WHITETAIL GENERAL

Where should i place my treestand on my food plot? i plan on hunting over it with a bow and was wondering what the best location would be for a tree stand.? edge of the food plot, back in the woods by the food plot or on trails leading to the food plot.?

Stonewall308

It really depends on a lot of factors, most notably the direction of the predominate wind and the points of entry of the deer into the food plot.

If the deer aren't in the food plot until after dark, obviously you are going to need to place a stand back in the woods on their travel route, so that you see them during shooting hours.

I am setting up a food plot for next year that will be only about 15 feet wide and 80 yards long. Because the plot will be small and hidden, and I will be hunting during bow season with little pressure, I expect the deer to feed during shooting hours. So I am placing the stand on the edge of the woods in the middle of the plot, so I have a 40 yard shoot to each end. Because I hang my stand high (about 22 feet) and take great precautions with scent control, I am not that worried about them winding me on the way into the plot, plus I don't really know the routes they will use to enter it since it doesn't have any food yet.

halfbakedi420

i agree..lots of variables...
how long and wide is it?
a pop up tent left out all year with a couple pairs of your drawers in it would make an excelent spot. the deer get used to the tent and your smell while it grows. so as long as yer gettin in and not changing anything, you'll be in good shape.
as fer the tree stand..i would put one up on the east and west sides on the tree line, that way you can be in the "dark hole" ....between the deer and the sun...and then use wind direction and choose from the 2. gl

marquismarc

I would set up on a trail leading to your plot, but like previously mentioned...there are a lot of variables to think through.

GTOHunter

I would set up 2 stands in different area's by the food plot aiming in different directions in case of which way the wind would be blowing across the food plot....another thing to decide where to put the stands up is what directions will the Deer be traveling in towards the food plot and which directions is the best cover?Where I have my ladder stands in a lower bottom feild is on the back end of the food plot on the East end a few feet into the woods and the other stand on the north side of the food plot up against the thick woods where there is a small creek bed running behind it and a decent used trail on the hillside.This is where the Deer travel the most and slip in to the food plot and I know when they hit the food plot they will be at ease and stay there for a good while or if another Deer is passing thru or looking for Doe's they may also hit the food plot for a quick bite and I'll have another shot opportunitiy!You can always move Your stand if You find the Deer coming in from a different area/direction...I have also been considering putting a stand up further in the woods about 50-100 yards where the Deer will be traveling thru to get to the food plot...sometime the Deer will stage up a few yards in the woods before they walk out into an open feild or food plot.On the south side of the food plot is a fence row and the Neighbors open Cow Pasture and its pretty well useless to set up on that side and I almost never see Deer travel from that direction.

Mojotex

Here's another 2 cents worth. As already mentioned, I would advise a careful inspection of the trails that the deer are frequenting to/from the food plot. My experience here in SE Al. is that the deer will usually frequent only a few trails in/out of a food plot. If you get lucky you might find where 2-3 trails come together just before reaching the plot. In general that is a great location to set-up for archery hunting. If you can, set up more than one location so that you might take advantage of wind direction. Or be able to select hunting more than one trail system. For sure down this way, locating one stand which faces the trails from generally N-NW works out pretty good because cool fronts generally bring N-NW breezes. I try to set up within 15-35 yards of the trail(s), and usually am off the food plot 20 or so yards. Maybe even farther, depending upon the trail system. One food plot near which I have taken several nice deer over the years, I set up about 75 yards off the plot, where the deer have for decades filtered into the food plot from the woods. On some plots that I hunt the deer have become extremely predictable and on these I hunt only one general location, and very close or on the edge of the field. So "experiment" with the location might be the only decent advise I could give. After all, I have never been "right" not even nearly every time and have ended up moving my climber, lock-on or ladder stand more than once during the season .... not a big deal. Just work.