Which is best: Guessing or knowing?

Pick the right spot and you may shoot a nice buck like the author.

 

It's a common problem for deer hunters. They find themselves in unfamiliar territory, and are trying to puzzle out where the best place is to hunt.
Many hunters take a wild flying guess based on minimal input from gazing at trails, and pick a spot. Often, it may look good but in many cases it is a hurry-up and poor guess that won't pay off.

Having said that, we can answer the question that serves as the title of this daily blog.

Guessing at good hunting spots is never a great idea.

 

Knowing where to hunt is always better than guessing. Knowing comes from a constant familiarity with the area being hunted. Let's put it another way: We travel to Alabama in mid-January when the rut is in full swing, hoping for a good buck, and we hunt on private club land.

Someone acts as a paid or unpaid guide, drives us to a stand where deer are known to pass, and with some luck, we shoot a buck. If we don't shoot a buck, it means that none were seen, none were of the size we wanted or a buck did show up but didn't offer a chance for an accurate shot.

We hunt again in the evening, and are placed in a key location where we should see deer. No one can always make deer move, and no one can guarantee that a hunter can and will sit still.

If we should hunt this way, with others telling us where to hunt, it's a wise move to pay close attention to the terrain in which we hunt. There are always some things that can offer subtle hints about each location. Try to figure them out as you move deeper into cover.

More deer are shot in thick cover than out in the open.

 

Deer often are found in fringe cover, that area between thick heavy cover and open land. Of course, a ground blind or tree stand may be located anywhere in-between, and it's up to the hunter to learn why one particular spot is better than another.

One of my favorite spots is on a low hillside with thick heavy cover on three sides with open land on the west side. The prevailing westerly wind blows down through the open cover, and the stand is cross-wind.

The only way a deer can pick up a hunter's scent here is if he climbs into or out of the stand. The stand should be high enough on this small hill to blow scent over the surrounding thick cover.

One thing hunters must do is look at terrain the way a deer look at it.

• Where is the food supply?
• Where are the key bedding areas?
• Which trails connect those two key locations?
• How can deer, especially larger bucks, travel back and forth without being on trails?

Other key factors include:

• How does the wind blow in each location, and does it swirl backwards when hitting a woodline?
• How can a hunter get into and out of the area without bumping into moving deer?
• Does the hunting area have two or three way to enter and exit to avoid traveling the same route time after time?

Choose a stand site that is easy to access without bumping deer.

• Which type of stand is best suited to that area?
• Which would work best: a ground blind, pit blind, tree stand or elevated coop?
• How high is high enough for elevated stands?
  

I've found that a tree stand elevation of 15 to 18 feet is usually high enough under most circumstances. I've got one stand that is close to 30 feet in the air, and it is a consistent producer but steep-angle shots are not a good bet when a hunter must make a decision in a hurry, and then take a quick well-aimed shot.

Many of my stands are at 14-15 feet. That places a standing bow hunter at roughly 20 feet in the air. A stand at 18 feet puts the same hunter at roughly 24 feet. Each stand has special requirements, and hunters must solve these problems long before the season opens. Match stand height to the best natural features of a tree. Don’t place stands directly on a trail but just far enough away that a deer moving toward you won’t be looking directly at you.

Hunters will have far better hunting success if they know why a hunting location is best. Guessing implies that one is trusting to luck or fate. With a guess, the hunter will have a 50-50 chance of guessing right. If you error, make certain you error on the side of common sense when choosing a stand site.

Of course, this also means a 50-50 chance of guessing wrong. There is nothing worse than a stand that requires hours of effort and time to prepare only to learn it is not in the right spot.

This year, don't guess. Know where the hotspots are long before the season opens. Doing so beats guessing every time, and you can take that to the bank.