Every season it sounds like a war zone out in my neck of the woods and wanted to try and get a true sense of just how bad the hunting pressure is. Took some time this morning doing some online recon using Google Earth and then used another program to calculate out the size of the area being assessed. Ok here are the results

Within a 1.5 sq mile area of where I hunt there is the following:

15 stands (3 of which are mine)
20 feeders (3 of which are mine)

Now a few additional important items to note along with some other interesting observations

There were 4 stands where I was not able to see a feeder. For these I made just made the assumption there is 1 feeder but just not visible online due to trees or brush
One stand overlooked 4 feeders and another stand overlooked 3. All others appeared to be singles
Feeders could be corn and or protein – No way to differentiate
5 feeders are surrounded by hog fencing (1 of which is mine) the others appear to not be fenced in

So what do you guys think? Does this sound about on PAR for most the areas you guys hunt or would this be considered extreme hunting pressure. It was an eye opening exercise…..Would love to see some others do the same analysis and report back with findings

Seems pretty dense to me. My first lease I rarely heard shots except for duck hunters on occasion. I knew of one other group that shot a buck I had on camera during the rut, but they shot him over a mile away by the crow flys. I knew of no other groups. I did see some stands but they were in disrepair and not safe to use on the neighboring property. I never saw or heard anyone shoot from there in 3-4 seasons on that lease.

My second lease was more dense, could hear the occasional shot mainly at dawn and dusk, and never knew if it was after deer, coyotes or hogs. Had them all around us there. Very target rich. I never looked via google maps what was around, but just based on gun shots fired and traffic at the hunting times, I would say there were maybe 3-4 hunting groups within about a 1.5 sq mile area around that lease with their stands. but Certainly not 15 stands and 20 feeders.

At my current place (southern OK), density is even less. I know the neighbors around me all hunt, but its bow season most of the time so most folks see a lot more deer than they can shoot, so deer density is higher for it. I don't think any of the immediate neighbors even put up feeders. Just find a trail and hang a stand. I have tried to make my place a deer habitat. It is still a work in progress, but food plots, feeders, protein, sanctuary areas, etc...so no where near 20 feeders, but I may have somewhere around 7-10 stands at any given time in a 1.5 sq mile area around my place, maybe more.

We hunt 1 per section (little less) with a total of 3 hunters and have zero hunting pressure for 2-3 miles to our north which is a group of professional baseball players, zero hunting pressure for 8-10 miles to our west, very little hunting pressure (1 guy) to our south and zero hunting pressure for 2-3 miles to our east. We have 6 stands, feeders and protein feeder stations as well as some ground blinds for bow hunting. I know guys on leases that can wave at one another as they hunt and I've been on some leases with too many hunters. Never again.

Lol waiting for someone from East TX to chime in and make me feel better. By the way l hunt on private family owned land but surrounded by lease hunters

For me it is not about how many stands and feeders but how many people are actually hunting where they are located. Between my neighbor and myself we have 8 blinds and 8 corn feeder locations(3 of mine have a protein feeder also) on about 6 acres. Is that to many? I am the only person who hunts my place and the neighbor is the only one who hunts his place. So 2 hunters on 600 acres and we both see a lot of deer. Probably would see more if we both only had one blind and one corn feeder.

I just moved to East Texas and tried to do the google map, but trees so thick I can't even see my own stands. However, When I hunted around Eastland, if I went 3/4 mile in every direction from my stand, I know of 10 stands, 2 of which are mine. You know of 15 3 of which are yours,
So I got 8 that are not mine in the same amount of land that you have 12 that are not yours. Therefore you had 50% more pressure than I did. I hunted on small property of about 75 acres and most around me were 75-150 acres in size. I would normally hear between 2 and three shots on opening morning.

That seems a little dense even for east Texas. I have one lease of 640 acres with seven members and 10 feeders but never more than three out there at any one time hunting.

640 acres is exactly 1 square mile. The area l mapped was 1.5 sq miles. Assuming you have 10 stands on your lease and the stand density stays constant across the fence line of your lease it would appear on the surface that we actually have the same amount hunting pressure.Which is 1 stand every 64 acres. This of course assumes you don’t know number of hunters

Bingo

IMO, stand density is just one of the factors to consider when determining the level and impact of hunter pressure. My observations have convinced me that mature deer are sensitive to the sights, sounds, and smells of hunter activity. This includes the sounds of ATVs, vehicle doors being closed, and even the sounds of people talking. Of course there are those who will quickly say the deer on their place have learned to ignore such things. However, my observations have been that once the shooting starts, all deer are able to learn the nature of human activity is now different. Simply put, the more mature deer soon recognize that folks are after them.

A grad student at Auburn did a very exhausting study on the impact of hunting activity on deer behavior by placing GPS tracking collars on a large number of deer in a very large, heavily hunted tract in South Carolina. The results of his study have been well documented in a number of magazine and other articles and are eye-opening to say the least.

One of these articles can be found at the link below.

Hunter Pressure Study

My lease has 10 guys on almost 3000 acres.

I agree with Dan. Obviously not every stand will be hunted, at least on a normal lease. Not everyone will be there at the Same time, save for opening weekend.

We have 7 stands on 300 acres. 2-3 hunt for deer. Most everyone shoots hogs though. Bottom line, Just have fun and don't over think it. Make your place better than the other guys.More food. Water. Habitat, you'll do fine.

How is this for pressure?

We have 25 stands on 3500 acres but we only take about 8 guys plus 2 guides out at a time.

Just curious on location. Obviously some areas of the state can support more hunters per acre, than others. High deer density areas makes a big difference. By the same token, lower density areas require much more land per hunter.

Amen brudda

Deer know how to avoid the stands and pressure once season starts so stand density doesn't always matter. If you go by gun shots at our place, predators and pigs are normally the receiving end of the shot. We have a stand and feeder per 180 acres and you can only see about 2 acres a feeder, some only 1/2 an acre is visible. Lots of territory for them to roam undisturbed. Our biggest deer make 1 or 2 appearances on camera the whole year. I see same observation across most of Texas low fence places.

You bet they do. I once took a very nice buck from a ladder stand I threw up just a couple hours earlier in a spot that was in between two box stands that had been in place for years. There was no question in my mind that old buck had learned how to travel through the area without being seen. And he had not snapped a ground twig, he would have likely slipped by behind me.

Take'em or leave them, but these are my Top 5 secrets for limiting hunter pressure or using it in your favor so that you see more and better deer...

1. The more you walk the more you see. Leave the ATV for hauling that big buck past those who rode their ATVs to the stand.

2. Don't over hunt a stand but rotate between them as the wind dictates.

3. Some of the best hunting is during the middle of the week late in the season when its cold, the deer are hungry, and most hunters have given up and started watching football.

4. Stay late in the morning, especially during the early part of the season, and let the guys riding their ATVs back to camp, drive deer into your quiet area.

5. Hunt during the middle of the day whenever the moon is full and especially during the rut. Pack a lunch and stay all day if you can during the rut.

My best buck I have taken was at 10:35 am. I was playing some phone game after a fogged in morning and buddy was at stand to pick me up but fog was lifting and I was 200 yards away in a field or something killing time. I never heard him and didn't hear phone call luckily and was 200 yards away. I saw him leaving and went back to stand to wait. Doe ran out and buck and a buck and a buck and then the old buck chasing. He was so winded he stopped and walked in circles a bit. 215 yard shot... incredible. December Bosque. Rut goes on. No feeder was used as well since none was set up.

Zero hunting pressure though...

My biggest East Texas buck was taken on public land around 10am, which was about an hour after several hunters rode their ATV's through the National Forest on their way back to camp. They were using a road that had been grandfathered as an access route to the landowner where they had their camp. The old buck came from their direction and was probably hiding somewhere between my stand and the road. Once the noise quieted down, I suspect he got up and started easing my way. It was the first deer I would take with a little Browning Micro Medallion .243 that I later gave to my daughter.

From my stand, I am 3 1/2 miles from highway 190 and I can here large trucks driving on it early in the morning. My guess is that a deer rifle can be heard from at least that distance. 1 1/2 miles seems pretty close in the grand scheme of things.

If you're all hunting those stands at the same time that is way too much human activity in that small of an area for deer not to be alarmed.