actually i have two stands that are by far favorites for me. One is for the whole season, i see alot of bucks from it, but most of the time they are not up to my expectations, but on occasion they are. I like to shoot a Doe from here every year so i guess you can say it produces. The second, i have learned not to touch until the first of Nov. It almost produced an absolute slammer this season as well as two other P&Y class bucks this season, and i dont know how many 1.5, and really good 2.5 bucks i let walk from it this season, but i was covered in bucks in that , but it just wasnt meant to be. I did kill my biggest in 2005 from there a 155" er but with a ML. I have two more new stands that i just discovered in the late season that I think are going to be REAL HOT mid season this year.
Trevor....those bucks are dead. You seem to be banking your whole season on EVERY (or most....or some) buck is going to do the same things the bucks I killed did. Hell I hope it isn't like that. BORING.[/quote] There was a reason those deer were there when you shot them. There is nothing saying that this year, other deer will not use the same (or close too ) pattern the previous deer did. Certain instincts are bread into every deer. Staying alive is #1. If you killed a deer last year in a certain funnel, or covered runways, other deer will use them also to get from bedding to food. You have to remember,if you did your homework and you picked a spot that looked good for the deer to travel, chances are more deer will travel the same pattern in the future pending weather conditions are similar to the previos year (flooding, drought, changing food plots, ect...) jmo
Although i hunt multiple stands throughout the season, i have to say that yes, i do have a favorite...the last 2 years i have shot respectable 8 pointers out of the same stand (ladder stand that stays up all year -i do check everything each years for safety though)...the 2007 buck i shot at 12 yds and the '08 i shot at 5 yds. To be totally honest, i don't know why these bucks use this route..lol...i set this stand up because i thought it looked good and i got a lot of doe traffic...i just hunted it enough i guess that i was there at the right times for both of those bucks...i will continue to hunt this stand each year as it has become my favorite..
We have a stand we call the "6 deer stand". My father and I have killed 6 nice bucks from that tree and that number should be 7 b/c that is the stand I shot my buck in this year (non-lethal hit). It is definitely my favorite stand.
I have a stand I call the "Island Stand" up in northern wisconsin, it's a small ridge in the middle of a large spruce swamp. Great crossing, travel area. Where I hunt in southern wisconsin, I set up a number of stands and rotate them based on wind, etc. Not a real goto stand in the group, they have all been productive.
My favorite stand location is the stand I'm hunting in today... usually only the first or second time in that set. I try not to get wrapped up in my own emotions for a particular tree. In doing so.. I likely would be ignoring where the deer are or want to be in favor of my own comfort zone... and thus waiting for the deer to "possibly" come to me.
Thats good stuff right there Duke! I put that to use 1/3 of the way into my season this year. The most I hunted out of one tree was 3 times, I just had to, shouldn't of but, you know! My favorite stand is one I have never sat in before, I killed my buck in a Tree I only sat in once, and for a mere 34 minutes!
To big of country out here to narrow it down to one spot, no real funnels like in country that has crops and narrow travel/cover corridors from point A to B etc, I have a favorite "area" but no ONE favorite stand it changes year to year on specific bucks and how they have adapted and moved around in their core living areas as they age....dictated by all the other outside factors weighing in and each year is different. I move a lot of stands year to year and have multiple set ups/options for all different winds in some really good daytime movement areas..
I agree in certain circumstances, but I also think this depends greatly on how you try to hunt them. Most of my stand locations are placed on severe funneling areas. I don't try to figure out where they want to be, I try to figure out where they have to be. At least to the extent that one can. That way, many of my stands don't change a lick from year to year. It is a long and difficult process to figure those places out, but if you do, then it can pay off year after year. Of course it isn't fool proof, but nothing is.
I have 1 stand year after year produces. I have seen more bucks in this 1 area of my property than anywhere else. It's my favorite location but I don't sit in it everytime.
My favorite location is a spot in the middle of our "big" woods where three ridges converge into a saddle like thing, "the triangle of death".
Aaron I can think of a new stand site you need to put in :d And you need to hunt the buddy stand more!
