First post. I have a dilema I want advise on. Next Weds I took off to bow hunt from sun up until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. I have done this before with success and plan on being in the tree the whole time or until I get lucky. My point is I want the best chance stand and not waste time. I have 2 possible stands that I want to hunt.

Stand 1: In Aug I saw a perfect 10 point, 160 class buck in back of my house for 2 weeks. 10 days ago I set up one of my students from school in a stand and scent pushed some timber. The buck came within 10 feet of him, he tried to draw, buck saw movement and trotted(not ran) off. The area I have to hunt him is only 40 acres. It is half timber and brush and half bean field with the brush timber in the middle and beans on the outside. I started to put up a different stand yesterday and will finish it tomorrow. Of course I will leave scent and will have to do some light chainsawing for shooting lanes to make it worth while. It is where 4 ditches/drainages come together. A definite funnel for cover loving deer and my number one choice. I hunted the timber one evening with my 4 year old son for squirels(no shots fired), came through it last Fri after bow hunting, and walked through it once to look at possible walnut trees to log. I would love to get this buck and know he is somewhere in the area. I also know the stand should have gone up last summer(hanging stand). My only concern is that from the human activity and stand prep he will/is nocturnal or too wary.

Stand 2: 2- 40 acre patches of timber where there is a 100 yard strip of creek woods half mile long connecting the two. No crops and has been a proven stand in years past. It has had zero human activity as far as I know and historically has harbored big bucks. Only problem is I would still have to hang a stand there as well and it is 15 miles away(I get spoiled hunting close).

I am pretty religous about scent: take shower, no scent deodrant, scent free clothes in bag, etc. For either stand the wind could be a factor but I can determine that the day before. This would give me something to plan for. So given those stats what do you think? #2 maybe the obvious choice but my hope was that the historically best time to hunt being around the 9th and 10th that a searching buck would cover ground and not think as much about previous contact. Let me know and if you have time give me your justification. Thanks

Anyone?

That would be where I would sit

I have hung a stand in the mid-morning and had a number of deer come by itthat evening. I would hunt stand 2, sounds like a good place and if it hasn't been pressured then that makes it even better. I love hunting new stands or ones I haven't been at for a while. Good Luck

I agree with your traveling buck theory. He has the earge to surge so he'll come thru.

as Greg Miller would say "go with your feelings", If you have a feeling about a certain stand, jump in it, you got to be there... Good Luck to ya

Well I saw him yesterday afternoon in back of our house chasing a doe. Too bad I was helping clean out a closet. Today and tomorrow temp is supposed to be in the 70's then cool down to 57 when I hunt all day Weds so I hope everything pans out.