Deer stand thoughts....

[Mike472]

Rifle hunting is different than archery.

Archery you need to get as close as possible 10yrds if you can. At that range camo and scent are important.

Rifle season is a different ballgame as long as your not doing jumping jacks and hunting an escape route your good to go.

 

[jmorris]

I think if they get used to you they will eat your wife’s flowers while you are mowing the yard.

Not a lot of reason to hide if they know you are the source of food. Put a feeder on the back of a 4 wheeler or truck and overtime they will run towards vs away from that sound.

 

[jmorris]

These guys don’t seem spooked at all.

 

[Col. Harrumph]

"I see many folks using full camo while hunting from tree stands after the leaves have fallen."

I love it when the guy on TV, way up in his blind and in head-to-toe camo, balaclava, face paint an' all, whispers to the camera... after taking his deer.

 

[Demi-human]

No. Not go away. More like, " There's more bread just inside the house, my little kiddies. MUHAHAHAHAHAAAAA! "

Then quietly close the gate...

 

[Duster340]

Like some others I still take a pretty low tech approach to my deer hunting. That said, I have embraced some of the newer cold weather insulated clothing which sure helps me stay out as long as possible without moving much. (Seems like the older I get, the more I feel the weather )

Stand wise, I have a few pit blinds and cheap ladder stands around the property to play the wind.

 

[Dinosaur1]

I have decided to share the secret to sucessful deer hunting with the High Road community even tho I waffled about it a bit at first, but here goes. I have a small farm in the midst of a large Amish settlement. They all hunt deer as do I and yet while my woods is excellent cover and theirs is not (routinely pastured and logged), they consistantly get the bigger bucks. While I have all the camo gear the Amish have none of it. They all wear dark blue and or black coats and jackets with black hats and a piece of plastic orange surveyors tape tied around their hats to meet the orange requirement. Now, I can say from personal experience that a person dressed in black with orange survey tape tied around his head stands out in the deer woods. If you don't believe it try it. Anyways, the proof is on the buck pole. So I thought about it. What makes a huge 10 pt avoid scent controlled, camoed out, tree standed in good cover me and walk right up to an Amishman sitting in the open, on the ground on a red milk crate. After awhile I hit it, scent. We outlanders have been doing it all wrong. In a good tight heated truck full of Amishmen two scents are prevelent; kerosene and horse sh#t. So I decided to try it. I went down to Levi's and shoveled the back of my truck full of horse sh#t for free. I threw all my huntin' stuff in there, closed the cap and let'er set in the sun for two weeks. When archery season started I got it all out and when I was all dressed put a dab of kerosene behind each ear. Then I got me a red milk crate and went and set in a recently cleared fence row. Had'nt been there half an hour and a nice 9 pt came walking up the fence row and I arrowed where he stood. Biggest deer for me ever. Wasn't able to try it in gun season but sure will next year. May buy a black coat too. There you have it, let me know how it goes for you. I did tell one small lie here. It was actually #2 diesel from the tractor behind my ear.

 

[Saddlebag Preacher]

That's funny Dinosaur1... I also have many Amish friends around me and I have to add the woodsmoke and bacon smell to it. I think it's the beard though..the secret to deer hunting is the beard..

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

the secret to deer hunting is the beard

I though it was suspenders and the lack of front pants pockets.

 

[Danoobie]

Woodsmoke helps.

I know two types of deer hunters:

1.-Comes into the woods at the start of hunting season. Never returns after hunting season. Uses camo gear, attractant, calls, rattles,
all the newest, latest stuff.

2.-Spends time in the off-season learning the land, checking out the game trails, figuring out where the
deer water, finding where they bed down. Uses a lot of trail cams.

Guess which ones have regular success, year in, year out?

 

[DM~]

Deer stand thoughts...[/quote}
I had some deer stand thoughts, I thought I needed a better deer stand... lol

SO, I milled the lumber out,



and built one!







Best part is, there's always plenty of deer wondering by it,





I filled three of my tags this fall, out of it...

DM

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

That's funny Dinosaur1... I also have many Amish friends around me and I have to add the woodsmoke and bacon smell to it. I think it's the beard though..the secret to deer hunting is the beard..

I've had a beard for years and it hasn't helped me much...tag stew for me again this year.
Heck, I think all the gray in it is what spooked that big old gobbler last Spring.

 

[eastbank]

uncle ned,s blind, my cats blind, brother in laws city blind, my blind in Africa and my pa deer blind. eastbank.

 

[Dinosaur1]

Some pretty good blinds no doubt. I'd be a little cautious about the beard. Friend of mine and I were huntin' turkeys and he unzipped his jacket to get a mint. Well, when he was lookin' down he zipped up and got his beard in the zipper. His chin was zipped to his chest. So while he was struggling with that a big tom with a couple of hens came out of the corn stalks and stood watching. He slowly raised the shotgun but could'nt get his eye down on the red dot so he put the stock of the old 12 up on top his shoulder where he could get a bead and touched her off. Missed the turkey but killed a young maple tree about 8' out. He's fine now. Just a little scar. Eastbank gets the prize tho. It seems in his profile picture he's concealed himself behind a sleeping black angus bull. Neighbor behind me's got some angus so maybe he'll let me try it. Deer hang out with the cows all the time. Genius.

 

[Captcurt]

uncle ned,s blind, my cats blind, brother in laws city blind, my blind in Africa and my pa deer blind. eastbank.

And they all work.

 

[WestKentucky]

There are supposedly more deer today than at any point in modern history. Unless you are hunting for a specific deer then there is no need for anything more than a rifle or bow and a folding chair. To prove this, I once carried an empty 2 liter bottle to the field I hunt over and sat it out in plain sight. The deer kept their distance from it at first but got used to it quickly. They fed around it until I dropped the hammer on a big fat doe...and missed because I was laughing at them as they were playing. That 2 liter smelled like plastic and human and sugar...was bright and prominent in a bean field that had been mowed low for wheat...and I ate a cheeseburger in the stand. Like another poster said above, there are 3 senses, and 2 often result in a spooked deer sometimes it takes 3

 

[Rembrandt]

Life is too short to be miserable sitting out in the open freezing to death for hours on end. Built this tower blind to enjoy hunting in my elderly years. It has exceeded expectations and enhanced my comfort level.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

^^^
That's bigger and nicer than my first apartment...

 

[Rembrandt]

Not sure what your first apartment was like.....but this one is heated, furnished with sleeping accommodations, table & chairs plus a checker board.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

See, you got heat and my apartment wasn't heated. Just a cheap rent studio to go to when not at sea or on duty.
Course, it was in Honolulu...

 

[GooseGestapo]

My favorite "deer stand" is the kitchen window over the sink overlooking my backyard.
Monday am (Christmas), I was getting a coffee refil. Saw this one in back yard, shot it at 205yds with .223. Didn't even wake the neighbors.

However, the other 3 I've gotten this year were killed on public land hunting from a 3-legged folding chair.
Location, location, location.
Haven't used scents, rattles, or calls to any certain success.
Killed over 300 deer over past 42 years.

 

[GooseGestapo]

East bank, what caliber is that LH s/a Remington?
Looks like a 700 ADL .270 I aquired from an acquaintance last year.
Great "beater" gun.

 

[eastbank]

sps 700 bdl 7mm08 with a 2.5x8 leupold. one of my most used deer rifles. eastbank.

 

[Mn Fats]

My season is over, but was finally a successful one . I was just thinking about deer stands and deer stuff, and the things I bought over the years trying to be successful. I think I'm learning most of the scent killers, camo and all that, turns out to be more for me than the deer.

My dad hunted in brown canvas pants and jacket with orange on for years and almost always tagged out. He would always try to find a tree stump and stand on it for hours (he had more fortitude than me).

My neighbor's wife get's in a tree stand and smokes and drinks coffee all day, and usually get's her deer. This year, a member of the church down the road is 80 and went out on his 4 wheeler to a chair by a woods path and killed a monster 18 pointer non typical. He wears bib overalls, no camo.

This year I left my pop-up ground blind overlooking my deer attractants, mineral blocks and sent cover spray, to set next to an open field under a tree. And this is where I got my buck.

Next year, I think I'm going to rethink these new fangled products and just go hunt.

Whadayathink?

To the op. When I got invited out on my first deer hunt (rifle, 30-30) at age 12 with my dad and some of the old timers who frequented the camp at our 360 acre farm in Minnesota, I was required to build my own stand. We loaded up the retired soldier, a willys army jeep, with surplus poplar 2×4's that were cut out off the family farms sawmill that was still operational after 70 years of use and powered by an Allis Chalmers Wd 45, or the older Wd. 10 or so of those surplus boards that I helped cut since age 8 or so were loaded up along with my first hammer, and old Homelite XL and a coffee can of nails. Built my first stand in the corner of one of our fields.

Anyway fall came along and I show up in camo (with blaze orange mixed in, makes no sense) and scent blocker and all the "deer can't smell me tricks" and gave all the old timers a big laugh.

My great uncle who always had Redman or Day's Work in his cheek said something along the lines of "if they can smell my chew and I get one every year, then they either don't know what is, or the want some of it". One chain smoker (red velvet pipe) one chain chewer and some of the rest smelling of stetson and coffee harvested deer that year. While I was quiet as a church mouse with my "camo" and "scent blockers" looking over a big hay field went home empty. The next year I ditched the gimmicks and brought some things I forgot the previous year. Deodorant, wool socks and a decent knife and have been harvesting deer at that farm fairly regularly.

My deer stand still stands (with replacement boards here and there) but I'll never forget my uncles words. I believe deer can and will smell you. Your chew, your tobacco, even if you don't partake, the best scent blocker can't hide the smell of your own breath. They know your there if the wind is in their favor. I've never used a blind but have built many "obvious" stands and have harvested many whitetail since. Gimmicks are out there. Be patient, be quiet, bring a quality knife for when the time comes and pay attention to wind. My winning formula learned at an early age. Can't speak on behalf of bowhunters though. Im a rifleman.

 

[Mn Fats]

Not sure what your first apartment was like.....but this one is heated, furnished with sleeping accommodations, table & chairs plus a checker board. View attachment 772856 View attachment 772857 View attachment 772858

Where's the pool table?