Treestand placement advice

perception007

perception007

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So I am fairly new to hunting so I figured I would ask for some advice from some of the more seasoned hunters on this forum. This will be my first year bow hunting. After hunting only the controlled hunt the last three years I have realized it is too short of a season for me that I should give bow hunting a try.

I have finally received permission on four brand new properties that I have never hunted before. Getting permission is probably the hardest part about hunting. They are all farmers fields with crops on them. Two of the properties are all corn, one is all alfalfa hay and the last one is all soy. They all have tree lines around the perimeter of the fields and they all have at least one bush on the property. They all butt up to another property where another farmer has some sort of of a working farm. One of the properties has a pond, one has no water and two of them have a ditch or stream running through the whole property from one end to another. I wouldn't call it a flowing stream just somewhere some small amount of water runs off.

I have walked around looking for signs of bedding areas or paths they travel on each property. I haven't found much with it being so hot and dry I am not seeing any tracks or bedding areas. I haven't really found any rubs. I am more guessing where I "think" somewhere would be a area of travel. I don't think that they are bedding on any of the properties. If anything I am probably only going to intercept them passing by or when all the crops come down maybe be able to bait them in.

One of the properties I have had a trail cam up. I have left some bait for the last 3.5 weeks and I've moved the camera around to different spots around the property. Just yesterday I finally had one small doe appear on the cam. I am new so I am not going to be a buck/rack chaser. I have a buck or doe tag so being new I am pretty much only looking for meat not a trophy.

Also how high in a tree do you guys like to be? What kind of trees do you prefer? Ever greens or hardwoods? I will be using both hang on and ladder stands. Any advice that would shorten my learning curve would be appreciated.
 
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typical heights are 12-15 feet, and wear/use a harness. It could be a bummer to spend the rest of your life hunting in a wheelchair for being lazy.
 
To the op, keep running you trail cams in the area where the doe appeared. She will likely stick around that area all fall. Remember it is just as much about how you get to you stands as where you put them. Try to keep your presence as secret as possible going to and from your stands. Typically 12-15 feet will work but 15-18 feet up in a stand will allow you to go undetected by most deer...they do look up on occasion.

As for where to start, look for inside corners of fields or points. Early season key in on green food, beans if they're green? If they're yellow the deer won't eat them until late season when they dry down. Next go find every oak in you areas and see if they have acorns ....deer love them and they generally fall early in the season.

After that you will be into the rut (mating season) best time of all to hunt. Bucks can be anywhere and everywhere on any given day at any given time. HUNT THE DOES Forget hunting food unless you know that does are feeding in a specific spot. You want to put stands in funnels and pinch points. Spots where bucks will travel through moving from one block of cover to the next, or where they are forced to move through due to terrain. The rut has different phases
...pre-rut ( October 25-Nov2-4) the rut ( Nov 5-15th) and the post rut (Nov15th-30th) if you have vacation time usually the first 2 weeks of Nov are when to take them.

If you haven't killed your deer by then all is not lost. Late season head back to secluded food sources. There could be snow on the ground by this time, so go for a walk and check where the largest concentrations of tracks are coming out to food sources. Don't hunt right on the edge of the food move back in the cover a few 100yrds as most deer will be skittish after they have been hunted for the last 2 months and won't show on the fields until after dark. Make sure you have a plan to get out of your stand so you don't spook the deer off the food source. They will not tolerate any human disruption at this point.

Good luck, enjoy and have fun!
 
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