Watch The Sun When Positioning Stands

This happened many years ago, but I was hunting from the ground in hopes of taking a big buck I'd seen the previous day. This guy was figured out when I crawled into my blind long before dawn.

I was downwind from the trail, and was taking it easy. An arrow was nocked, thre bow rested across my lap and then the sun started cracking the eastern horizon with a blaze of glory. Streaks of yellow, orange, purple and red light radiated out from the core of the fiery sunrise, and just then the buck stepped onto the trail.

There was an immmediate sinking feeling in my guts when I found I'd made a big mistake. Instead of having the sun behind me, it was directly in my eyes, and there was but a tiny window through which to shoot.

Bad mistakes make bucks difficult to shoot.

The buck stepped into that brightly lit hole, stopped, and I eased back to full draw but couldn't see a thing. The blinding sunlight obliterated the deer, the narrow opening, and everything else. I tried to shift a bit but by now the buck had moved on down the trail and was out of sight.

It's a problem every deer hunter has faced ... at least once. Since that day long ago, my hunting locations are chosen with greater care. Whenever possible, I prefer my morning spots to be downwind of the trail and with the sun at my back.

Come late afternoon, the reverse is true. I like the setting sun at my back and still be downwind. It's sometimes difficult to find the right spot for the dawn or dusk hunts, in terms of wind direction, but it behooves us to try to find some key locations that will work where deer travel.

Choose stand locations with great care.

We've all done this: walk around, find a good-looking tree, and figure this is the hot spot. It well could be, but it's wise to remember the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and the wind may be from other angle. Or ... it could be just right.

This is where studying ground or tree stand locations with a brain that instantly sifts out the following information is important: Which direction will the deer be traveling? Which direction is the wind blowing? Which direction will I be facing if this spot is used? Will the sun be in my eyes when the deer are moving or at my back? Only you can provide the necessary answers but the winter months are a good time to scout some locations.

If you guess wrong on any of these four questions, it's best to have a lucky rabbit's foot or a four-leaf clover in your pocket, because a hunter will need a large measure of luck to make this site work.

If you are hunting from a ground or elevated coop, it may help to build an extension out from the shooting window to serve as some type of awning over the window with side curtains. This will cut down on sunlight glaring into the shooting window but it also cuts down on where the hunter can shoot. Straight-ahead shots are it.

Building a wooden top and two sides out three feet from the shooting window, and painting it black, will reduce the glare and the amount of light entering the coop. Make certain the inside of the coop is painted black, and all other windows are covered with dark cloth to further reduce the light entering the coop.

Pit blinds can offer some distinct advantages. The little hole in this pit blind at ground level is what hunters shoot through.

I have a pit blind that a friend uses. It has a tiny A-frame top that covers the pit, and the entrance door and shooting window are the same. Sitting in the pit puts you at the same level as the deer. See the photo to the right. Shots are taken at nearly ground level.

The shooting window faces just slightly north of straight west. The sun can be a problem, but this hunter sits on a chair as far south in the pit blind as possible, and this takes him out of the sun's direct glare. He often shoots a good buck that chooses to stand slightly northwest of the shooting window. He can see the buck, the buck can't see him, and most shots are taken at 12 to 15 yards at an immobile animal.

It's possible in many cases to situate a stand so the hunter isn't facing into the sun. However, know this: any hunter movement if the sun is directly behind them can result in a deer spotting the movement.

If you must err, do so on the side of having the sun in the deer's eyes and be downwind of the animal. Do that, and keep your movements slow and deliberate, and the hunter will fool most of the deer.

It's about all the advantage that a hunter could ask for.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors