Treestand Hunting Deer

Tree stands are mostly used for deer hunting. The location of the tree stand is crucial to the success of the hunt. To pick out the best spots for setting up a tree stand it first necessary to scout before the start of the season to find out locations where deer hang out. Look out to spot important features that would point to a good location for setting up a tree stand. Some critical terrain features to help determine an ideal setting up spot would be hedgerows, steep cliff areas or bottlenecks of timber and draws that narrow down should be noted as important.

It is not advisable to start hunting too early because there is a possibility that deer may change their routes. Once decided on the best location for the tree stand it should be put up much before the actual hunting starts. The reason is that deer become familiar with its presence and start ignoring it. Once the tree stand is put up, the hunter should get down on all fours and look up at the stand to see how it would appear to an animal looking up at it. This will help repair what is wrong.

In case of a ladder stand, the ladder is more visible to the animal. Therefore it should be concealed using brush or small trees available nearby so that it is camouflaged in a manner that makes it inconspicuous in its surroundings. This should be done in a manner that does not hinder using the tree stand. Deer usually prefer to rest and sleep in areas having thick brush. This is a good location for setting up a tree stand. Trails from such areas can be found leading to deer feeding spots. If a tree stand is placed around such places there is distinct possibility of deer being spotted from the stand.

Hunting requires strict odor control. A hunter must exercise due care not to leave behind too much of his scent around the tree stand which will scare away deer. It is crucial to maintain good hygiene and use scent free bacterial destroying soaps and scent covering products available in the market. It is also necessary to set up tree stands at multiple locations and not use one stand too much. Scouting and setting up tree stands should preferably begin about a month before the beginning of the hunting season.

Decoys are great for hunting from treestands. However setting up a decoy does not mean that you will have the game animal come running right up to your tree stand though it does have quite a good success rate. A decoy should be set up in a manner that makes it visible to game being hunted on well-traveled game routes affording good visibility from the tree stand. Buck are especially cautious and would circle around a number of times before approaching the decoy to trash it. The tree stand should therefore be at a distance of at least twenty to twenty five yards from the decoy in a convenient tree.

Decoys work quite well all through the season though for different reasons. In deer hunting doe decoys work best in the early part of the season before the rut. Set up in some established feeding area the deer decoy will make deer fell comfortable as it mimics deer presence. Deer will come to investigate the decoy. However, it must be visible to deer. It is to be understood that deer stand only about three feet tall and simply because the decoy is visible to the hunter from the tree stand does not necessarily mean that it is visible to the deer moving about at ground level.  Buck decoys work best during the heat of the rut and bucks will approach with a display of aggressive behavior towards the decoy.