Overhunting stands

[Mescalero]

When I have time I'd like to do a trail cam study of my own using black flash cameras and some common products like diesel, scented deodorant, maybe even Waffle House, and see how the deer react. The tough part will be placing the scents without stinking up the place with my own scent. I could leave the cameras for a couple weeks before checking the cards. I have a feeling deer tend to be more curious about non-human foreign odors rather than afraid of them. But I'd like to see some evidence rather than just assume.

Not Waffle House or petroleum smell, but I'm looking at a potted peppermint plant right now that I've meant to cut some sprigs from to use as a cover scent or attractant.

 

[recurve60#]

Exactly. In fact, they don't even have to shift over. They simply shift to night-time movement through that area.

I dunno. They dont leave and hot does still bringem. Hot does rule.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

One of my favorite trees to hunt is very susceptible to over hunting. I've hunted this tree for 20yds, I usually hunt it once or twice at most during bow season. Then stay away till juvenile or muzzleloader season, I believe that's been too much over the years. I noticed late last year a subtle trail and a rub line that was in a deep drain where the deer could skirt by my stand without ever being seen. I'll be waiting there one morning hopefully during muzzleloader season. Point being, I think they tend to adjust their patterns to go around us without us knowing.

Perfect example of moving stands just 50 yards making a world of difference. I've got a buddy that goes to hunt a big-named guided hunt in Illinois and he stated many times that big bucks would be coming straight in, and then divert 60 yards around the stands and get back on the main trail. He isn't a celebrity, so they place him in stands where he "almost" shot a good deer but didn't get it done. What does this do? It gets those same hunters to book a trip the following year in hopes of a better encounter

 

[catman529]

Not Waffle House or petroleum smell, but I'm looking at a potted peppermint plant right now that I've meant to cut some sprigs from to use as a cover scent or attractant.

I don't know if peppermint is an attractant or not, but I'm pretty sure deer won't eat it.

 

[Harold Money jr]

All it takes is to mess up a time or two with a doe group and the stand site will be impacted for generations of deer.

 

[Snake]

Bucks dont leave the area from what i have seen. Just shift over a tad. Wish there was years of info based on knee high rubber booted hunters vs normal boots.

This. ^^^ Had a permanent stand in a saddle on the place we used to have in Giles County . We had a lot of stands some loc on some ladder but the one in the saddle was homemade . My hunting friends would always ask me why I brought my climber ? My response was for bucks !! That stand most times was my primary location unless the wind was terribly wrong. Noticed over the years deer would start skirting that stand at times. I could see them but couldn't get a shot it was so thick out to the property line fence . But hence the climber , I roughly had two trees in that area that I could climb most were either to large or to small. One on one side of the ridge one on the other according to wind direction. I've killed several good bucks by that method .

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

All it takes is to mess up a time or two with a doe group and the stand site will be impacted for generations of deer.

You may be right in your situation, that certainly is not true in mine.

 

[Andy S.]

......... the longer I hunt the more I get wise to staying out of the best spots till conditions are right.

One of the single best pieces of advice any serious deer hunter can heed.

 

[Deck78]

Our mature buck sighting rates are incredible low. Not because we don't have them, but because 1) we put far more hunting pressure on our place than the neighbors do; and 2) Our visibility is extremely limited. Most stands it would be rare to be able to see a deer beyond 60 yards.

I was thinking a lot about this post response over the weekend as I struggled with stand visibility at our farm. On all the places I set up this weekend to hunt I cursed the lack of distance you can see and shoot. We have the heavily over planted pine tree curse at our place with a healthy smattering of young hardwoods trying to emerge through these pines so it is not easy finding natural openings without putting in the work.

While we have started the process of establishing some "anchor stand locations" that have proven to have good traffic and clearing around those stand sites for the long term, I find myself struggling to have enough locations to move stands to before or during season that have enough visibility to make them effective hunting locations as we definitely need more stand choices so we do not overhunt our stands.

We have about a dozen food plots from the previous owners that are not in great shape but we are slowly building them back into shape but this poor Hickman county soil is going to take some time. They range from hidey hole plots to 1 acre so we have good visibility in these plots but I have never been a big fan of hunting directly over food plots so don't have stands over all of these plots at this time.

My question to you Bryan, based upon your statement that most of your stand sites only allow for 60 yards of visibility, is the following: are these man made "shooting lanes", natural openings, a mixture of both, and/or stands over food plots?

This is a typical stand location view with no work done to clear shooting lane opportunities.

 

[Duck dogn]

I do say a lot about that, just because that is the number one reason, when just talking about deer hunting in general with anyone and I TALK, I hear about not hunting at all.

JCdeerman, maybe you don't realize it, but it is amazing the number of hunters that will not hunt if the wind is wrong, even for an entire farm.

I never pay attention or look at the wind until I get to where I want to hunt and even then I may go ahead hunt the spot even when I think the wind is wrong.

Twice this year I hunted the so called wrong wind lol and saw the best buck this year yet he came in downwind just not close enough for a bow

 

[redblood]

i think it depends where the stand is- bedding area or food plot (especially small- it's definitely matters)

Peak pre-rut through rut - travel corridors- not so much. Just my observation

 

[Duck dogn]

I'm curious how you figured the deer spook from petroleum smells rather than human scent left behind. Deer don't seem to be scared of tractors with rubber tires leaking oil and hydraulic fluid, so I'm curious why a pair of rubber boots that got a lil fuel on them at the gas station would spook deer.

I think it may boil down to is deer that usually don't smell that gas and oil from tractors like laurelhill or here at home may spook it its in a odd location I think is what he's saying like the pattern there not used to

 

[redblood]

There are distinct differences in the amount of intrusion that different bucks will take. Some of yall have followed the interactions i have documented with different mature bucks here at the farm. Silo 5.5, ghost 6.5 and tank 4.5, had virtually fear factor at all. I passed all except ghost, but i did pass ghost as a 5.5 after he broke a beam. These bucks were clueless. I had a few more, willy and splitz for example, that were crazy wild even at great distance

 

[45-70power]

Twice this year I hunted the so called wrong wind lol and saw the best buck this year yet he came in downwind just not close enough for a bow

I started checking my cameras every weekend leaving my scent in the area on purpose, if work allows, year around. My stands don't seem to burn out now, I want them to associate my smell as harmless. I've managed to kill 3 wall hangers in 3 years this way on twenty acres. It's a bowl shaped valley so wind doesn't matter, but thermals make or break.

 

[Duck dogn]

I think I read something on here about leaving your natural scent helps, I check my cameras once a week through the summer also I think it helps

 

[Duck dogn]

I've checked cameras and poured out trophy rock in August and when I checked them the next time a good buck was there within a hour after my leaving

 

[tickweed]

Almost all of my older class deer I have been able to take have all been on the first sit. and ,to be honest, most have been taken the last hour of lite, coming out of a bedding area, heading to feed. I like edges coming out of a bedding area. And, ALWAYS must have correct wind. I move around alot.

 

[BSK]

I started checking my cameras every weekend leaving my scent in the area on purpose, if work allows, year around. My stands don't seem to burn out now, I want them to associate my smell as harmless. I've managed to kill 3 wall hangers in 3 years this way on twenty acres. It's a bowl shaped valley so wind doesn't matter, but thermals make or break.

I'm becoming more and more convinced you can condition deer to your scent if they encounter it frequently enough outside of deer season, in the locations you hunt. Not that they will completely ignore your scent, but it causes considerably less "freak-out" alarm reaction.

 

[BSK]

There are distinct differences in the amount of intrusion that different bucks will take. Some of yall have followed the interactions i have documented with different mature bucks here at the farm. Silo 5.5, ghost 6.5 and tank 4.5, had virtually fear factor at all. I passed all except ghost, but i did pass ghost as a 5.5 after he broke a beam. These bucks were clueless. I had a few more, willy and splitz for example, that were crazy wild even at great distance

Great post. Every deer is an individual.

 

[BSK]

My question to you Bryan, based upon your statement that most of your stand sites only allow for 60 yards of visibility, is the following: are these man made "shooting lanes", natural openings, a mixture of both, and/or stands over food plots?
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I've got a few areas exactly like that!

We set our stands up long before season based on our knowledge of deer travel patterns. When we set them up, we have no idea what that year's rut sign or movement patterns will look like, so some of the stands are going to be total duds, considering that location doesn't turn out to be part of that year's primary travel routes.

We have done a lot of patchy timbering over the years (90% hardwood environment). We primarily cut hillsides, leaving the big oaks standing on the ridgelines in an attempt to draw deer up onto the ridge-tops (acorns), where they are easier to hunt (rising thermals in the mornings). So what we end up with is stand locations where you can't see 10 yards downhill, but can see 40-60 yards along the ridge-line in both directions. However, even that gets limited over time because sunlight gets under the canopy of the tall timber on the ridge-lines and we develop a pretty nasty understory of beeches. So we literally have some stands where MAXIMUM visual range is 25 yards, with some directions 10 yard visibility. But that's where the big boys feel very comfortable, so that's where we hunt them.

Sunday morning had my target mature buck (12-pointer) at 25 yards. Understory Beeches too thick for a shot. Ugh...