nbadger23

Last weekend I decided to hunt near my dad' s stand he uses for gun season. It' s been a good morning stand for rifle season and there' s good sign around it so I figured I would give it a shot. The trouble is - it' s a good 15 min walk back on our land and I spooked deer every morning. I was heading into the woods at about 5:00 a.m. each morning and ever time I had to stop and let deer literally pass by me. I was pretty successful each morning - I would hear them coming, stop and be silent, and let them pass by me - the closest one at about 15 feet. But each day, a doe wouldn' t be so forgiving and would snort and make all kinds of noise. Not to mention that it took me forever to get to my stand because I had to stop and wait for so long to let these deer go by.

I felt like I had ruined everything by the time I got to my stand. The area I' m hunting by is about 500 yards West of a corn field and about 300 yards North of a big clear cut. I thought that I would be catching deer coming out of the corn field and/or clear cut and back into their bedding areas but it seems like I' m catching them as they are going to these areas? I should also mention that we normally don' t see deer in these areas until after 8:00 or so.

Should I wait until it' s a little lighter and then sneak in the woods then - possibly also having a better chance of ambushing one of these deer at the time or do I just need to get in the woods even earlier?

I appreciate your ideas - I' ve never been a successful morning bow hunter (I' m judging success by actually seeing deer!) and this is frustrating me even more.
Thanks.

Five Minute Willie

Sounds to me like you have two options:
1) if you' re not seeing deer from the stand until 8am, then I would plan on getting to the stand around 7:15 and walk in while it is light out to avoid bumping into them in the dark (it affords you a little more shuteye).
2) if I was bumping into deer on the way in at roughly the same spot I would set up a stand there and get to it a little earlier. Problem here is whether they continue to pass that area after daylight.

You know better than me which sounds more ideal for your area. Do you see them in the evening at all?

nbadger23

Willie - it' s kind of funny.... I' ve been within 50 yards of my stand each time I' ve bumped into these deer. The one day, I was just about to set my stuff down by the tree and had the deer get so close. He was going right down the trail I thought they would - heading towards the clear cut - but it was still dark!!

I am seeing deer at dark - but I don' t hunt this stand at dark because historically we haven' t seen deer there. I think my first try will be the later approach - just to see what happens and get a feel for what' s going on with my eyes - rather than just my ears :-)

98Redline

I have a stand that I bump deer out of every time I go to in the morning.

My advise, go very early!

I try to get in by about 5:00am (legal hours aren' t until about 7:00am)
Stay as scent free as possible and if you bump the deer don' t sweat it.

Like I said, I blow deer out every time I go in. I will sit from 5:00 to about 8:00 and not see anything except squirrels and birds. At about 8:00 the deer start to filter back in without any real concern that they had been pushed out a couple of hours ago.
Last Satruday, at one point I counted 8 deer under my stand at about 8:30am.

Bowhuntrey

Also, if possible sounds like you could get further down towards the clear cut. Seems like they wouldnt have made it that far by then. Just a suggestion

nbadger23

bowhuntrey - that' s a good idea - it' s not as easy of walk but it may work.

Redline - that' s about what I would have expected out of this stand - that' s the way it' s worked during rifle season - I guess the two chances I gave it probably weren' t enough to know for sure. I will definately give it another shot this weekend - there' s too much good sign around it not to!