Stand height is totally related to what type of pressure the area you hunt in has and the types of trees that are available. In many Midwestern states I have hunted such as Ks., Ia., Il., and Mo., there was no need to get much higher than 15 feet because the deer out there don't get pressured and rarely look up. On my 17 one week trips to those states (public and free knock on doors for permission properties only) I have taken 15 P & Y bucks. Even in the areas where they may have been a slight amount of other hunter pressure in those states, most if not all the hunters I spoke with were only targeting 3 1/2 year and older bucks so of course until the bucks reach the kill criteria age they have minimal fear of hunter interactions because there had never been any negative consequence with their previous hunter encounters while growing to maturity.
Mature deer in lightly pressured or managed areas just don't look for hunters in trees as they do in the NE where bow hunter densities per square mile are often between 10 and 25 and nearly double that number of gun hunters. In those areas almost every hunter is targeting any legal antlered buck so if they don't get smart very quickly, they get offed.
Listed below are some statistics of a few of the higher profile whitetail states and when you take the bowhunter license sales for each state and divide it into the absolute square miles of each state, you come up with a bowhunter density per square mile stat. Each states land mass is absolute and these stats don't take into consideration lands within each state where hunting is not allowed. In high general population states like Mi., Pa., NY., and W. Va., for instance there are many large cities and sprawling suburbs where hunting is not allowed and these non-hunting land masses are added into the total sq. miles of the listed statistics skewing the density numbers much lower than they actually are, whereas states like Ks., Ia., Ne. have much lower general populations and therefore much fewer large cities and suburbs.
State Bowhunters per absolute square mile
Michigan 7.38
Pennsylvania 6.03
West Virginia 5.81
Kentucky 4.63
Nebraska .19
Kansas .24
Iowa .71
Minnesota .90
Illinois 1.97
-Bowhunting license sales taken from Archery Business Magazine
-State sizes from Almanac, US Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census
-Most hunter densities in every state are at least doubled during gun season.
If you just took the statistical numbers, every Kansas bowhunter would have 2,560 acres to hunt whereas every Michigan hunter would have about 80 acres.
It really gets interesting when you take P & Y entries per state and divide it into that states licensed bowhunter numbers. Since I live in Michigan and it has the most licensed bowhunters of all states I will use it as the example. In 2006 only one out of every 3,647 licensed bowhunters entered a Pope & young buck in the record book. To put that into perspective, if 91 bowhunters hunted for 40 seasons each, statistically only one of them would take a Pope & Young buck during their lifetime. In that same year only one in every 116,666 gun hunters entered a Boone & Crocket buck.
In Kansas that year, 1 in every 148 bowhunters entered a P & Y buck.
Not trying to make any enemies here but stats are stats and they can't be denied. In Michigan it is an extremely rare hunt when my feet are not a minimum of 25 feet off the ground and 30 feet is more the norm. Obviously early in the season when trees have tons of concealment cover in the form of leaves, I can get away with lower heights. Also later in the season from conifers or oaks that held their leaves I can hunt lower as well. Having to hunt from high elevations is not a macho thing, it is a necessary thing in heavily pressured areas.
I would challenge any hunter to hunt in a heavily pressured state on public or free permission property and try to take a mature buck from a 14 foot perch in a trees with no foliage. They might get fortunate and possibly get an opportunity at a fawn, or maybe even a year and a half old doe or subordinate buck, but at a mature doe or buck, very unlikely.
Mature deer in lightly pressured or managed areas just don't look for hunters in trees as they do in the NE where bow hunter densities per square mile are often between 10 and 25 and nearly double that number of gun hunters. In those areas almost every hunter is targeting any legal antlered buck so if they don't get smart very quickly, they get offed.
Listed below are some statistics of a few of the higher profile whitetail states and when you take the bowhunter license sales for each state and divide it into the absolute square miles of each state, you come up with a bowhunter density per square mile stat. Each states land mass is absolute and these stats don't take into consideration lands within each state where hunting is not allowed. In high general population states like Mi., Pa., NY., and W. Va., for instance there are many large cities and sprawling suburbs where hunting is not allowed and these non-hunting land masses are added into the total sq. miles of the listed statistics skewing the density numbers much lower than they actually are, whereas states like Ks., Ia., Ne. have much lower general populations and therefore much fewer large cities and suburbs.
State Bowhunters per absolute square mile
Michigan 7.38
Pennsylvania 6.03
West Virginia 5.81
Kentucky 4.63
Nebraska .19
Kansas .24
Iowa .71
Minnesota .90
Illinois 1.97
-Bowhunting license sales taken from Archery Business Magazine
-State sizes from Almanac, US Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census
-Most hunter densities in every state are at least doubled during gun season.
If you just took the statistical numbers, every Kansas bowhunter would have 2,560 acres to hunt whereas every Michigan hunter would have about 80 acres.
It really gets interesting when you take P & Y entries per state and divide it into that states licensed bowhunter numbers. Since I live in Michigan and it has the most licensed bowhunters of all states I will use it as the example. In 2006 only one out of every 3,647 licensed bowhunters entered a Pope & young buck in the record book. To put that into perspective, if 91 bowhunters hunted for 40 seasons each, statistically only one of them would take a Pope & Young buck during their lifetime. In that same year only one in every 116,666 gun hunters entered a Boone & Crocket buck.
In Kansas that year, 1 in every 148 bowhunters entered a P & Y buck.
Not trying to make any enemies here but stats are stats and they can't be denied. In Michigan it is an extremely rare hunt when my feet are not a minimum of 25 feet off the ground and 30 feet is more the norm. Obviously early in the season when trees have tons of concealment cover in the form of leaves, I can get away with lower heights. Also later in the season from conifers or oaks that held their leaves I can hunt lower as well. Having to hunt from high elevations is not a macho thing, it is a necessary thing in heavily pressured areas.
I would challenge any hunter to hunt in a heavily pressured state on public or free permission property and try to take a mature buck from a 14 foot perch in a trees with no foliage. They might get fortunate and possibly get an opportunity at a fawn, or maybe even a year and a half old doe or subordinate buck, but at a mature doe or buck, very unlikely.
