Just when you think you got it figured out, the deer sit back and laugh in your face. I need to set up a stand that is going to work good for anywhere from a N to a W wind. Everything is our property EXCEPT for the shaded yellow section in the first photo. The hardwoods that run W/E is a creek bottom. Here is my legend for the 2nd picture. Don't hate lol. Used Paint. Grey Line - Access Light Blue Line - Normally (haha) afternoon deer access. Can come in on these trails in the morning though Dark Blue Line - Morning & afternoon deer access. The bottom left blue line is where i see 80% of the deer come in to the field. Blue Dot - Ladder stand put up by club. Distance from blue dot to red dot is 50 yds. Yellow Dot - Where i have been setting up my climber. Distance to red dot is 35 dys. Red Dot - Camera overlooking mineral lick White Outline - Food plot outline Where the bottom Blue line hits the field is a licking branch that every buck hits when he comes in to the field. I haven't followed the trails but about 30 yds after they leave the field (don't want to go stomping around and scent the place up). I am thinking about setting up my climber to the left of the bottom tip of the food plot there. That should let me play the wind ok. With these being pines, I'm going to have to go in and clean a tree up so I can climb it. Ideally, I wouldn't be doing this in the middle of season but when do we ever get everything done before season that we want to. So here are my 2 questions. 1) Where would you put your stand with the given information. 2) Am i good to go in and clean a tree up so i can climb it or are the deer going to free out when they see a bare tree? Thanks for the input!!
I am terrible at maps and color blind. I like hunting creek bottoms and hardwoods but your area of focus seems to be around the food plot. So with that said I would go midway the food plot. If its 50 yards from blue dot to red dot that would give you a 40 yard shot max from end to end of field if I understand correctly. Either way good luck and let us know what you decide.
Yeah i thought about going down to the creek bottom. I can come up from the south and hunt the creek bottom. I know the deer always come up to that field from the south so I want to scout it and see if i can find a crossing or such. I thought about that too. Couldn't find a good tree to climb. Also one thing i forgot to mention is when I'm in the ladder stand, I will occasionally see deer skirt the south end of the field and head north along the right side of the field about 20 yds in the woods. The problem i have is there are so many deer and they don't feel pressured so they just come from every which way. I know, I'm the only guy who will say having a lot of deer is a problem, but in this case it is sometimes lol.
