Tree stand placement?

[nclonghunter]

What method or what do you look for when placing a tree stand. Some of the hunters on here are very successful at taking deer with primitive equipment. If you could take a minute and try to share what you want or look for in placing a tree stand, it may be helpful to many..

Details such as; do you bait, lock on Vs. ladder stand, how high, stand or sit mostly, always place it where two trees are close together, only in pine trees, always use a cloth curtain(netting) around stand, use of attractant scents?

Thanks for info and your willingness to share....Good luck

PS..I have not hunted much with primitive gear, however I do hunt some with my recurve and with training wheels. I am an avid bowhunter and want to take a deer with a self bow and stone point arrow. I admire that some of the guys here do it without a second thought and are very successful. To me, you are a rare breed and should be proud of your commitment...Congrats

[PEARL DRUMS]

No bait. Lower the better, but high enough to hide, multiple trunk tree's are nice to. I use ladder stands, climbers and hangers. I don't use scents, but I do natural vocalizations with my mouth every hunt. Be as non-obtrusive as you can be, subtle is the key. I sit the whole time and will shoot sitting down if I cant get stood up. I prefer to have my bow loaded and hanging at arms reach rather than on my lap, that's why all my hunting bows have leather rests to hold my arrow securely. Trying to turn your bow 90 degrees with a deer 15 feet away can get sticky.

[Will H]

I agree with Pearl. I hunt lock ons and climbers. 12-20' lower the better. No nets, baits or attractants other than the occasional doe pee. I am not a "sign" hunter. I look for natural terrain funnels or man made funnels i.e. Low fences etc. I this year we didn't have much of an acorn crop, I was able to locate one white oak that was producing and killed two off it early season. Gotta love it when that happens. Other than that I'd say it's all about putting in your time on stand. Information gathered while hunting is invaluable. I'm never afraid to move in on deer that I see one day out of rAnge on a stand I have hung. I'll bring in a climber the next day and get on top of em. If I don't have a tree with much cover to climb, I try to put my back to em and let me pass. It's worked out more times than I can count. I'm still learning but I have been very successful with my selfbows in the last years. That's what I love about hunting whitetails. It will never get old

[nclonghunter]

Thanks for the info So far. I already find it interesting that no bait is used. We have no acorns this year either and the corn is like a magnet. It is legal in NC. Deer are cautious when they come in to it. I did take one early with a 0-bow-0 and have let some young ones pass. Many posts I have read talk about 4-10 yard shots. From a tree stand that is straight down the back. I have had a few deer that close, but I find it hard to shoot straight down.

I also use ladder stands and lock-on stands. I usually get about 12-15 feet up in a tree. I have used blinds or a curtain when possible and I think it helps. I also like the two or three trees close together for added hiding and those are best for a curtain.

Come on guys share your methods for tree stands or ground blinds that you use. Maybe we can all learn something from sharing. Thanks

[RyanR]

I like about 16' high hunting natural funnels and pinch points, no bait. Tree cover really dictates height. Really like ladders but use climbers and hang on stands with ladder sticks also. No curtains or such. Just natural cover. The best deer sign is deer. Seems obvious and it does work.  I would be out scouting with a friend and we would see a deer. I would tell him I have seen enough and we would back out and come back later to hang a stand. It worked this year.

[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.

[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.

[Pappy]

I mostly hunt lock ons,10 to 15 feet high,no baiting but do hunt mainly food sources,if I have no acorns/persimmons then they have to eat something,I try and figure out what ,and that's where I go. I watch the wind to an extent but in TN. where I hunt they can come from any direction and the wind unless a front is moving in will change 10 time in an morning or evening hunt,I just try and stay as clean as possible and try to have my stand set in some good cover,usually in a cedar/White oak/Beach tree in later season and maple in the early season.Something that will hold it leaves through the winter. Multie trunk trees are OK but with mt style of shooting I sometimes have trouble shooting if I am backed up in between a 2 or 3 trunk tree.Be sure to check all shooting angles before the shot comes if in a tree like that, to be sure you can draw and shoot in as many directions as possible. I personality like the 3 or 4 yard shot, the angle ant that bad if you are only 10 or 12 feet up. Closer the better. 
 Pappy