Two deer stands for each hunting spot?

East-wind stands must be properly placed for them to work.

It's certainly not an original idea. Many hunters, myself included, have long toyed with the notion of having two stands for each hunting spot. One for the prevailing wind direction and another that would work well for most other winds.

I've thought about it at great length, and have pretty much decided that the most problematic wind is from the northeast, east and southeast. Such winds can stall deer travel.

Would a stand for a prevailing westerly-northwesterly wind, and one for an easterly wind work? What are the pros and cons?

Is the two-stand idea adaptable for most deer hunting?

It probably would work if  the cover (meaning trees for tree stands) were available for those winds. The reason most of us never have put up stands for an east wind is that we never used to get as much of them as we have over the last 10 years.

I have a few places where I can go when an east wind blows. One is a pitblind at the base of a small hill, and an east wind blows right into the opening where bow shots are taken. Deer, as a general rule, do not approach from behind the pit blind, and it's very difficult for a deer to wind the hunter.

A couple of elevated coops are situated so an east wind isn't too bothersome, but many of my stands are placed strategically for the prevailing westerly wind direction.

However, going back to the plausibility of two stands for each hunting area. It could work, if the terrain features and available trees are present, but there is the additional cost of doing so.

Say we're hunting a big buck and we want to set up on him when the wind is out of the east, it can be done but it's not something one jumps into when we already have some stands out. If we could, that would mean building or buying many more stands.

 

The cost of buying or building more stands can become cost-prohibitive.

Most of our stands are permanent fixtures, especially elevated coops built into trees. If we were to do it at all locations, the woods would lose its good looks and begin looking like a scattering of urban tenements in the trees. That would spoil the aethetics of the hunting area.

What probably makes more sense than anything is to build four or five stands for use strictly on an east wind. That might mean two or three new stands along the western edge of our property where the likelihood of a deer catching the hunters scent would be minimal.

If two or three stands were positioned with the west fence line just a short distance away, the chance of a deer circling next to the fence and picking up human odor would be minimized.

The other alternative would be to build an air-tight coop with one shooting window strategically placed. If it was just large enough to shoot through, and could be opened without a sound, it would probably work.

Too many windows in a coop allow the hunter to be silhouetted against the light entering another window. And, the more windows there are, the more likely someone will try a shot at a circling buck or open the windows to look around. All this would do is distribute more human odor.

 

Fighting an east wind is becoming more prevalent. This could solve the problem.

Fighting the east wind is something bow hunters must put up with, and in some cases, we can do something about it. In other cases, the wind may beat us.We're putting our collective heads together this winter, and are trying to figure out how to beat the October east-wind problem. Will it be two blinds in one hunting spot or air-tight blinds with only one small shooting window?

Will it be one or two more pit blinds that back up to a hill? Will it be stands close to our line fence to keep deer from circling behind the hunters?

It may well be a combination of all of these things although having two blinds covering one hunting spot is not one of my favorite ideas. If one was an elevated coop and the other was a pitblind, it could work without cluttering up the skyline.

One thing is certain: whatever we do must be accomplished during the spring, or at the very latest, by June or early July. I like all changes to be made long in advance of the bow season.

Move often to avoid being patterned

This nice buck is checking his surroundings for danger before moving.

Why do people climb mountains? The answer is obvious. Because they are there.

The same analogy applies to deer hunters. Why do people switch stands methodically. The answer is because they can and should.

A lady bowhunter I know loves to sit in just one stand. She will hunt in it every day of the season if possible. She loves her stand, its location and she knew where the deer would come from to pass within her shooting range.

What's more: she shoots good bucks from that stand. It works for her but this method of hunting is not for me.

I want to know when and where bucks travel. Finding such areas is hard work.

I always want to know what lies ahead and around the next bend in the trail. Each day of deer hunting is a day of discovery for me, and that means moving around from one area to another.

It's not my nature to hunt the same stand two days in a row unless I feel a big buck will show. I watch deer on a daily basis, and know where the bigger bucks travel.

Some bucks get into lockstep with moving along the same trail but many big-antlered deer vary their travel routes and schedules. Young bucks can be patterned, and it's possible to predict with 95 percent accuracy what time the little buck will arrive. Nine times out of 10 they will show up within five minutes of when they are expected.

Now, me, looking at the same scenery day after day takes its toll on my patience. It's much more fun, to my way of thinking, to sit in a different stand every day. It helps me avoid getting into a rut.

My hunting method allows me to move daily, play the wind and not get bored.

My preference is to mix up my hunting activities. One day a treestand will be picked, and the next day it may be a ground blind a mile away. The following day may be an elevated coop, and the next day I may choose a pit blind. This allows me to study different deer, try to pinpoint a big buck and his travel area, and it keeps me from getting bored.

A bored hunter is not an effective one. Move around, try different locations, and it keeps you hunting different areas. Switching hunting spots on a regular basis keeps hunters from being patterned by deer. I will seldom hunt the same spot twice in one week.

Each spot will feature bucks approaching from a new and different angle, and like other sportsmen, it's like learning a new stretch of river. Sometimes the new spots will not pay off, but other times they do.

It's impossible to know how good a hunting area can be if we don't hunt it. A great deal of thought goes into choosing locations for ground or tree stands, and that means someone must sit there and study deer patterns and travel routes under various wind directions.

I want to know everything there is to know about a certain location. There have been times where I've put in a stand, hunted it for a day or two, and pulled it out because something about it just didn't feel right.

Hunters, like many people, listen to gut feeling. They have hunches, and I'll look at it a few times, put a stand up, and know within 30 minutes of crawling into the stand that it isn't right. If it doesn't pass muster the first night, it won't be there the next.

It’s my intention to know  about every stand I hunt. It makes me effective.

I don't believe in moving stands just because it goes cold for a week or so. If it has a proven record, it stays in place for a season. I've seen a few stands be cold for most of a season, and then pick up toward the end as deer shift into their winter mode.

The December bow season is long gone, but these tips are meant to give hunters food for thought between now and when December rolls around again. If you are limited to 10 acres, there may only one or possibly two good spots to hunt. If so, switch back and forth. Twenty acres offers two or three spots, and 50 acres offers even more possible stand location choices.

My wife and I once leased 300 acres of deer habitat. It took us a year to learn how to hunt it. We studied travel routes for spring, summer, fall and winter, learned where deer bedded and where they fed.

Study deer movement during all four season, and sooner or later a hunter will put all the puzzle pieces together for one area. If he figures out one spot, it's then time to learn everything possible about another location.

That leased land is a case in point. We'd invite the occasional person  to hunt, and it was a big thrill for me to put a young bowhunter in a stand, and tell him: "A buck comes by here every day at 5:25 p.m., and he comes out of the far corner on the right."

I'd sit with him, and say: "Get ready. That buck will be here in five minutes."

Sure enough, the buck had been patterned so well that he would show up on time. It never ceased to amaze the adults or kids I worked with. People get that woods-savvy only be spending long hours in many locations. Do it right, and shooting a buck is pretty easy. Shooting a big buck is much more difficult, but that only increases the thrill of hunting a particular animal.

The key point here is not to get locked into hunting one spot day after day. Sooner or later the deer will pattern you, and that is not a good situation to find yourself in midway through a season ... unless you are my wife. It always seems to work for her.

Different buck, different tactics

This buck is at a high lope in pursuit of a doe as it passes a hunting shack.

Sometimes those bucks that get away are remembered long after other bucks have been forgotten.

A few such deer come to mind during the winter months as I think back over this last and other seasons. There was that great huge buck that put the fatal hurt on two trophy bucks, a few years ago, and he's one I doubt I ever saw him. When spring broke that year. both dead bucks had been gored repeatedly. Each year two, three or four big buck skeletons show up around the state each year.

Many of these bucks are killed by larger and meaner animals during the rut Some of these rut-crazed deer are never seen unless they show up on a trail camera.

Some of these so-called “killer” bucks are never seen and die of old age.

Another buck that comes to mind was probably a 12-pointer with massive beams, long points, wide inside spread, and weighing somewhere close to 200 pounds. I saw this buck just once at about 45 yards through the wood, and he spooked when a neighbor started his tractor. That buck completely disappeared without a trace.

One of my friends saw a different buck in November that he felt would score about 220 points, and he should know. He has shot some massive bucks, and this animal was one that Ihe’d never seen in the past, and he’s never been seen again. Some of these bucks died during the rigors of winter without ever regaining weight lost during the rut..

Spotting bucks is, to some degree, a matter of luck. A buck may stay in one spot regularly, and is as regular as a dish of prunes. However, many things can cause a buck to change his travel routes to a temporary or permanent new residence.

I've watched bucks put in a daily appearance for two weeks, and then on the 15th day they drop out of sight as if the ground had swallowed them up. Patterning bucks is easy early in the season, but once the rut is underway, they become much more difficult to figure out. A doe may lead them on a merry chase, and it may be two or three days or as much as a week or two before that animal returns, which explains why some bucks seem to disappear..

Some bucks, because they are so predictable, are easy to shoot. A big buck can be extremely easy to pattern and can be shot on the first day. Bucks that have been shot at, or spotted a human movement or winded a hunter in a particular spot, can be most difficult to hunt.

Each trophy buck has his own peculiarities. Learn them and score.

Shooting a big buck can be difficult. A friend of mine took a photo of a very nice 11-point buck, and his antlers seemed a bit offset. The rack was slightly higher on one side than the other, and he saw that buck on two occasions while hunting only 300 yards from my stand. I've yet to see that critter.

I walked in to one of my stands, and was skirting some tag alders, when a big buck stepped out 75 yards away. He was upwind, and hadn't seen me, and began walking in my direction. I eased down to one knee, knocked an arrow, and watched him walk a direct line toward me.

He stopped at 45 yards, turned broadside and then put his tail toward me, and stood. He turned again to face me, started walking my way again, and at 25 yards he stepped into the tag alders and turned to go out the other side. He was a 150-class buck, and animals like him get my heart pumping.

The most fascinating thing about deer hunting, and going after big bucks, is that some animals are easy and others are most difficult to hunt. Some big-racked bucks seem to possess a high degree of suspicion that keeps them out of harm's way. They always seem to stand the wrong way for a high-percentage bow shot.

Others always seem to stop with their vitals behind some brush or tree limbs. Some, like the buck noted above, seem to come directly at a hunter only to turn at the last moment. Often, they don't know the hunter is there; they just seem to travel widely and trust to their instincts.

Other bucks, and this happened to me once this past year, just seem to avoid any and all tree stands or ground blinds, and they often seem to build in a buffer zone of 75 yards between them and a bow stand. They have moved a quarter-mile across a field, and headed straight to me, and about 75-80 yards away, they turn and veer away from my stand.

One thing: bucks do not tolerate hunter mistake. They just bolt.

It's not because they saw or smelled me. It's just a built-in warning system that some animals seem to have developed.

It's why I find deer hunting so exciting. Each and every buck is just a little bit different than the one before. For me, not knowing what a buck will do excites me. When they turn, and come within bow range, I'm a happy camper.

I'm also happy when they turn 70 yards away, for whatever reason, and move away. Trying to figure them out is difficult, and that is what makes big-buck hunting so exciting. Hunters earn every big buck they ever shoot.

Making a change

Checking for fresh sign and being lucky helps when choosing a deer stand.

I've hunted the same stand three nights in a row, which for me, is something I've avoided in the past. My belief is that if a stand is hunted too often, the deer pattern the hunter rather than the other way around.

It's always been my policy to hunt a stand one night, and not hunt it again for several days. Each time I hunt a stand, I approach it from a different angle. I'd go in one way, come out another, and several days later, reverse the entrance and exit routes.

But, this stand is one I've got an enormous amount of faith in, and for three days in a row, the wind has been dead perfect for its use. Each evening I've seen a few deer, but they are moving late and that can be attributable, in part, to the current moon phase.

It was very productive last year and I shot a very nice buck from it. There were a few other bucks seen there last year. Two of those bucks were wall-hangers, both 10-pointers, and both having a Pope & Young minimum score of 125 points or higher.

Neither of those bucks were taken last year by a hunter during bow, firearm or muzzleloader seasons. Both were seen briefly in late December, and each rack was distinctive enough to make the sheds recognizable. The area was scoured this spring for sheds, and although some were found, none belonged to either of those bucks.
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Of course, one or both of the bucks could have been hit by a car, moved out of the area or otherwise changed their place of residence. But there was no need for either buck to move from the area.

That line of thinking makes me think they are somewhere nearby. I thought I caught a glimpse of one of them two weeks ago on a night with a heavy overcast and falling rain. I have no proof that it was one of the two "lost" bucks, but I feel certain that I'd seen one of them.

So, keeping that thought in mind means hoping they survived the winter, automobile traffic and other hunters. Both were patient bucks, hanging back, letting does go out in front, and they were always cautious about moving about before full darkness.

Both bucks seen last year moved late last year, and they always showed up with only two or three minutes of shooting time left. My problem is: if the wind is right tomorrow night, should I try that stand one more time? Is hunting it four night in a row a problem?

My mind logically tells me the answer to the first question is no, and the second question is yes. Will I follow my long-held beliefs about avoiding repeat visits to stands to avoid burning them out?

I wonder if the bucks are alive or long dead. I wonder if hunting pressure, although not heavy in this area, may have moved them two or three miles away. Should I run the possible risk of spooking them, or try a new spot tomorrow evening?

Decisions are a part of deer hunting, and we must live by our personal choices. I know it is foolhardy to hunt that stand four nights in a row, but I'm thinking I'll risk it if the wind remains stable and from the southwest again tomorrow.

All bets will be off if the wind swings from another direction. It will force me to move to a different stand, and then I'll wonder if either buck showed up at the stand I've used three nights in a row.

Win, lose or draw, my decision will be made tomorrow afternoon. Squawking about a missed opportunity is just meaningless noise. We pin our hopes on the proper stand for the proper wind direction, and we take our chances and live with our decisions.

I'll let you know if my decision was a wise one.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors