1. Find out what the major food source is in your area. Is it a corn field, apple trees. a dropping white oak? Try to find out how the deer are going to and from this food source. If you know where they bed you can set up in a funnel area to intercept them.
Remember, that deer will most likely be heading to the food source in late afternoon and headed to bedding area in the morning. Hunt accordingly.

2. You could take a grunt call but I wouldn't use it a whole lot right now by calling blind. If you do happen to spot a buck out of range, and it is heading away from you, you have nothing to lose, so give it a try. Some othersmay have a different opinion on this.
You should try to be as scent free as possible, yourself. A curiosity type scent would be good early in the season but I wouldn't be using rut type scents just yet.

3. When hunting in a low tree stand, or any tree stand for that matter, you need to have something around you for your camo to blend in with. You don't want to be smack dab out in the open where you will stick out. Even if you need to lash some branches around your tree stand to give you cover. Look at what is behind you too. Look at it from the deer's point of view. Are you skylined or do you have some kind of back drop top blend into? You want something behind you if at all possible. If you are right handed, set your tree stand up so that expected shots will be on your left. It is almost impossible to draw a bow at a target on your right side, unless you stand up and turn around. Being right handed myself, I like to have limbs or cover on my right side for my came to work with.

4. I like hunting early in the season. I feel deer are more predictable, especially if I know what they are feeding on. Although during the rut they are traveling all day long. Just realize that evrything changes quickly in the deer's world in the fall. Acorns drop and soon they are all gone. Corn field are being cut and apples are falling too. Hunters are spending more time in the woods and deer sense the danger. the rut is coming on and bucks are on the move. All this happens, and things change almost daily in the deer's world. Preseason scouting will help you find out what deer are doing. For the most part, deer will still be in these patterns in the early part of the season. To me, it is easier. Soon though, all the things mentioned above will start happening and things change. If you huntn the same areas for several years, you can usually know where deer will be during these changes.


Good Luck!