How long do you stay.....

[coach]

How long do you stay in your stand?
 
In October, I only hunt morning or nights. I need to move.  I usually don't hunt all day.
When the rut kicks in...then I ....Try to stay all day.  Either my stands are not comfortable or I'm weak.  I can't seem to stay all day without getting out once or twice.   My wife blames it on my " no padding butt cheeks."
 
  What do you guys do?
 
 

[shadow]

I usually attempt to stay as long as possible. Going in at 5-5:30 a.m. I'll stay on stand until about noon or so. 
If its an afternoon hunt I'll go in around 1:30 and stay until dark. There was however 2 times this past season that I was able to stay from sunup until sudown, a first for me. I will attempt to stick it out in my stand this coming year doing the same.

[Woods Walker]

If it's a day hunt based from my home, they're usually half a day.
 
When I can get to my out of town deer camp, then I will stay in the woods all day long, especially if it's between the end of October and Thanksgiving.

[buckhunter21]

I guess this all depends on the season and the weather.  Early bow season I'll usually just sit for a few hours in the morning and a few hours in the evening.  I'm normally an evening hunter in the early season, although I will hunt a few mornings.  That said, if there is a front moving in around 3pm I'll get to my stand earlier, etc. etc.
 
During the rut (pre/post included) I'll sit all day no questions ask.  Most people I know, some hunters included, can't see how I can do it.  I can seriously sit in a stand for an hour or so w/out moving a muscle!  Not sure how I do it. 
 
Late season it's back to mornings and evenings, mostly evenings.

[JOEL]

since i have to drive an hour to get to my spot i stay all day.If i get restless,bored ,etc i will still hunt/scout other spots nearby.I seldom hunt 1/2 days or morning then break and come back

[JPH]

As much as I like to consider myself a dedicated hunter, I have never had the mental or physical toughness to stay in a stand from dawn to dark.
 
When I can, I like to spend at least 3-5 hours in a stand and I will sometimes do that twice in one day (morning and evening).

[Woods Walker]

I'm surprised to hear that JPH, really. I know you are as fanatical about this as any of us here, and you are hardly a neophyte. Physically, you are MORE than tough enough to sit or stay out all day. But as you know, like with most things, the mental angle is the tough one.
 
I know that sitting for an entire day is a treestand is not easy, but what I finally made myself think was that as hard as it was, my chances of having a shot at a deer are 100% better in that stand than sitting back at camp, or Lord forbid back at home doing a "honey-dew".
 
You might want to try hunting the morning from one stand, then coming down, eat your lunch or even take a nap, and then slowly hunt your way to a different afternoon stand. Yes, while you are sleeping you won't see any deer that come by, but neither will you if you are back in camp either. Besides, when you wake up, you are THERE, and you don't have to risk having deer observe you coming and going an additional time.
 
The other mental game I did with myself was to have enough confidence in my stand to make myself believe that the longer I sat there WITHOUT seeing anything only meant that the time when I WOULD see something was only getting that much closer, because they WILL come by here. It's a mental exercise that I still have to work at, as now when I ground hunt I constantly have to make myself believe that there's ALWAYS a deer just beyond where I can't see, and I must act accordingly.
 
But as Tom Hanks' character Jimmie Dugan said in A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN,
 
"It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard... is what makes it great. "

[DeanoZ]

Pre-rut I hunt the mornings or late afternoons...mostly the mornings, there seems to be less hunters in my woods then.  During the rut I will try to stay all day, stepping down from my stand between 1-3pm.  From what I've read (Mapping Trophy Bucks, Precision Bow hunting) it is critical to stay in the stand during the rut, especially durign the hours of 10am-2pm...thats when they are out and about again..especially when other hunters are leaving the woods by 9-10am.

[fasteddie]

I drive almost 50 - 60 miles to my hunting areas . I make it an all day hunt . I get in the stand at least 30 minutes before light and just sit back and take in the sunrise . I will stay until almost dark in a couple spots but quit at least 1 hour before dark an another as if I have to track a wounded deer , I don't want to be using a flashlight there .
I will leave the stand somewhere between 11 am and 1 pm for no more than one hour to get a sandwich , etc .. Depending on the sun or wind direction , I might use a different stand in the afternoon . But ................... I won't hunt the next day as by the time I get home , it's 8 pm and I need to eat , cleanup and wind down . I find it difficult to get up at 3 am the next day . When I do hunt the following day , it's just an afternoon hunt ---- not an all day !

[msbadger]

I've sat as long as 12 hrs...and if in my treelounge it isn't a problem...but this year my time was shortened do to severe charlie horses in my thighs....bad enough that the muscles hurt for a month after season end....so now I will hunt a few hours then slow ground hunt to a differant stand ...so on /so forth...season before last on the last day of reg gun I finally connected on a 5pt doing that....older I get the more I need to keep the ole blood moving..[;)]