mideerhunter

Alright....heres the setup...I hunt in a swamp area...and my treestand is 15 feet in the air...in this swamp there are lots of small trees and stuff low aroudn the ground that make it so you cant see more than 70 or so yards....but my tree stand its only 15 feet in the air...in previous years I have been successfull for does every year in it with a rifle, i keep my bait pile about 10 yards away...its very close....but alright here is the order of the trees if u were looking from the sky at the ground

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I connected them all with 2x6's bolted with lag bolts (this is a permanent stand)....and built a 4x4 platform on top of that with 2x12's cut to 4' lengths to make a very sturdy platform....in previous years i have never camo'd it...only made a frame and put burlap around it with a piece of plywood for the roof, and it had a ladder to it, but i rebuilt the platform using new wood, so it is safer, got rid of the rotting ladder, and put footpegs to make it not stand out so much...i plan on painting the platform flatblack with leaves and sticks outlined on it, and then realtree burlap around on a frame to make walls so i can sit and be completetly hidden behind it but then stand to shoot, and a roof, this will not be totally enclose...btu these trees are the only safe ones for a stand, but there isn't much cover around it...should i just nail branches and fasten them to the tree to cover it up, or will the deer just get used to it if i make it less conspicous?....i don't feel safe going any higher, but there are no really other options to hunt from...the does never minded before and it wasn't camo'd but i have never seen a buck, but the neighbors get htem all the time.... abotu 200 yards away on a large food plot....thanks for advice...i will try to get pics of the platform and area tomorrow...thanks!

EricH4964

Well, from what I see you have a couple of options. First is to tear that hillbilly stand down and put up a small portable so it isn't as noticeable. I grew up in MI and judging from your screen name, that is where you are from. In fact it wouldn't suprise me if you were one of my old hunting buddies, it sounds like something they would do!

Second way of looking at this is that many deer are killed each year from permanent blinds that look like small houses. Once the deer get used to them they don't spook the deer as much.

Perhaps what you may berunning into is that the deer are winding you or hearing you when you are in your stand? Maybe that is why you aren't seeing bucks. There are a million reasons why, you may want to talk to someone with more experience who lives near you and have them evaluate your situation as it isall but impossible to diagnose over the computer.