When setting up a property for deer hunting, many hunters ask how many stands they need on a property to maximize their hunting opportunities. While there is no exact answer to this question, this article will provide you with the insights to come up with an answer for your specific hunting property.
The number of stands you setup should be roughly equal to the number of specific locations that you can effectively hunt without educating deer of your hunting pressure. Give yourself as many stand options as practical for hunting a variety of wind directions. While keeping this in mind, hang stands over expected deer movement areas like trails, pinch points, creek crossings, etc.
Now that you have a general idea how many stands you need, let’s dive a little deeper into the factors that impact the number of stands that you should set up per acre on your property.
How many access points do you have?
Which direction(s) can you approach your hunting property from? If you’re able to access your property from multiple directions then the number of stands you can set up per acre likely increases. On the flip side, some properties have access from merely one direction and can only be hunted effectively when winds are blowing a specific way. Limited access points will influence how many stands you should effectively hang on a property.
How does the property lay out for hunting?
Let’s assume you have a 40-acre property of all timber that can only be accessed from the south and is surrounded by more timber on the north, east, and west. This property layout might limit your stand options to only being able to hunt on north winds from the south side of your property.
Now, let’s assume you have a 40 acre property of all timber that can only be accessed from the south and is surrounded by open agriculture fields field. With an island of timber that’s surrounded by open fields you might be able to effectively hunt every side of your property during every wind condition.
How many lines of deer movement are there?
If you have a deer trail leading out into an open field there is a possibility that you will want to hang two stands within shooting distance of that trail on each side of it. This will allow you to hunt that line of deer movement during different wind conditions.
You might have a property that can only be hunted from one wind direction but maybe there are three different lines of deer movement on that one side of the property. Depending on the layout of the property and how deer move through it, you might be able to set up six different stand locations.
For more information about where and how to setup your stands check out these articles:
Where you should setup your deer stand
52 tips for hanging tree stands for deer hunting
How many acres do you need per hunter?
Every property has a maximum number of stands that can be effectively hunted without ruining the hunting opportunities on that property. Human intrusion plays a major role in how well a property hunts and the number of deer a hunter sees. If the wind is blowing to the west on a specific day and a property only has one stand set up for a west wind, then there should only be one hunter on that property that day. If that same property has three stands set up for a north wind, then that property can be effectively hunted by three hunters on days that have a north wind.
Keep in mind that human intrusion can still occur at stand locations even when the winds are blowing in the hunter’s favor. In general, the more a stand location is hunted, the harder it will be to kill deer from that location during future hunts. There are exceptions to this general rule when your entry and exit strategies to a stand are bulletproof and deer never learn about your hunting pressure. These exceptional stands can be hunted day after day during idea wind directions without future hunts being negatively impacted.
What should the distance between stands be?
There is no set distance that stands should be from each other. If you can effectively hunt over a line of deer movement from two different sides of a trail, then tree stands can be as close as 20 yards from each other (each stand being 10 yards from the trail). In most cases, the distance between my stand locations is roughly equal to the distance between different lines of deer movement that I hunt over.
Conclusion
As you can see, the number of stands you need per acre is all relative. There is no exact answer to this question without diving into a specific property. How you access a property, how a property lays out for hunting, and the number of deer movement opportunities all play a major role in how many stands you should set up on your hunting land. A property can only support the same number of hunters as stands that can be hunted on a given wind direction. Lastly, there is no set distance that stands should be from each other. Maximize the number of stands on your property so that you can hunt as many different lines of deer movement from as many different wind directions as possible.
