Are deer getting comfortable walking in front of your treestand based on the timing of when you hang them? This is an important topic because the timing of when you hang a treestand could be difference between you killing a giant buck or not. So, just how long does it take for deer to get used to a treestand after setting it up?
After hanging a treestand, deer can get used to them immediately or get spooked from the area for several months. Each deer has their own individual personality and will respond to new objects in the woods differently based on their individual reactions to danger. Young bucks and does are usually more tolerant of danger, such as human intrusion, and will likely get comfortable around new treestand setups quicker than mature bucks will. The amount of time needed for a deer to get used to a treestand will depend on a variety of factors that I will cover within this article.
There are a few things we need to ask before thoroughly answering how long it takes for deer to get used to a treestand. First, do our treestands spook deer in the first place? Second, how good are we at making our treestands spook-proof? And third, when should we set up our treestands so deer are comfortable walking in front of them?
Do treestands spook deer
Deer are just like humans in that that they learn things with their senses (sight, smell, sound, taste, and touch). Deer will each respond in their own individual ways to something foreign in the woods. With that being said I will answer the following question as directly as possible; do treestands spook deer?
Yes, treestands will spook deer or put them on edge if they sense something that is foreign to them in a specific area. If a deer can see it, smell it, or hear it then they could have a negative response to a treestand, and it could impact the quality of hunts around that stand. However, if a deer can’t easily see, hear, or smell the treestand, they will typically get comfortable around it immediately after your human ground scent has disappeared from that location. The timing of when you hang a treestand, and the way you hang it, will help you increase your odds of hunting success. Keep reading to see how to spook-proof your treestand and get deer walking in front of it comfortably.
How to keep treestands from spooking deer
To keep your treestands from spooking deer you need to make them free and hidden from sound, scent, and sight. Let’s dive into each of these a little bit.
1. Sound
Make sure your treestands can’t make any sounds. For example, many styles of tow ropes have a clip at the end of it to attach to your weapon for pulling your bow or gun up to yourself in the stand. Make sure this rope is tied to something when you aren’t using it. You don’t want the clip clanking against a ladder stick or your stand.
Make sure your stand doesn’t make any sounds when you step on the platform or move around on it. Your seat should also be quiet when you raise and lower the seat, as well as when you sit down or shift your weight on it while you are seated. If a noise can’t be fixed, then get a new stand. Sometimes a treestand will make noise in really cold weather but not in warm weather. Test your stands out in cold weather to ensure there will be no sounds when you’re hunting in it.
2. Scent
If your treestand is brand new it might have that “new car smell” that will be unfamiliar to deer. If they smell this, they will most likely be alerted by it. What I like to do is store my stands outside somewhere so mother nature can get rid of that smell before you go to hang it in your stand location. If you are hanging your stand during the middle of deer season, or just prior to it, try spraying your stands down thoroughly with a scent killer. The scent killer should make the new smell a little more difficult for deer to detect.
Just a reminder, you can still spook deer from the ground scent you leave behind after hanging a stand. Some guys have set up a trail camera overlooking their treestand location and have captured video of deer being spooky. Deer might be spooky from your ground scent or from the trail camera itself. It’s possible that deer never even smelled your stand at all when this spooky behavior happened.
3. Sight
A treestand can’t be invisible. However, you can do a lot to keep it hidden from a deer’s sight. For example, the higher a treestand is off the ground, and out of a deer’s line-of-sight, the harder it will be for them to recognize.
Try to add some front cover to your stand if possible. Sometimes your tree will have a branch with vegetation protruding out at the same height you want to hang your stand at. Hang your stand just above this branch so it’s between the platform and the deer. This will help camouflage your treestand with the tree. You could also cut tree branches and weave them through the platform of your stand. If you cut branches, make sure you are cutting oak branches or some other tree species that will hold its leaves after it dies.
Lastly, make sure you don’t have any tow ropes, straps, or harness belts hanging in such a way that they can flap around in the wind. Tie down the excess slack so there is nothing swinging around in the wind. By doing this you will reduce the likelihood of deer looking up at the stand.
Click the link to read my 52 tips for hanging treestands for deer hunting.
When to set up a treestand
As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, deer have different personalities and will respond differently to danger. Are you hanging your treestands to kill young bucks and does, or are you trying to kill mature bucks? If you want to kill mature bucks, you should be strategic in every move you make when trying to kill them.
The best time to set up a treestand is after deer season is over and before spring green-up (January – April). The second-best time to hang a treestand is the same day you plan to hunt in it. Even if you do everything possible to ensure deer cannot hear, see, or smell your treestand, you will still end up putting your own human intrusion on the area to hang the stand. Human intrusion negatively impacts the quality of hunts. Therefore, so you should avoid hanging treestands around the months of hunting season when possible.
When you hang your treestand several months before the start of deer season, odds are good that most of the deer will be used to it when it’s time to hunt. That’s assuming you have done everything else to make the stand free and hidden from sound, scent, and sight.
If your deer season is already in full swing and your stands are not in place, then a hang-and-hunt is your best option. Managing your human intrusion is key when it comes to killing deer, especially mature bucks. If you want to increase the quality of your hunts you should try to sneak in, hang your stand, and hunt it all in the same trip. The last thing you want to do, is go in a day or week early to hang a stand and end up educating your target buck that he is being hunted before you get a chance to hunt him. If that happens, you might never even get a chance at killing that buck.
Conclusion
Deer can get used to your treestand immediately. However, if the stand is setup in a way that always alerts deer, then it could take several months for them to get used to it. Do everything you can to setup your treestands so that deer cannot hear, see, or smell them. The best way to do this is by setting them up with these things in mind so you can fix any issues with your stands that would alert deer. Lastly, setting stands up after hunting season is over and before spring green-up will give them plenty of time for deer to get used to them. Also, your human odor will be gone by this time. At this point, all you need to do is go in for the kill and make it happen.
You might be interested in these articles:
How many stands should I set up per acre
Where you should setup your deer stand
How to set up a treestand in the dark?
52 tips for hanging treestands for deer hunting