Entrance and exit routes?
 

This will be my 4th year bowhunting and until now I pretty much just followed what my friends dad told me to do. This last year I have been reading a lot and we got some new land to hunt and scout. I have been reading in my magazines (Bowhunter and Bowhunting) and there are always articles that stress the improtance of how you exit and enter your stand. Some people say they'll walk 1 mile just so they don't walk on a trail or so there wind doesn't go into a bedding area. Last year I had to walk right down a trail for about 25yds to get into my stand, 1 1/2hr later the biggest buck I have ever seen came walking right down that trail relaxed as can be. This deer wasn't in rut or anything it was just walking around. Did I just get lucky? Do you know for a fact that your routes help your hunting?

Also how do you know exactly where the deer are going to be bedding so your scent doesn't blow that way. Is it more of an educated guess or chance issue? I know its impossible to predict what way a deer is going to come from or where it is bedding and I'm beggining to think that you just pick the way were you think you have the most chance of them not smelling you? Since this is new land it is very hard to make these predictions.

Any feedback on these issues is greatly apprecitated -Sam

RE: Entrance and exit routes?
 

I certainly dont mean to say that hunting the wind doesnt matter, but I hunt the same 80 acres every weekend of the season. We have numerous stands set up and I can never say exactly where the deer will come from, so sometimes it is hard to know which wind is best. Also, the land is 40 acres of woods, and it is surrounded by cornfield. The deer could really be bedded anywhere, so I just try to minimize my scent and get in as quietly as possible.

RE: Entrance and exit routes?
 

Your entry and exit routes are big in your success IMHO. Through observation of maps and time in your stand and post season scouting you should be able to get an idea of where deer bed the most on the property you hunt.

If you walk to your stand through the middle of timber and crash through a couple bedding areas your success will forsure be hurt. But then again just waking through the middle of a cut corn field isn't the best idea either. I try to look for low spots or ravines to travel through. I try to stay out of sight as much as possible.

In the mornings its tough to get to stand without spooking deer. I try to get there at least an hour and half before legal light to try and cut down on spooking deer out of feeding areas.

RE: Entrance and exit routes?
 

My main question was about walking over the trails. A big mature buck followed my path for 25yds and didn't even notice my scent, why should I walk out of my way if this doesn't matter?

RE: Entrance and exit routes?
 

No one else has any opinions?

RE: Entrance and exit routes?
 

I would think you happened to get lucky with the deer following your trail and not noticing. Don't count that happening ever again. Why take the chance at getting busted when you can take a different route and not have to worry about it?

RE: Entrance and exit routes?
 

I just hunt the wind, no matter what i do i am going to jump deer, you can go around...........but you'll jump deer on that side too, you can come from this side of the property, but guess what? You just jumped those deer over there, deer hunting is 10%skill, 90%luck, IMHO!

RE: Entrance and exit routes?
 

My 2 cents:

Practice scent control
Get in very early and as quickly/quietly as possible

RE: Entrance and exit routes?
 

I wear rubber boots which I put on after exiting the pickup and spray down with scent eliminating spray. I still try not to walk directly on a known deer trail. However, near trails or over them seems required where I hunt. Have had deer stop dead in there tracks when they reach my entrance trail, but not often. If you wear leather boots, etc., you could easily get busted. Just my view, but why take the chance?

RE: Entrance and exit routes?
 

You probably got lucky. I wouldn't count on that happening too often.

Find what they are feeding on, then back-track the trails that lead away from the food source. If you start to lose a trail, or they start to break into several small ones, set up right there and hunt that spot. If it's not the right spot, watch where the deer come from and adjust accordingly. If hunting there is anything like it is here, deer change bedding area's often depending on food and hunting pressure. So, don't worry about finding where they always bed, such an area may not exist. Find where they are bedding in relation to what they are feeding on.

If you are lucky enough to have a place that isn't so heavily pressured that bedding area's can be predicted, it's easier. Just take a map, plot the food source as point A, bedding area as point B, and locate stand sites that allow you to hunt with different wind directions. You will likely need somewhat different routes for morning or evening stands, just look at your map and see which one allows you to hunt without the wind blowing in the direction the deer are coming from. I make up index cards labeled with different wind directions, and put the stands I can hunt for each wind direction on the cooresponding card. That way, all you need to do is check the wind, then pick a stand off the card for that wind. Keeps the tempation of hunting the favorite stand on the wrong wind a little lower.

As for crossing trails, I keep that to a minimum, but when I do have to cross a trail, I do it in my shooting lane. Step in a pile of droppings on the way in, then where you cross the trail, rub the boot with the droppings on it into the dirt. Any deer coming will stop for a sniff, and you might get a standing shot. Sometimes you cannot get into a stand without crossing a trail. This way, they will either smell you and become alert, or smell the droppings and think nothing of it. Either way, you get a standing shot rather than a walking one.

Most of all don't worry yourself to death about it. Try different things. Some will work, some will not. Learn from your mistakes and become a better hunter.

RE: Entrance and exit routes?
 

I thank that people actually worry to much about scent my self. Most deer today actually smell people scent everyday. I never set more than 10 to 12 feet up in a tree stand and still never have a problem with deer being spooked by my scent they walk right under me. I've spooked more deer by my movement than i have with them smelling me. Deer are more spooked by something they smell out of the ordinary. Deer anymore are so use to smelling people everyday because of all the timber and land where clearing that our secnt doesn't affect them as much as them seeing use. all the deer i've taken with bow have been within 10 to 15 yards from my tree. As far as figureing out were there going to be beding or coming from i've givin up on that . More than likely the deer are goin to come from the direction that you less expect it.

RE: Entrance and exit routes?
 

you do want to be worried about the wind direction. speed etc. if the wind is too strong they might not get a wiff of ya. but i garuntee you that if a deer smells you he will act differently.. he will stomp the ground, snort, if yoru lucky and or bolt if your not. i think the most important thing is if you are going after the SMART bucks.. im talking about the ones who have survived 3.5-5 years your looking at a deer who knows whats up. he knows what smells dont belong and what sounds dont belong there. and if he sences that there is something wrong he probabaly wont present a good shot. if not i have watched many deer circle around back about 1/2 hour after smelling me and try to get up wind to figure me out... that is when you KNOW they smelled you because they walked DIRECTLY down wind of you to sniff... then you get that feeling.. (BUSTED)

and you all know what that feeling is like... [:@]