Land and Stands When scouting for a new place to hunt you have to keep some important details in mind. If your hunting Public Land for one you need to think about how heavy hunting pressure is there. On allot of public land there are those few access points that everyone else uses. Stay clear of those places like they were the plague. Whitetail deer have a keen ability to track human movement in there woods. Once they catch wind of those same ten guys walking in at the same point and criss crossing through the wood they'll clear that area quickly. If you hunt public land you need to get a map and personalize it. Scout tirelessly in the off season. Go deep into the wood where the hunters wont be. Make your own access points and choose plenty of stands. Start with your topo map and find key terrain features that you believe will funnel or hold deer. After checking these places find out what's active and what's not. Get in there find the tracks and the trails. Be stealth full even in the off season. On public land deer are notoriously smarter and they will pattern even your scouting. Use sent eliminator and try to put the wind in your favor. Sometimes being successful has more to do with how much work your willing to put in to the bow hunt. Some guys don't even scout they go in there and sit with there back to a tree. Don't be that guy nothing is better than being overly prepared for your bow season. Once your on the ground and scouting you may notice things that a topo map cant tell you, like where that stump is with a hole in it that fills with water and deer come to drink from it after a rain. Deer will avoid detection at all cost they will drink and eat from places you would never think. If a deer doesn't have to walk a mile outside of his comfort zone for a drink of water from a stream it wont. It will find that tiny muddy puddle not shown on your map and will use it daily. When choosing different stand locations you have to decide the best time to hunt these stands. For example if you find a really hot spot where deer bed but also move through in the mornings and evenings. You may want to consider this as an all day hunting stand where you sit from dawn till dusk. You don't want your best pick to go cold. If you aren't careful you will get busted going in and out and if that happens one to many times you just lost your most valuable place to hunt. If you discover a place where deer are coming from after eating in the morning pick the path where they funnel through most. Try and get close to it and get there early as hell before the sun rises. If you get there in time you may catch the deer on there way back to the bedding area. Don't count on this stand to produce anything in the afternoon. If you want it may be possible to access this stand during that time and wait for evening when the deer are moving back to there feeding grounds. Always play the wind. find out which direction the the wind is flowing dominantly and how that effects your access to your stands. On some days the wind will switch direction and that may give you the perfect opportunity to hunt that stand you've been waiting to hunt. Make sure they wind is in your face so that the direction you expect to see deer from isn't getting covered in your sent. You have to take allot of things into consideration when deer hunting. The less details you sweep under the rug the more chances you will give yourself to fill your tags. Hunt hard, to me hunting hard means one thing, hours and hours on different stands. If you spend enough time trying different stands and putting in a real effort you will be presented with an opportunity to harvest a deer. Have you ever entered the wood to your favorite stand and never saw a deer all day yet you know they should be present? This has happened to me many times. I know that I'm getting busted walking in when this happens and that may mean the access point I chose to get to this stand isn't any good. If you walk into the woods and hear that unmistakable warning grunt and look up to see white flags everywhere you know for sure you were busted. What a lot of hunters fail to notice is the sent they leave behind can get them busted even at night when you're sleeping in you're beds. If you leave enough sent in the woods accessing your favorite stand from the same place every time the deer will pattern you and become well aware of your presence. During Bow season this is a horrible thing to happen. There's not a lot of hunting pressure in the woods during bow season and the deer will simply bed somewhere else or avoid there normal trails to avoid you. Another way they detect you is while your going in and you don't here a grunt. You don't hear a twig snap you don't see a white flag as a matter of fact you're completely unaware that you've been caught. This happens to hunters more often than anything else. Deer are very steal full and know how to use the terrain they live in to there advantage. A huge buck may see and hear you from 20 meters away or even a doe. They wont react to you in a manner of alarm. Feeling your pressure they'll stand perfectly still and not so much as twitch. As soon as there sure its safe they'll do a 180 and turn back they way they came walking slowly and quietly. You'll never hear or see that deer and chances are you won't see any deer from there heard. They'll let the other deer know your there. I've caught many deer acting like this as I've tried to gain axsess to my stand. I'm sure I haven't caught near as many who just plain bested me but I have seen this action in progress. which is why I enter the woods as stealth full and quietly as possible. I also use sent illuminators and cover scents. If you enter the woods as if you were still hunting your way to your stand you will have a better chance of not getting busted and taking that deer home with you. One example that plays out in my mind is of a young doe that I kicked off her bed in the afternoon on the way to a decent but not great stand. She didn't run she didn't grunt she just stood there. I knew she was there I watched her out of the corner of my eye as I maneuvered by her. She stood there motionless watching my every move to see if I was on to her. She was broadside to me and no more than 20 yards away. I knew what she was up to and I knew I was busted so I tried my best to not let her know I was well aware of her presence. when I came to a tree that I thought offered my movement a decent cover for a shot I allowed myself a glance at her. End of story. As soon as she noticed me noticing her she was gone in a flash. You see deer will use there stealth and there camouflage as a resource when trying to avoid hunters. They'll use it all the way to the point where they know for sure the've been busted. I could give countless examples of this. Another time I was hunting a low tree stand the deer moving through the woods behind me were trying to make there daily route to the field in front of me. They would have walked right underneath me. I never noticed them until I glanced back and saw them walking slowly away. Obviously I had been busted by these deer that were no more than ten yards from me. Honestly, if i didn't look back to see them making there way back to where they'd come from I would have never known about them. That's how quite and slowly they moved. I don't know what gave me away for sure that day but I have a feeling it was a small movement or possibly a sent. Deer are jittery and nervous from the start but there smart and they've learned what works for them. Often during times with heavy hunting pressure they'll lay up in the thickest nastiest briar bushes that no one in there right mind would move into. They'll stay there until they feel the pressure has lifted. Sometimes, a deer will remain in a place like this for weeks at a time. If you walked right up to them, other than standing on them you couldn't get them to move. They know there low, they know they have great cover and concealment. If there not sure there busted they wont react to you. I've even heard of stories where the deer were so reluctant to move even after being busted that hunters have harvested them from feet away right in there beds. The point is deer are smart and bow hunters have been there trainers. Next time you think you made it to your stand free and clear and don't see anything that day maybe you need to think again. I've seen plenty of great stands go cold due to poor hunting choices.
Land owners are a little more fortunate when it comes to hunting. They have the ability to pattern there deer year after year and know how to make for the most successful set ups. That doesn't mean that if you own land the same rules don't apply. Play the wind, don't get scented, don't get busted, don't over hunt the same stands, move in when its dark, ect.. If you are a land owner and your first impression of what your bow season is going to be like is outstanding yet you find that you're not seeing deer and haven't seen them in there regular place for awhile, there's a good chance there on your neighbors property because they know where you are and you've been majorly busted. A deer's sense of smell is by far its greatest defense against you. Use all types of sent illuminators, deer are so smart they will smell your particular brand of aftershave and know its you sitting there over that next ridge and they aren't coming to shake your hand. If you don't want to buy a ton of sent illuminator or cover sent, fill a large garbage bag with vegetation and put your hunting cloths in there, nothing smells more like the woods than the woods itself. You can also hang your cloths on a line in the breeze for a few weeks prior to season getting rid of there human smell and restoring a natural sent to them. The woods is there home. Has been always will be. They own it your just a guest. If you ever have someone trample your flowers in your lawn, your reaction is probably similar to what the deer is when he catches your wind. Something like thats wrong, there not supposed to be here. The deer like you know when somethings a miss at home. I allways asume that the moment I've set foot in the woods or even before reaching the woods that I've been busted in some way. Land owners can become over confident when it comes to hunting and strut around there stands ruining them. They think there is no way they wont kill that monster buck they have on there trail camera everyday for a month right under there stands. When they never see that deer. There making mistakes big unforgivable unforgetable mistakes.Select multiple stands. When I do my scouting I choose all kinds of places to hunt from I usually don't end my scouting session untill I've selected at least one "sure thing stand" with multiple "possibles" along with others. I mark these stands on my map and lable them according to when the best times to hunt them will be as well as there chances of sucess. I include the wind and the route in. Then when season comes I know I wont over hunt any stands. I choose ten or so different places and never hunt the same one two days in a row. I love still hunting so I also section off a few places in my mind that will be good for an evening walk. Since I hunt public land I hunt off the beatin path. I believe that has a lot to do with my success. I find places right outside of the area's other hunters hunt, I get in there early and I mean early, I'm usually the first one at the check in stations. Wouldnt you know it come day break all those rough and tough hunters are pushing the deer right into my stands. Thanks guys. Not only have I seen this work for me at day break. I've seen it last all season. Hunters push deer to the little no name patches of woods and they start staying. They know there safe or at least they thought they were. I do my homework, I don't hunt just to hunt I hunt to harvest deer and so should you. A few other Key things to focus your attention on while scouting is a rub or a scrape. Bucks will use the same rubs and scrapes as other bucks. This is the Whitetails way of marking his territory. If you find something like this in the woods your certain that at least one buck is using it and the possibility that other deer are using it is very high. When you find one and you will if you know whatr your looking for, try following a dominant route by it that rout should offer ease of movement for the deer and what you will find is not just one rub or scrape but multiple ones in a sort of line (usually a lin ethat runs parelel with a key terrain feature like a ridge or circling half way aroung the bottom of a hill. Hunt this line or trail espessially during the rut when bucks visit these sites regularly. I've seen places where deer will use the same line years in a row. I acrually know of a place that has been used since the day I found it ten years ago to date and have harvested bucks there. Food, if you learn what they eat you wont miss it when your scouting. Acorns, Deer will eat all types of acorns and in early season when you locate the tree thats dropping you will probobly notice something else. You will see scuffed up eath underneth the tree occompanied by acorn shells. Deer are feeding here and it would be a great location to set up in. If your from the midwestern states deer spend a lot of time in the corn fields stocking up on protien. What you should be looking for is a location where the fields butt up to the woods that funnels the deer. In a place like this you will increase your odds tremendously. Don't be fooled by tall corn fields all around you though deer will still come visit your acorn or apple tree over eating that ruogh corn they've been feeding on all summer. Creating a food plot is a great idea if your a land owner you can ensure your deer herd is healthier and in a sense design a location that they will be sure to visit. Again this may be taking the hunt out of hunting to some. If it were me I wouldnt just plant plots to help me harvest a deer. I would plant winter plots that help sustain my herd through the tough winters. In most northern states it is illegal to bait Whitetail. If it's illegal for you to do in your state dont do it. These laws are in place for a reason and probably a lot more than one reason. If you get caught doing this you'll be screwed out of futur bowhunting opportunities. In the south baiting is widely excepted and again I'm sure there are reasons, the size of the herd, the food souces provided in the wild, CWD(chronic wasting disease) managment, Property managment ect... Whatever the the laws in your area follow them. Read your deer hunting regulations yearly and you cant go wrong. I was once baiting on public land in Louisiana for the soul purpose fo trying out my new trail cams. Baiting is widly excepted in Louisiana and I was under the impression I was operating legally. Well the Game warden didn't think so. Aparently theres no form of baiting any time of year allowed on public hunting grounds and I guess I can see why. I didn't get a fine. It wasnt even deer hunting season it was the middle of the summer and I explianed to him what I thought the laws were he informed me I was wrong, had me retrieve my bait sites, and let it go at that. I am fortunate to have not got in any real trouble but being honest and civilized can go a long way.
yeah i was debating even posting it, pretty sure most people see how long it is and say screw this..lol. thank you though.
A lot of information for sure. Here's a few critiques: -Paragraphs please. Impossible to read the first post with out concise breaks. -Spell check -Avoid phrases like "early as hell" they can tarnish an otherwise polished article -all the information you give could be better organized. In certain portions it seems like random thoughts thrown together. Over all I think its a good start. Break it into sections to better express your ideas and make it easier for the beginner to digest all you information. Keep it up
Thanks for the advise you're deffinatly right about all of that, the fisrt part of this is all crammed together, I did go though and get rid of some phrases I must have missed that one. Deffinatly needs some fine tunning. Thank you.
