I have been looking up into the trees a lot lately and noticing how much everything in a tree seems to stand out. So how well do we really hide in a tree stand? I have noticed a good number of deer seem to spook away from my tree at times. Then I notice at other times I could dance a jig and not be noticed. This may be dumb but it seems like my solid (wooden floored stands) hide me better than the see through ones. What tactics do you guys use to hide in a tree other than the obvious camo clothing etc... This could be enlightening.
I firmly believe concealment in a tree is more to do with setup than camo. In your case, the wooden stands work better not because they're solid, but because they've been been there for a while and the deer are used to them. Don't think that at some point those stands went unnoticed because I'm sure the deer in the area have checked them over. With hangons and ladders, the more limbs and branches around me, the better. You can always trim some, but its harder to add cover. Also look at trunk diameter, the wider the better. Climbers are the hardest to conceal. I spend a great amount of my time in a climber and have gotten accustomed to putting them in trees that offer the best concealment. Most times these are double or triple trunked trees that almost always puts a trunk or part of a trunk between me and the deer. If I need to be in a certain location and can't find a tree that will work, I'll just position the stand facing away from where I expect the deer to come from and stand, watching behind me, keeping the trunk between me and the deer.
I use a normal ladder stand but I have it camo painted & I take small limbs with leaves to attach to the stands ladder/ supports. It works great, deer just walk by & don't notice a thing. I had a small doe walk up & start eating some of the lower sticks.
My favorite stand setup is an aspen tucked up into a pine. Clean, easy hanging on the aspen, back cover of the pine. Back cover is the first thing I look for when I find a spot I want to hunt.
I like putting permanent stands on hard wood trees that are adjacent to pines. Works great. Where you are standing the pine branches but don't have to go through the work of clearing the pine tree. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Like Fitz said, I too look for back cover when I am looking for a tree to climb or hang a stand. The bigger the tree the better. Good thing about loc on stands is you can move them around the tree easily. Here is an early season stand I hung on the primary property I hunt. I have thought about and probably will move the stand on the back side of this tree. However, the deer some times walk to railroad track behind this stand. The second picture is the view from the path where the deer normally walk in. I wear a Leafy Green Ghille suit all during the early season. Look carefully at the bottom of the first pic and you can see my Covert Red40 on a Stic-n-pic.
Back cover is great and finding the "perfect" tree is always a good feeling, but there are always going to be time when you have the right spot picked out and there is no perfect tree. Occasionally you'll find yourself up in a bean pole without much, if any, cover. If that's what it takes to be in the right spot - one that's going to get me close enough for a shot - then so be it. In those cases I think your best bet is to stay still and spot the deer before it spots you. I've killed a few deer out of stands where I stuck out like a sore thumb. It's certainly not impossible, it just means you need to be a little more careful than you would normally be.
I have a lot of those bean pole trees to hunt from. I have learned to be very careful of shaking the tree when getting ready for the shot. I also tie an extra pine limb or two to the back of my tree for cover. Nothing seems to work as well as big trees with a stand settled in among the limbs.
Great pics... One problem down here is with the later season (Starts Oct 15), we don't have leaves to hide us for long.
we have mostly pines where i hunt, 80-85%. It makes it difficult to find food at times, but it is normally a bit easier to find ok set ups. Its normally not a problem for us to find pines that are grouped together rather tightly. We also have a lot of under growth that can be used to conceal a stand. I have found a few holly bushes that have served this purpose fairly well once trimmed up.
I use all ladder stands and rarely ever have all the sections on them so they generally are around 10' tall. I like to set them up back off the trails I'm targeting far enough that I have a nice 20-30 yard shot in the most expected areas. I'll trim shooting lanes if needed but rarely need to, I can generally find a spot to shoot through okay and don't like having that sort of landscape altering activity around my stands if at all avoidable. Besides being set up back away from the better trails, I try to find a tree that has ample cover trees in from and behind. I don't care if they are thick cedars or hickory as long as they have enough density and limb patterns to break up my outline and give my a chance to get away with a bit of movement to draw. I have seen a LOT of people set stands up right over heavy trails...I guess it works for some but I prefer encounter opportunities that will never likely include a vertical shot or the deer walking straight to my ladder.
I've been in so many trees that have absolutely no cover and have had success in them....i just make sure i sit really really still when that situation is present.....obviously cover is preferred but sometimes the wind or location doesn't allow for that "perfect" tree....can't tell ya how many times that tree was right across the path I want to be on....
Okay... great point right there. I shoot nearly straight down as often as not as I usually can't even see a deer more than 15 yards out in the young pine thickets I have been hunting. They are opening up some finally as the trees are maturing.
