Shooting lanes....How many, How big??
 

Went into the woods to cut some lanes for the stand I have right near my house. I raised it a good 6-8 feet over what it was last year. I also put a stealth cam out there and am happy to say I have 8 pics on it. waiting till I get some more. I spread about 10 lbs of corn right next to where I put a mineral lick. The stand looks great, except that the 3 trails that intersect next to it and the two trails that come out of the bedding area 4 yds to the right are almost completely obscured by growth that is 6-10 feet off the ground. I want to open it up ( I cut a few holes in it today) but I don' t want it to seem unnatural to the deer. how many shooting lanes do you guys and gals use? Thanks.

David

RE: Shooting lanes....How many, How big??
 

I try and cut as little as possible, usually I end up needing only to bust a few branches here and there to clear things up. You want to make sure when you cut a lane that you allow for the trajectory of the arrow as well, If you have branches close to you, they won' t appear to be in the way looking at the deer, but since your arrow is coming from below your sight line, they can cause problems. I' ve been there.

RE: Shooting lanes....How many, How big??
 

This close to the season - i' d cut as little as possible. Ideally, i try to cut the majority of my lanes early summer so that the deer get used to them. Like wimp said - make sure you take into account trajectory. Some of the brush you may be able to shoot over top of.

RE: Shooting lanes....How many, How big??
 

It seems when ever I trim shooting lanes the deer just hug the thick stuff, in other words they don' t step out into the open lane, so I don' t trim anything any more.
good luck to ya.

RE: Shooting lanes....How many, How big??
 

We do 99% of our trimming in Feb-March...
don' t have to worry about scent control or
spooking the deer. We try and open lanes in
all 4 directions, if you leave a ' blind spot' you
can bet that' s where the deer are going to be[:@].
From my experience, mature deer seldom
walk where you expect them to...that' s
probably why they are old;).

I prefer to be generous with the size of my lanes.
I' d rather take my chances getting picked off
than have a shooter buck pass within shooting
distance and not be able to get a shot
off...unfortunately, now is not the time to be
doing lots of trimming. At this time I would
open up a couple of small shooting lanes
so as to keep human impact on the area to
a minimum. I' d try and do your trimming
right before it rains....then at least the majority
of your scent will be washed away.

Good Luck
TB

RE: Shooting lanes....How many, How big??
 

I do like Two Beards - and cut big lanes early in the season. Nothing worse than having a big boy pass you at 20 yds with no shot[:' (]

RE: Shooting lanes....How many, How big??
 

I make sure I have at least a couple of opportunities to shoot. That is, I like the cover, but I want to be able to have at least 2-3 lanes cleared. I try to do that as soon as I hang my stand.

RE: Shooting lanes....How many, How big??
 

I wouldn' t do a lot of lane cutting at this time of the year. But, I would still do some. But, I would proably want to either do the trimming in the rain, or wear rubber gloves and try not to touch too much in the area. I would probably even break down and wear the rubber boots for it this time of year. Just don' t trim too much.