old and eight were yearlings. Each buck was equipped with a GPS collar that tracked its exact location to within a few feet and reported the results every 30 minutes for three years. (I’d like to have that kind of battery life in my trail cameras!).

The millions of data points were all taken on a 10-square-mile study area in South Carolina so the bucks had plenty of room to roam. In this study area were about 100 food plots totaling 300 acres, 60 automatic feeders, and 100 treestands.

Was the Study Area Being Hunted?

Yes, this area was being hunted but it was hunted strategically.  Hunters were dropped off and picked up near their treestands, which sounds awesome to me!  The hunting season started on September 15 and ended November 22. Records were taken for every treestand that was hunted each day and for how long.  Then, the GPS Collars tracked each buck in relation to the hunters in the stands and specific attention was paid to what McCoy called a “Danger Zone” which was the distance a hunter could visually see from the treestand.

Results from the Study

The results of this study revealed that bucks’ awareness of the use of stands and their tendency to avoid those stands while hunters in the stand.  Also, the bucks avoided those areas after being hunted. One observation about food plots and hunting pressure revealed that on August 24, 33% of the visits the bucks made to the food plots were during daylight. By November 22, the food plots were getting almost no daylight use.

The data showed that the bucks were four times more likely to walk through the danger zone at the beginning of the season than they were at the end. At the end of the season, the buck’s average location was 55 yards farther away from any treestand than it was at the beginning of the season.

The data also showed that the more times a stand was hunted, the more the deer avoided it. No surprise here. If, for example, you hunted a stand for 12 hours in any week, your chance of seeing any of the bucks was cut in half. This avoidance behavior lasted for an average of three days.

One thing that stood out to me is that there was very little difference in mature bucks vs yearlings all deer were quick to avoid the stands that were being hunted.

So What Does This Study Teach Us About How Bucks Avoid Our Treestand?

This study confirms that deer do not respond to human pressure in a negative way.  We’ve all heard the old saying, “The first sit is the best sit”.  Now we have data that proves it.  The more human pressure that a treestand receives, the more deer will avoid the area.

How Can We Use This Information to Be a Better Hunter?

Be Quiet and Cautious Walking to and From the Treestand

The easiest thing to control is the noise that you generate walking to and from the stand.  Many hunters do their best to sneak into the stand but get wreckless on the walkout after a long hunt.  Dry leaves, cracking twigs, and the unmistakable clang of metal on metal when hanging stands is a dead giveaway of human presence. Take your time and plan your access route accordingly.

Some hunters trim their walking trail and even blow the leaves out of their walking trail before the start of hunting season to reduce unwanted sound during their hike to and from the stand.  You should also consider using screening cover, whether it be corn rows, brushy fence lines, or creeks and ditches to avoid being seen.  I prefer access via water as much as possible.

Get in the Stand Early and Stay Late

Maybe the hardest task on this list is to wake up extra early and get into the treestand at least 30 minutes before first light and be prepared to stay well after dark if there’s deer around you.  Getting out of the stand with deer around is a surefire way to ruin a hunting spot.  In a perfect world, someone could pick you up on an ATV, bumping the deer our of the area for you.  They’ll be much more likely to return if you bump them out with an ATV vs them seeing you!

Controlling Your Scent

Imagine doing everything correctly only to hear a deer blow at you an hour into the hunt.  The deer continues to blow not just one time, but 10, 20, maybe even 50 times.  When a deer smells you, they aren’t going to come in.  Unfortunately, for many hunters, the fate of their hunt is determined before they ever reach the tree.

Wind direction is the most important factor in tipping deer off to your location. It’s impossible to eliminate all unwanted odors in the stand, but a good scent control regime can help you beat a deer’s nose.  Check out our 11 Steps to Improve Your Deer Hunting Success with Proper Scent Control.

Don’t be reckless though!  It’s important to hunt the correct wind direction.  This takes planning and being smart enough to get out of the treestand when the wind direction shifts.  This is my biggest downfall as once I get in the stand, I’m too lazy to get out of the tree.  It doesn’t hurt to bring along an Ozonics unit as well.