I posted yesterday about wind changes while sitting in your tree stand. I'll elaborate a little more with my next question.

I'm hunting my friend's property and he boards horses there. I walk through the horse pastures to get to my stand, which is in a timbered draw, with steep sides and running roughly NE to SW. There are corn fields to the NE at the end of the draw, approximately 300 yards down the draw. A small spring fed creek runs through the draw. I assume there is bedding and mast crops SW in the draw, and along it's sides. Let me correct that. I know there is mast crops, and I assume thereare bedding areas. The wind shifts a lot in the draw, blowing NE or SW through it.

My buddy says he and his wife can get very close to deer while on horse back, but not on foot. So my question is this:Is there a way I can exploit this to my advantage? My thoughts are these. The deer seem to be accustomed to smelling people with horses, so if I took one of the saddle blankets with me to the stand, could that possibly put the deer at ease a bit if the wind shifts, or will they still become alerted because that combination of smells is down where they don't usually smell them?

Thanks.

Im not too sure that it would help, my old girlfriend used to ride horseback and would say the same thing. While on horseback she could often get within 5-10 feet of the deer. I think the deer know that the horse is not a threat, and assume that it is just another wild animal. I asked her to try sometihng one afternoon for me. THere were three doe out in the field where she rides and i had her ride over to them, they didnt mind her or the horses company at all. She came back and i told her to go back and and walk on the ground next to the horse. She only made it 50 yards from the deer until they bolted. I think they know a human when they see one.

I say go for it !
Horses are not a alarming scent for them,thing is try to be as scent free as possible also.
Hell,I'd even stomp through some fresh horse crap too!

Thanks NJBuck, that confirms what my buddy told me. I guess I am assuming that the deer won't see me in my stand and will only catch a whiff of both me and the horse smell, which they seem to be OK with. Again, I'm assuming here, but I suppose thatat least part of the time when people on horseback approach deer that closely, the wind is blowing towards the deer and they smell both horse and human scent. I'm just sort of fishing really, wondering more than anything else.

Why not get on horseback with your bow and have a go at them that way, lol.

I asked my buddy that, and he gave me one of those, "Nice Try" laughs.