Burned out spot ?
 

Hi all! I am new to the site and I want to ask a bit of help from you guys.

Here's is the situation, before hunt I installed 3 treestands on my 100 acres land where there is trails and food. 2 weeks ago bought 3 trail cam and installed them in each spot. there is only 1 cam with pictures and it took around 800 hundred photos in 6 days, half with nice bucks at all hours event the middle of the day.

So first day of the hunt I go to this stand with the intention of staying all day, mornings comes and I have a ton of problem of finding this stand in the dark, and starts walking around and I believe, leaving my scent everywhere, finally find it and stay all day nothing.

second day I let this stand cool off and try the other one (this one easier to find in the dark)

Third day I go back to the first stand and same problem this stand is really hard to find in the dark, i walk around for 15 minutes trying to find it. nothing all day.

Do you think my best spot is burned out ? what do you recommend ?
I will put tape to mark the path, is it too late ? let it cool off for a week ? go only in the afternoon ? forget this spot this year ?

Give it a few weeks rest. Then you might want to hunt late day to dark. You may be walking through a feeding area in the early morning - once they hear you, they will keep track of your movement perhaps all the way to your stand. If you go out at 2PM on fair weather days, more than likely the deer will be bedded down. And on rainy or drizzly days, assume deer are not bedded down - often they are moving.

clear a path to your stands....you are prob pushing them out when you go in...leave some bait if legal...go in 1hr before sunrise 2 hours before sunset...

Did you hear any deer take off as you looked for the stand ? There are a lot of variables that go into hunting but the one thing I always come back to is over thinking things. So give the spot a week and go back and check the camera and see what you have. My guess is you will be pleasantly surprised that the deer are still using the area but may have modified the time they come through.

No I didnt hear any deer take off, but i'm really surprised how this spot could be red hot for a week on camera (litterally having deers at 7h30 - 9:00 12:00 3:30 5:30 every day on pics) to not seeing anything for 2 complete day sits. For now i assumed that was because I circled around my stand and left sent in every possible approach path... lol.

But ill definitelly do what Wilcam47 ill clear a small path to be silent ad quick to get in. even if i risk leaving more sent doing this.

here's is a pic of the buck i am after, not the biggest monster but thats ok for me
in QC,CAN that's pretty decent buck ;-)

also clear a path in front of where your stand is for the deer to use....give it 20-30yds in a good position for shooting and or clear shooting lanes from your stand to where you see the deer trails or the trail you make. The deer WILL use it. looks like you have some bait out...just freshen it up with apples and a gravity feeder...you can make a cheap gravity feeder by getting some black corrugated rain gutter pipe cut to a 4' length and tie to a tree...then fill it with corn. The deer usually will hog it all down in few days and if someone steals it...you are only out a few$ Scent does come into play but crashing around prob doesn't help...deer patterns do change a little with food availability and pressure. but typically the come back if theres food. I am not seeing many bucks around where I have my stand...but I know they are around...

Yes i put some oats mixed with corn and a sugary mixture not sure what it is, and I also put apples, they eat the grain as fast as i can put it there (usually go every week, and bring some in my back pack every time I go hunt), the still eat the apples but after. Very good idea for the feeder.

It all depends if the deer bed in your woods or not is there a lot of crop land around or just woods? what surrounds the property? My 100 acres is in the middle of crop land and the deer don't bed there more or less a walk through woods. do you use sent elimination products? since opening weekend I got winded 6 times "got blown at". Also what I experienced in my hunting endeavors is that the deer herd moves from time to time some times the herds in your neck of the woods, and then all of a sudden they wont be. when you only own 100 acres the deer probably don't live there if you had 400 to 1000 acres different story. so I would say just stick it out and control your sent the best you can.

lot of crop, i use scent control sometime but not every time, i wear those under armour 10x longer undergarments for scent control but honestly not sure about that, i also wear rubber boots