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Tree stand placement?

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crooketarrow:
  TWO THINGS
 (1) Learn the winds where you hunt. And hunt the right winds all the time. If the winds not totally right for that stand. Don't go to it have a second or thrid stand in place either off that trail or others close by.

  I stand hunted for over 30 years. And use to have 12,15 stands in place before the season as well as moveing 4 or 6 around. I don't miss stand hunting one bit.
 But that was how I was taught growing up in my compound gaze.
 YOU CAN'T KILL ANYTHING ON THE GROUND. You know how many times I heard that.
 FUNNY THING THEY WERE A SAID BY COMPOUNDERS.
 
 (2) Learn to set up where you can let the bucks walk pass you. ALWAYS SET UP DOWN WIND. Not where you can see him comeing a ways off. If you can see him he can see you moveing. Set up with your back to the on comeing deer. He can't see you moveing means you'll have more deer walk past you.
 Thats exspecially true with turkeys. A deer see's you as big knot on the side of the tree if you don't move. Turkeys see deptperception they see a man in camo up a tree.

  After the buck gets past you at 45% he can't see you unless he swinges his head your way.
 If not going past you leaves you with all the draw time you need with a selfbow.

  I used this on just about every tree stand set up for years. Hunting off the ground has taught me a new respect for setting up letting the gobbler or buck go past you. Then do your drawing. SETTING UP LIKE THIS GROUND HUNTINGS A MUST.

  Those 2 things will but you way up the deer hunting pole. Now you have to figger out where your going to put that stand.

 To do this you have to understand the phases of the rut.

  Before the pre-rut ( SEPT,OCT) I only hunt the edges of bucks bedding areas only in the evenings only. Getting as close as I can to him beded. TO ENSURE HE GETS TO ME IN THE DAYLIGHT.

  PRE-RUT start calling keep it low non agressive. Bucks more interested in doe's. Start seeing scrapes.

 LATE PRE-RUT time to call,rattle,( MY ALL TIME FAVORET WEEK TO HUNT) bucks are wired to breed.doe's arn't ready. Bucks get more frustated with each day looking for those first doe's to come in heat. CRUSING LOOKING FOR DOE'S THEY'LL COME ANY DEER SOUND NOW, BUCK OR DOE.
  I hunt bottle necks between doe bedding areas,call around feeding areas. Inside fence corners have always been killed for me.

  RUT hunt the doe's ,beding areas, feeding areas morning and evening or any bottle neck inbetween. Inside fence corners now also. When you start seeing fawns running around alone the ruts going on.
 Doe's won't let their fawns stay around starting the day before she somes in heat.

  POST-RUT just like the per-rut but way smaller.
 
  Way to many angles for me to write about. You have to figger those all out on yoor own.
  NEVER FEAD A DEER IN MY LIFE

  GOOD LUCK

Badly Bent:
I hunt with a hang on stand about 14" up with tie on tree steps, if I can find a tree with two or three main trunks thats where I'll hang my stand to help conceal my presence. No baiting in our state. I'm hunting public land and look for areas that the others aren't hunting. Usually I'll be in hardwood timber on an edge that borders good browse 
or a thicket or better yet both. Also like travel route trails at the top of a deep draw and staging areas where deer browse before heading out to open crop fields in the evening.
My stand only weighs 6 1/2# so I will move it each day sometimes even relocate at midday if I'm getting no action or if I see deer passing through out of range although the last couple years I've become a little lazy because of age.
Big problem where I hunt is that your not allowed to leave a stand hanging overnight so you have to put one up every day. By the time I get up at home, have coffee, throw gear in the truck, drive 1.25 hours to get there, sign up and then drive another 4 miles to where I want to hunt and then hike out to hang a stand its already daylight and often the deer are passing thru while I'm strapping the stand on the tree. Happens to me a least 5 times a season. ;D

tallpine:
Here is a few things that work for me. First, crooketarrow is dead on, always play the wind, if the wind is wrong don't hunt that stand. I usually have 3 or 4 stand set ups for different wind directions. I mainly hunt out of trees and I make sure I always have good back cover. If there is none, I provide my own buy nailing a couple of short sections of PVC pipe on the sides of my tree and stick some heavily leafed Pine branches in the pipe. This will help to hide your movement. Another set up that's deadly is if you can have the Sun either coming up or going down behind you. I put a lot of thought into setting up my stands and try to get every advantage I can.  In my state baiting is legal and I take full advantage of it. I will take 2 sticks and place them in a "V" shape on the ground and throw a small bit of corn inside the V to position the animal for the shot, don't bait were you don't have a shot. One other thing I might add is don't burn your spot out by hunting it too much, I hunt a stand and then let it cool off for a few days. Good luck

osage outlaw:
I use ladder stands, ground blinds, and the occasional ground stalk.  We only hunt our property so we know the travel patterns pretty well.  This year we hunted a lot near oaks that were dropping.  I also hunt near a water source, a small pond deep in a wooded valley.  I have a stand in the creek bed below it and one in between the pond and a huge oak tree.  That is the stand where I killed my buck this year.  I caught it going from the pond to the acorns.  We also hunt natural funnels.  We have noticed the bucks like to circle around the fields searching for does during the rut.  We put stands just inside the tree line and catch them going by.  We have one stand on our place that produces mature bucks every year.  Its a short ladder stand with almost no cover.  But starting around halloween and for the next week or so the bucks cruise through there during the mornings.  This year my Dad shot a very nice 10 point out of it.  We try to brush in our ladder stands with dead trees and fallen limbs.  We pay attention to the prevailing wind direction while placing the stands.  We make a few blinds each year out of natural material.  We haven't had much success hunting from those.  I like to slowly stalk through the woods when there is an occasional breeze.  I only take a step when the wind blows and covers up the sounds of the leaves when I step on them.  I like to go at a pace of about 100 yards an hour.  If I find a good place to stop and sit I'll usually do that until it gets dark or I'm ready to head home. 

We aren't allowed to bait so I don't do any of that.  I don't use  commercial scents either.  I like to stomp on walnuts or rotten hedge apples for a free natural cover scent.  I don't do any random calling.  I only carry a grunt call during the rut.  If I see a buck that is out of range I'll try to call it in but that's about it. 

H Rhodes:
Lots of great advice has been offered here.  Also check out Twistedlimb's article in the latest Primitive Archer magazine.  It has some good info as well.  For my two cents, find an often used trail, and place your stand within ten steps of a funnel/chokepoint where you know the deer has to pass.  I like lock on and ladder type stands not over twelve feet high.  Set it where the prevailing wind is in your face.  Good luck.

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