To Soon?

[Elkhunttoo]

When do you place your stands for the season?

My season starts on August 30th for both deer and elk. My wife has an early deer tag so she can start on August 15th. When is "to soon" to put my stands up?

How long before your season do you hang your stands?

[Swede]

As far as the elk are concerned, it does not matter. I usually go to set up camp, do a little last-minute scouting, and hang my stands the week before the season begins. In some areas, stands left out seem to walk off so I leave them home until right before the season starts.
My normal routine is to leave home Monday early. I arrive in camp with just enough time before dark to set up my tent, cot and enough parts of the kitchen to make a quick dinner. The next day I finish setting up camp and check my established tree stand locations. I may set up one stand that day. Wednesday and Thursday I set up one or two more stands. Friday, I get everything ready for the Saturday opening of the season. Each day Tuesday through Friday I do a little shooting to see that my bow is as good as I can get it.
Where I hunt now, I like to go back to check my tree stand(s) Friday to see if there has been any significant elk activity there. What may surprise you is that I hope things look totally undisturbed. If the elk have been there, it will be a week or more before they return. For the opener, I will go to a backup stand and wait there if the elk were around my first-choice location.
Because of their huge territory, elk are not like Whitetail deer. You are not going to disturb them unless they are right there when you hang your stand. They never seem to notice a few changes around the stand area either.

[Lefty]

Came across two stands last week,, looked life they been at the location a couple years,,

[Thegreatwapiti]

I try to do my work early and then leave them alone! I posted a pic of my tree stand I built this spring. I set up a trailcam and pulled the card last week. I have evidence of an elk passing through in the early morning hours. More information is better than less information! I will go back there very few times this summer to not leave my scent. It is a deer stand and an elk stand but Im not sure why that matters. If you look closely at my latest pic....you can see the stand about 20 yards over the cows back. She looks delicious.