Advise / Opinions Needed

[Cornfed]

Tommorrow is the day that I will prep 5 stand sites for hunting this fall. I am breaking my usual tradition of hanging stands the first week of October. Last fall I walked onto a monster 180 class 10pt typical (I was 40 yards away before we saw each other)... he was bedded 50 yards from where I eventually hung my stand. It is an awesome funnel that is sizzling with action during early to mid November. I never saw that buck again during the fall season. QUESTION: Do you guys generally make a lot of noise when going in to set up a stand site to scare the deer in the immediate area? I have generally slipped into these core areas to set up,.... however, after last year I am wondering if getting into that bucks 'comfort zone' so close undetected really caused him to abandon that immediate area. I have heard of some guys barking like dogs, etc. when entering the woods to setup preseason sites.... what do some of you guys do or think????

 

[muddy]

go special forces on them. in and out as quickly and as quietly as possible. that's my philosophy. good luck, hope that 180 is back and bigger than ever.

 

[BW]

Bumping any nice buck in his home turf can change his immediate behavior. But don't let a single deer or encounter spook you out of a good time. He might be as stubborn as you are.

Personally, I like to move about the woods like I belong there as opposed to sneaking around. The best thing you can do is not make an event out of bumping an animal, just go about your business.

Try not to make too much work out of your recreation.

 

[ironwood]

Next year hang your stands in July or August if you can, then this is not going to be an issue. Or go special forces as muddy put it and as you've been doing.

 

[Shredder]

I usually go in and set stands in regular old work clothes and pay no attention to noise within reason.Just my opinion but if you go in acting like a predator, deer will view you in a different manner than if you act like a passer thru.

Oddly enough, I have had this work in the past. I had a nice buck actually just watch me walk thru the woods and not get off his bed but watched my every move as I passed by. I was on the way in to set a mid season stand. On the way out, he was still there and left him undisturbed. Same buck a week later, I was on my way out from a morning hunt, he was in the same area, saw me and bolted. I am sure this deer had seen the farmer out and about on the farm as no threat but when it saw me in different attire, knew I was out of place and there for other reasons than just checking fence.

 

[luckyonce]

Clean(as scent free as if I were hunting) and quiet,is how I hang my stands.I also carry binocs and am constantly glassing around the area on the way in.good Luck.

 

[Liv4Rut]

i never worry about scent or noise when im hanging stands, just walk around and put them up, chances are the buck i shoot wont even be living in the woods that im hunting. it seems to me if i was after a certain buck and i was trying to get him in the first few days then i might go about it different but i would never do that because i refuse to shoot one that early, got to hunt the rut, never know what will come in.

 

[Limb Chicken]

Chainsaws and clanging treestands when we go in to hang em. I have never worried about noise or scent when hanging stands two or three months before I will be hunting there. I make sure they stands are ready to hunt so I don't have to go back in until I hunt them.

 

[Ghost]

I think what holds true here is what you have already heard.

The time in which you hang your stand greatly affects the amount of noise you can make and scent you can leave behind.

I like to get them in early and then stay out until it's time to throw a stick.

 

[buckknife]

I have built wooden tree stands with hammmering nails and spikes in and cutting boards with my chain saw one weekend and taken a buck out of them the next weekend before.
Im not saying this is a good practice but some times i have seen a better place during season and decided to hang a stand or build one and have taken deer out of them the week after.
Best time to build or hang one is about 1:00 in the afternoon.hopefully the deer will think your a farmer going about his buisness.

 

[Fletch]

I have a freind who is consistently succesful and he swears that an important factor in his success is that he doesn't 'prowl' around the woods and put the deer on alert. When he puts up stands he simply walks in, puts them up and leaves much like a farmer would do when he's checking fences or cutting wood. Even when he goes in to take stand he walks a fairly brisk pace and sometimes even whistles as he goes. He has reported walking within yards of bedded deer without them bolting (as long as he kept his pace consistent) only to have them walk past his stand, unalarmed, a half hour later. He believes it's not the general human presence that pushes deer out of their patterns, it's the contact with the ones that are sneaking around like a predator that worries them. I tend to agree.