Ok.....one of the areas I feel like I really need to work on is my entry/exit routes. To be 100% honest, I don't put much thought into it. I DO think about it, but I think since I don't understand the best way to go about it I don't think about it much. There is one farm I hunt where I THINK the best way to get to my stand is to walk right across the middle of the field. It's only about a 200 yard walk and I can get there quickly. The deer don't bed along the field after the crops are out, they are generally several hundred yards from it. And to walk through the woods to get there I would not be able to avoid crossing deer trails. So question 1. Is walking directly through a field a viable, or wise, entry/exit route? Secondly, what all do you guys think about when deciding your routes to and from? Bedding? Food? Travel routes? Wind? Terrain? How do you deternmine your route?
I wouldn't walk across a wide open field in the morning unless it was already light out.Look at an aireal photo and determine the best entry routes to the stand without spooking deer, then in the spring you can clear out a path to follow so you wont be busting through the brush on your way in.One of my spots I follow an old tree line through a pine thicket to my stand instead of walking through the field.I trimmed that out in the spring so I can sneak in quietly, but because its near a bedding area I'll have to arrive at least an hour before pink light in the AM. Another spot I follow a creek bottom to my stand and then I just pop out of the creek and climb my tree. The only way a deer will see me is if its standing on the creek bank.Just figure out the best way to sneak in, not the easiest, and make it happen.
im kind of in the same situation your in mobow. i have two options to get to my stand, walk across a open CRP field where deer will be out early morning so ill have to get there either very early or use it as a afternoon stand. or there is a nice four wheeler trail going straight through my woods. which i could walk but face a huge possibility of spooking ALOT of deer.... but once i get to the woods line i have a good path leading to the backside of my stand. so getting in my tree isnt a problem, walking to the woods line is however
I guess I need to work on this as well, Don. I usually just go the quickest route to my stand hoping not to lay much scent down. Personally, I feel the quicker I get to my stand, climb, and get all my gear together...the better my odds are to see or score on deer. I hunt in some pretty thick spots anyway so sometimes I really don't have a "best route" to stand. I just want to get there as quickly and quietly as I can and be prepared for that split second when a buck can appear from no where.
Here's a general rule I always use... Always choose walking through woods in the morning before you choose walking through fields. In the woods.. take your time.. don't make TONS of noise.. but don't be worried about each twig you break either. Whitetail can't see that well in the woods either.. it's always ALOT darker.. and they'll almost always just believe you were another animal meandering through. And if you bust one up.. throw out a few grunts.. or better yet a few fawn bleats.. gets'em everytime. Walking through fields is the quickest way to end your mornings hunt.. before it ever began. You ever look on the field edges while scouting in season.. or even in open fields.. you'll find beds all over.. these beds occurred during the night.. deer will lay down and chew their cud right out in the open where they can see at distance. Don't take a field route.. take the woods.. and try to get off field edges etc.. where some big old buck might be chewing his cud and keeping watch before heading back into a day time bed.
I have a stand where the only way for me to get to it is walk about 1/2 mile through an open field. I always wait until it is just light enough out so that I can see if there are any deer still feeding in the field or not. They are ussually gone or starting to leave as the sun starts to rise. This has been my most productive buck stand over the years.
mix bag here.... i always SAY im gonna clear a better path but the wind always seems wrong for it on the day i wanna hunt. i try and stay as quiet as possibe getting to my stand and getting up in it. it really KILLS me walking that slow cause all i can think of is what am i missing by not getting to that stand quicker.... prob nothing but who knows. i do know that my exit is most of the time very good! i dont get a chance to hunt that much some of you know so when i do i dont leave my stand till its completely dark out. that helps. can tell you how many times i've kicked stuff up and it only runs a few hops/steps and settles down again when i stop or quit walking/creeping. on the rare occasion i can hunt a morning same goes....
One farm impaticular I walk across the open fields, (but over a slight ridge away from obvious sight),for the evening hunts. For morning hunts I skirt the backside of the woods. The one thing I have to be careful about is where to park, if crops (and leaves) are down and I park in my usual spot, it's my belief that the sight of my truck 300-400 yards away influences deer movement towards the fields from a known bedding area. Big woods I try and figure out where the deer i'm hunting are coming from and going too. I try my best not to infringe on that route with my movement or my smell. In the woods ther are always surprises, as deer can come from differring directions, and the wind can change from one hillside to the next. But I try and make the least intrusion possible.
We have a couple of locations, where you have to cross a open field going up hill, just on the edge of the woodlot. I have cleared paths to several different tree locations to ensure I get in and out quietly (not always). I spook doe out of the field on my way to the stand, which sucks, but I still manage to see deer in this location. Now, I have other routes I could take to get to my locations, but that would mean walking through the woods and their bedding area which is more commotion....not doing that. So, do you think by spooking the deer out of the field in the early morning decreases my chances of possibly seeing more? Should I wait til' first light?
My main hunting spot is a HUGE challenge for entry exit routes. Its mostly a N/S section of woods with a powerline to the west & a field to the right. The woods do hook at the top of the field(N). To play the prevailing wind I have to go the field. Not to mention that the deer pretty much bed ANYWHERE inside the woods, its all very thick. My best wind is an east(never get it) an anything from the north is good (occasionally get it).
I've really starting to focus on this aspect of my hunting, and I put a lot of effort toward this last season. I based a lot of my entry exit routes off previous year's observations on deer entry routes, what they do once in the area (is it a staging/food source, or a location leading to one of these, etc), and of course wind direction. Simply put, I'm learning from previous mistakes I made. Going in fresh to a new area, I wouldn't be as confident, but I would certainly look to use any terrain feature I could. I do cross fields for one stand location, but it's a stand I hunt in the afternoon, and I know the deer are nowhere near this location at the time I enter. My exit route for this stand is a little different since there's usually deer in the field when leaving, so I will use any terrain feature I can (in this case it's a low lying side of a corn field that borders a steep ridge). There are stands I hunted for years that I no longer hunt simply because I can't get in or out without spooking them. My deer sightings have gone up dramatically since. I've even gone as far as raking paths to stands (especially if it's a section where I could be entering/exiting close to where the deer are bedding and/or feeding.
I took lobbers and trimmers into the woods this past monday and cut paths to my stand sites. For a couple stands, the entry/exit routes are different for different winds, but deer can come from any which way at these stands anyway it seems.
