How do you pass the time?

[Fletch]

Before smart phones I would bring a book. Now usually the phone. I find I can sit longer and move less if I have something to occupy slow periods. If I saw 20 deer a sit like some lucky ones I would not need to do this but I have gone 10-12 days without seeing a deer at times!! If it is rut or prime movement time I am on point but otherwise I pop on In The stand thread, text hunting buddies around the country as they do me keeping us all hopeful, play Sudoku, read the news, check out sports on the phone......I only look at the phone for a minute or two then check for movement. I also try to minimize phone or book on days I can't hear movement in the woods well, then I need to focus more on my soroundings. On potato chip leaf days I could be watching a movie and still hear a deer walking 300 yards away!!

[nybuckboy]

I know many people who have told me over the years they read a book and many play with their phone texting (which I do as well) and I do use internet to pass the time as well. All this requires you to look away from the woods around you. 

About 15 years ago is the first time I tried this and back in 2009 I tried it again when I was on an Illinois bow hunt.  On the bow hunt we planned to stay in the stand all day - dark to dark - which I did for 6 days only getting down to stretch my legs about noon each day.

I make it a habit near the end of October when I begin to sit for much longer periods to carry my IPOD. When I feel like I can't continue from boredom, I turn on my music of choice at a nearly off level where I can hear the woods around me and barely hear the music. I find about 60- 75 minutes late morning and sometimes again in the mid afternoon it is the difference between staying in/on stand and moving or going home.

I know this may sound strange to some of you but if you think about it.

1) keeps you in the woods longer

2) keeps your eyes available to search for movement 

3) can still hear your surroundings fine

4) give you a chance to listen to music undisturbed by phone calls, the wife or kids talking, etc.

I remember sitting in the woods on the ground about 15 years ago after a fresh snow listening to the IPOD and 3 doe came by me about 20 yds away and I could hear them moving through the snow and they had no idea I was there.

 

 

 

 

[Tughill Tamer]

Try to keep my head in the game like grampy was saying but on extremely slow days I will break out the phone!

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[sweet old bill]

18 hours ago, nybuckboy said:

We all know that you can't kill a deer from your bed or couch. As the season goes on and after logging hours on or in a stand it can get increasingly difficult to remain in or on your stand so here is a question for us all.  How do you pass the time away on stand?

I take a book to read in the non hot hours and or even a FM radio with a ear  speaker .

[Pygmy]

Tiffany and I just sit there and make googly eyes at each other....

[Rockspek]

18 hours ago, turkeyfeathers said:

When I think I should be seeing deer I don't. And poof ,"where'd that/they come " when I'm actually paying 100% attention 

The only two deer I've shot were when I was about to get out of my stand and surprisingly they were right there the whole time.

[wfmiller]

I take a book with me and read. I also play around on the phone and listen to music a lot.

[nyslowhand]

Might be simply an "old fart" mentality, but if you are sitting in the woods (supposedly hunting), why do you feel the need to read a book, search the web, text everyone of your contacts just to pass the time..... IMHO, are you really in the game?

 

My philosophy had always been to carry the phone for emergencies, on vibrate and pulled out only to check the time. Broke my own rule a few years ago. Answering a text from a fellow hunter, "seeing anything, what's moving", when I look up and a nice buck was @ 15yrds broadside. Stashed my phone, struggled to get bow ready & up as he walked off. Crap! Back to texting same person - "I just blew it, nice buck, blah, blah"..! Don't I look up and he's made a semi-circle coming out of the brush on other side of stand @ 15yrds. Dropped phone & made a less than desirable shot, but I did get him. Lesson learned & since then,.. back to my original philosophy of keeping phone in my pocket and focused 100% on hunting!

[First-light]

Never had a problem being entertained by Mother Nature. Sitting in a tree stand for hours works for me and I don't get bored, no matter what time of season cause you never know what is going to happen the next minute!

[GreeneHunter]

For me it all depends on the weather .... when its cold I usually sit for only a couple hours , warmer and I sit longer but enjoy a nice nap now and again ... LOL

[adkhunter71]

I play a cheapo hand held yahtzee game....I am not sure how the deer know that I am playing it as I have the sound turned off, but it always seems to draw them in, lol.

[moog5050]

Does coffee count as passing time?  I walk over to Phade's stand and ask him if he is seeing anything.  He really appreciates my concern for HIS hunting satisfaction.

[growalot]

Quote

enjoy a nice nap now and again ..

Ya ...have to admit that is an involuntary activity that does get me ...... Often, as the season rolls along..  I try not to think about what has walked by and I never mention the cam pics...

[Pygmy]

When Tiffany isn't hunting with me I fart a lot.

[slickrockpack]

11 hours ago, nyslowhand said:

Might be simply an "old fart" mentality, but if you are sitting in the woods (supposedly hunting), why do you feel the need to read a book, search the web, text everyone of your contacts just to pass the time..... IMHO, are you really in the game?

 

it depends on what the person's background is,  having guided thousands of people in my lifetime I discovered that ll my fther and grandfather had told me about guiding was indeed true, though I doubted them at the time when I was a child.

never sit with your sport on a run if they come from the city ( which was anywhere south of tupper), my father explained, because they come from a society where to NOT talk is considered rude they will have to speak to you, they have been taught to make small talk and chatter away to be sociable, so always leave them alone on a run.

never leave them unoccupied, a pace counter is a good thing to leave them and ask them to count the deer on one string and small game on the other, they do not come from  life of silence and solitude and the woods will bore them in short order

this and other advice was proven true time and again.

the greatest issue my guides and I ever had was keeping the sports in the stands and still.

the creator of the trail timer camera sold us some of the very first ones and we set them up facing the stands or posts, and then put an album of photos in that stand so the hunter  could see their own stand and all the critters passing by it with time and date ont eh 35mm photo, it helped a bit to make them sit a stand longer but nothing would keep them on post as long as we needed or as still.

imagine making Richard petty drive 30 miles an hour on the interstate, its not how they are conditioned, so if a book keeps them in stand so be it, it's not that hard to kill a critter anyway, but most people probably can't do it from their couch.

[growalot]

Ya....Good post  Slickrock...pics like this will make you think 2x's about moving yourself...Thank heavens I was on another property hunting...seeing I would not have been allowed to shoot him..