MudderChuck

A couple of things I've picked up that seem to be fairly constant are when there is no breeze the air tends to move from the open into the woods early evening, the opposite early morning, Anything coming in from my rear on a still early evening hunt, the Deer usually spooks, especially Doe with fawn.

I carry a smallish Pheasant feather tied to a piece of dental floss. I hang it high enough to check the air movement. I try to stay still, so I don't squirm around a lot trying to see 360 degrees when I hunt. I usually keep it in a 180 degrees fan looking the opposite direction the feather is leaning.

When walking into my stand I try to avoid walking across or on Deer paths. I've seen Deer come to my path into my high seat and stop right where I've flattened the grass. Either my scent or the scent of broken grass or both.

I've fooled feeding Deer before. Usually, they'll hear me before they see me if I'm walking a woodline. I try to keep some cover between me and where the Deer usually feed when I'm walking in. If you've ever watched a Deer come out of cover they step, pause, step, step pause. I try to copy that cadence when walking into my hunting area, You are going to make some sound no way around it and Deer have exceptional hearing. Try to make your noise as natural as possible. Like moving when the breeze is blowing and pausing when it isn't.

You can mitigate your scent some, but it will always be there, you have to breathe. You can mitigate your eye-catching motion or unnatural sounds.

I've watched new hunters sitting for Deer, the biggest mistakes they make are fidgeting too much and jerking their head around too much trying to see everywhere at once. Your face jerking around iooks like a camera flash going off at a distance, especially in low light.