Picking your stand location for the first week of the season

Assuming you have several stand locations for the same wind. How do you decide what stand location you will use for your first couple of sits?

What are your goals during this time period? Are you just happy to be in a tree? Are you trying to catch that buck you have patterned? Do you just want to get some meat in the freezer and shoot a doe? Are you just hoping to see deer in general meaning anything goes?

It's a vague question. I know.

But what are your hopes and anticipations for opening day and the first week of the season?

My goals are simply to see deer. Not being fussy on what I see. I want to sit in the stand that gives me the best chance to get back in the groove. Some meat in the freezer and my first week is a major success.

 

We have been seeing the same buck, during the same hours each day on our trail camera...

I would love to run across that guy early on,

However , i have never harvest a deer in sept, or the first 2 weeks of bow season before. I would really like to kill a doe the first weeks and focus primarily on that big guy floating around.

seeing deer in general is always a good thing though...

Right now ill take just getting in the stand, relaxing and enjoying the moment. I have been waiting for it to come all summer long.

 

The morning stand I am going to is for getting a doe.

The afternoon stand will be more of a target of opportunity. It is a new spot I found this last off season scouting. I hope to see more than just does but will be happy seeing deer and know I was right about this "trail".

 

My main goal is to put a big buck on the ground early like last year. It makes the rest of the season more enjoyable cause I'm not putting pressure on myself to get a nice buck. I personally think its easier to stick a nice trophy buck early season while there in there feeding patterns. Get in and out with good wind in your set and the rest will be easy.

 

X2. My morning set is primarily a doe target site, and I won't be hunting the afternoon on opening day (wedding...). From there on out, I really want to put one down early. I would like to get out and do some small game hunting this year and get my camera in the field as well. I know that won't happen unless I tag out early. If not, I'm still hunting and loving it.

 

With only having one tag all year In the area I hunt my main goal Is always to get a crack at the buck I'm hunting. Not to often do I go to just see deer as I already over hunt the woods I hunt.

 

Not sure if this is what you meant to say. I try to have enough stand locations for all of the winds. I pick the one that is right for what I'm trying to do. This year I'm hoping for the right wind to hunt a stand where a buck I'm interested has been traveling.

 

Yes what I said is correct. I said it that way so people don't answer the question as, "I hunt the stand that the wind is right for". Anyone can say that.

I wanted to try and get more discussion on the thought process as to stand selection without regard to the wind. For example, let's say I have 3 stand locations for a north wind and 4 stand locations for a south wind. And then let's say the the wind is blowing from the north. What makes you decide which of the three to sit in during the first week? What are YOUR goals?

 

OK, I get it. Although I always only hunt a stand if the wind is right, this year, I'm trying for one of 2 bucks. I will be hunting stands with the right wind where I have found these 2 bucks to be traveling.

 

This year I have a couple great bucks coming in regularly in the morning and evenings. They have been coming in before daylight and hanging around the area to say 8 o clock or so. My plan for 2morrow is to hunt another location where we have an abundance of does and hopefully put some meat in the freezer. I would hate to spook the 2 bucks I hunting on the first morning. Tomorrow evening I will switch gears and hopefully lay one of the two bucks down. That's the plan anyway. Just being in the stand is going to make me happy though whether I shoot anything or not. Most of the time if I have multiple stands to choose from I will just listen to where my instincts tells me to go. Which ever place feels right then that is where I go.

 

I won't know where I'm sitting until the day of the sit. I always have a few places in mind. My goal is to kill does. That is pretty much my goal on the first day of the season, until the last.

 

I'll be in a stand near where the most acorns are falling. Not sure exactly where that will be yet. I'll be carrying my climber in with me.

 

Interesting Vito. I love it because there are some that could not admit that publicly. I feel somewhat the same way. I want meat. The more meat the better and meat is my first priority. Having said that. I would love to kill a big buck as much as anyone.

 

I target bucks specifically the first week and a half, maybe two. All does will get a pass from me during this time frame.

After that... I'll start putting does in the freezer, as many as possible; I won't stop until I've got at least four down -- knowing that I'll pick up another one or two in late season.

That killing spree should take me a few weeks and hopefully be done by the start of November where I'll return to buck-only mode.

 

I'm trying to pattern a big buck right now and have others in the area too. With that said, I feel if you have the opportunity to seal the deal on a brute of a buck early on, go for it; thats what i'm trying this year; I have useful information from tracks, trail cam photos, seeing this deer last year in the same location, and finding his sheds in this location. Right now I don't have any daytime pics of this buck, but you never know thats the cool thing about hunting, what will occur on my hunt today will this deer show up? It will also be nice to just get in the tree, take some deep breaths of fresh air. This year; "IT IS ON"!!!

 

Man I hope someday I can be like this.... :D. You are my hero Greg!!!!

 

+1 I love killing bucks, but meat makes me happy. Nannys always taste delicious!!

 

There is a "tradition" in MI to kill a buck, any buck. Killing does was somehow wrong or easier than killing a buck (even though a yearling buck is probably the easiest deer in the woods to kill...horny and stupid). Most were raised to hunt that way. I'm glad I wasn't.

I have killed some yearling bucks, and I don't regret any of them. Fact is, there just aren't many bucks 2.5 or older in my area. I would be thrilled to kill a 2.5 year old buck. Another fact, we have more than enough does according to the local biologist. I love venison. If I set my sights on killing any buck, I could do that quite easily. If I put all my effort into killing a 2.5+, I would end up disappointed. Killing does excites me more than killing a yearling buck. Just how I roll.

 

When I'm going hunting, I'm going with the plan to kill a buck. That's not to say I won't shoot a doe if one walks by, but it all depends on the situation at that time.

There are certain stands/areas that I will only shoot a buck, just because I know having to drag a doe out after dark will only disrupt the area for later in the season.

Once Oct. 1st rolls around I will be sitting over the best food source. As of right now, it's looking like that will be the hottest oak tree I can find, since the beans should be turning brown by then.

 

Set-ups at any time of the season should be adjusted based on your target animal(any deer, any buck, does only, mature buck) in regards to where they bed, feed, and mate.