How You Get To Your Deer Stand

[roymunson]

Big bore gotta say shooting a deer 10 minutes after seeing it on trail cam is the exact reason I am getting so pissed off about this sport from your own admission. .Lack of fair chase is ruining the experience. Sorry to harp on you but trail cams are ruining the actual hunting process and need to be banned 30 days prior to the end of season. Anybody want to take the challenge. They are not allowed period on my land.

That's your perogative. But just know not everyone has the same goals and satisfaction as you do. There's room for more than 1 opinion in the world. I could argue that hardliners like you are ruining it for everyone else. See how it works both ways? Live and let live.

As for access, In and possibly just as importantly OUT will have a huge impact on success. The ATV dropping you off and picking you up is a game changer. I killed a 5 year old 2 years back. Got dropped off in a SXS and 2 hours later he walked into a food plot on thursday of Ohio Firearms season. He'd been bedding within 150 yards of us when we came in. He was just used to the quad.

I think people forget the getting out part too. The SXS will bump deer off but not booger them. They'll be back in the plot within 15 minutes of when you leave. Or at least thats how it's worked for us.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

I’m with matt, if you use a cellular trail cam to influence your decision on how to access a stand in real time that should be illegal. Using electronics to aid in taking game.

But I digress, access is everything. I think about it all year and still struggle with it. I cut a half mile road through the woods with my excavator this summer just to access a single stand because I didn’t have a good option prior. When it’s go time of late October early November I think I’m going to go back to entering my stand really early in the mornings. Like an hour before shooting light. I feel like you can get away with more. Other parts of the year I’ve been experimenting with dusky light to enter just in an effort to be quieter and maybe see them before they can see me.
Evenings, entrance is fine. Exit is keeps me up at night. If I hunt on the food source I can never get out undetected. If I hunt off the food, I never see the deer or get in the ballgame for a shot.
Ingress and egress is an ever evolving strategy for me and every bit as important as stand placement. The two are synergistic in many ways. Nothing more deflating than bumping a deer in the morning 5’ from your stand or being stuck in the tree 30 minutes after dark with deer all in the plot. Both usually don’t end well.

 

[roymunson]

I’m with matt, if you use a cellular trail cam to influence your decision on how to access a stand in real time that should be illegal. Using electronics to aid in taking game.

I don't disagree with you. Just saying there's different strokes for different folks. There's more accomplishment without it, but it depends what you're after.

 

[Telemark]

I think something people are jumping to conclusions here. I didn't get the impression that bigborblr was hunting with real time photos or within 10 minutes of seeing a photo. He simply said he had seen a buck on camera and decided to try something new without a real plan. My interpretation was that switching things up and trying something new was the main factor in his success, rather than real time camera tracking. I think we shouldn't make baseless accusations, especially with such passionate reactions. Unless I'm missing something.

 

[356]

My favorite way to get to a stand is to be dropped off early by a noisy gas powered side by side that sits there until I'm in the tree. Once it drives off the danger left the neighborhood. If I don't have that option I'm with Spud get about 1/4 mile from the stand and walk. I have been known to drive close to a stand during rifle season if the stand offers a spot to hide a side by side. Last years rifle deer was shot with my side by side in a dip by a pond 15 yards from my box blind.

I could be way off but I think a deer is much more alarmed by a person walking then a machine.

A well-known Whitetail Habitat solutions guy very critical of landowners who have "parking areas" at or near their blind, however, I have found these work well--especially for the e-bike. When building my latest tower blind I included a parking area under the tower, as I do not have someone to drop me off at the blind.

I've seen young and dumb deer walk by my SxS and never glance at it, but the older ones don't like seeing something out of place.

I try to have an ingress and egress plan in place each hunt. I have one blind where egress is very difficult. I have wondered if intentionally "busting" deer when leaving might encourage them to show up at another stand location the next day. Anyone try that?

 

[SwampCat]

Deer get used to everyday activities. An acquaintance had a farm he only visited every other weekend. His deer were extremely alerted to a sxs. I live on my place. Some of my neighbors are cattlemen. Sxs’s and tractors are out everyday. I have a property on a US highway. Biggest deer I have ever killed I was sitting 25 yards off the shoulder of the highway and the deer was 30 yards away. 18 wheelers and motorcycles going by - but the deer never looked towards the highway - kept looking back in woods behind him. I am sure the deer was familiar with all kinds of critters sneaking up out of the woods - but not off the highway. We have coon hunted many times and walked through a food plot at midnight and someone hunted there the next morning and seen the biggest deer we have.

I see far more mature bucks from a sxs or tractor, because I am on a sxs or tractor many more times a year than in a deer stand. A good friend is a cattle rancher with 1200 acres next to me. He is out everyday on a sxs or tractor. I never send him a buck picture that he has not already seen the buck in person. We often drop a hunter off right at the stand with a sxs and then the person driving goes on to another stand. We have noticed no lack of mature buck sightings when you are the one dropped off. There is a big difference between walking across a field with a mature buck in it or riding across in a sxs. Buck will run much quicker when they see a walking hunter - at least at our place.

Deer are creatures of habit. They accept whatever they consider normal. I read about guys who stay off their property as much as they can until deer season arrives. We live on our property - we duck hunt, dove hunt, squirrel and coon hunt with a dog, we hog hunt with thermals, we fish, we frog, we hunt alligators and trap crawfish and are in the orchard every other day. My wife and I walk a couple miles many mornings. If I had to stay off the property until deer season, I would sell out and move to the coast and fish.

 

[MN Slick]

Absolutely that why I drive to 20 feet from my blind. Those people walking are leaving scent everywhere. Every breath and boot track along with your sweat build up. It defeats the purpose. Plus walking in or out is way worse than a deer seeing a truck. But I have say reading these stories brings a grin. If I can drive to my blind it two minutes it sure beats the he'll out of your 10 minutes of walking

I'm curious. Are you consistently shooting the mature bucks in you area?

 

[SwampCat]

As far as leaving a stand in the dark, three nights ago, and yes, I realize this is summertime, my son in law and I were after a big hog that just showed up on texting camera. We had to drive 8 miles to that property. We parked about 400 yards from the hog and started walking in with a red light head light. I could see two deer in the thermal scanner, halfway 2/3’s way between us and the hog. We walked by them about 75 yards away. We shot the hog - twice - with an unsuppressed .308. When we walked back to the truck, the two deer were still in the field. I find deer much more forgiving at night. I am our hunting a fair bit at night, and it is very common to walk up very close to deer - even bedded deer, and not jump them

 

[Bill]

A well-known Whitetail Habitat solutions guy very critical of landowners who have "parking areas" at or near their blind, however, I have found these work well--especially for the e-bike. When building my latest tower blind I included a parking area under the tower, as I do not have someone to drop me off at the blind.

I've seen young and dumb deer walk by my SxS and never glance at it, but the older ones don't like seeing something out of place.

I try to have an ingress and egress plan in place each hunt. I have one blind where egress is very difficult. I have wondered if intentionally "busting" deer when leaving might encourage them to show up at another stand location the next day. Anyone try that?

Say Hello to Tony

I agree if you’re parking close it has to be hidden. I wouldn’t do it with a machine other than rifle season. Maybe a small bike that would hide easy.

 

[omicron1792]

I’ve had same experience thermal hunting. I have deer walk right up on me while coyote hunting. To the point I’ve had to make noise to keep them from bumping into me. When I’m walking to next spot I’ll walk by or through a field and I’ll have deer 40 yards away just looking at me (or my direction).

I think at night they feel safe in the darkness. But I have been surprised by the lack of reaction by deer when I am out there in middle of the night.

I also think walking to a stand doesn’t affect the hunt that day. It affects buck movement in the future. If they smell you that day they just don’t come back to that area again for a while.

 

[jsasker007]

I've noticed if they smell you it isn't nearly as bad as if they see you. Usually a buck moves on if they see you.

 

[BenAllgood]

Pretty soon, people will get a drone to drop them in.

 

[jsasker007]

Drone hunting. Ethical or not? Kidding

 

[Tree Spud]

Here is Boone & Crocket's statement on what is considered fair chase. I don't believe taking a deer with a cell phone camera in real time qualifies as fair chase.

Personally I take a lot of pride in harvesting an animal with a fair chase approach.

Fair Chase Statement

FAIR CHASE, as defined by the Boone and Crockett Club, is the ethical, sportsmanlike, and lawful pursuit and taking of any free-ranging wild game animal in a manner that does not give the hunter an improper or unfair advantage over the game animals.
HUNTER ETHICS
Fundamental to all hunting is the concept of supporting the conservation of natural resources. Modern hunting involves the regulated harvest of individual animals in a manner that conserves, protects, and perpetuates the hunted population, known as sustainable use. The hunter engages in a one-to-one relationship with the quarry and his or her hunting should be guided by a hierarchy of ethics related to hunting, which includes the following tenets:

1. Obey all applicable laws and regulations.
2. Respect the customs of the locale where the hunting occurs.
3. Exercise a personal code of behavior that reflects favorably on your abilities and sensibilities as a hunter.
4. Attain and maintain the skills necessary to make the kill as certain and quick as possible.
5. Behave in a way that will bring no dishonor to either the hunter, the hunted, or the environment.
6. Recognize that these tenets are intended to enhance the hunter's experience of the relationship between predator and prey, which is one of the most fundamental relationships of humans and their environment.

 

[jsasker007]

As long as the hunter puts his tag on it, I don't care how he got his deer. 1 DEER, 1 TAG. Not knocking anyone else just my opinion.

 

[Thomasc19]

I will take my mule to within a 1/4 mile of stand then walk in. I did have to sleep in my bear blind one night as i was surrounded by about 5-6 bears for most of the night.

When you ride in, do you tie your mule up and he just hangs out for however long you're in the stand?

 

[Tree Spud]

When you ride in, do you tie your mule up and he just hangs out for however long you're in the stand?

not clear on you question

 

[Thomasc19]

not clear on you question

Like he's just tied to the tree for however long you're in the stand? Or does he have a long lead to walk around/eat? Sorry I haven't hunted with horses/mules before

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Like he's just tied to the tree for however long you're in the stand? Or does he have a long lead to walk around/eat? Sorry I haven't hunted with horses/mules before

Ok I’m not sure if you are making a joke or are serious!
I’m pretty sure he’s talking about his Kawasaki mule not ol bessy mule

 

[letemgrow]

Taking a step back this fall from it all and heading in from the canoe to some public land spots here in KS.

Always wanted to bring a buck back out on one.