HOW
TO PICK A STAND SITE
Public Land Stands
EDITOR’S NOTE: You can’t bag a buck if
you don’t see the animal. The key to seeing more
bucks on every hunt is knowing how to choose the most-productive
stand sites. Many hunters choose their stand sites using
too little information.
Since Bo Pitman, the manager of White Oak Plantation
near Tuskegee, Alabama, hunts on private land, he can
be sure the research he does after the season will pay
off during the following season. Pitman does not have
to consider the people factor that can ruin all your
scouting plans if you hunt on public lands. However,
I always plan for someone else to be at my stand site
each time I hunt deer. I assume if I have found a good
stand site for deer, so has someone else. I try to find
the most-productive stand site in relationship to what
I know other hunters will do. A few years ago, I was
hunting on public lands. While pre-season scouting,
I discovered an acorn-producing white oak tree. A huge
number of droppings, tracks and hulls of acorns that
had been eaten were on the
ground as well as nuts that had just fallen from the
trees. Two trails led to the white oak tree. I started
to lay my game plan. I determined the best spot to hunt
would be within 50 yards of the white oak tree. Then,
I could watch bucks coming down both trails and have
the best opportunity to see the most deer in this area.
I thought the second-best stand site would be 50- to
100-yards away from the tree down the most well-defined
trail. My last choice would be to take a stand on the
dimmer trail that apparently had not been used very
much but still led to the oak tree.
Because I consider myself an average hunter, I believe
this way is how the ordinary hunter thinks. But to bag
a buck in high-pressure regions, you must out-hunt the
average hunters. When I rethought my original stand
site priorities and considered what the other hunters
in the area probably would do, I realized some of the
most-important factors affecting the selection of the
best stand sites.
Stand Site I: The white oak tree itself was an obvious
feeding hotspot. Any hunter who had scouted the region
at all would have drawn this same conclusion. The ground
beneath this tree had all the indications that deer
would appear there. Since so much obvious sign lay beneath
the tree, I knew this spot would be the first place
another hunter would choose to hunt. Therefore, I eliminated
stand site I from my stand site consideration.
Stand
Site II: I decided to follow the dimmer trail 200- to
300-yards away from the white oak tree. My experience
had been that older-age-class-bucks rarely utilized
the same trail as does and younger-age-class bucks traveled
to get to a food source, except during the rut. Often,
an older buck’s trail wouldn’t be as well-defined
as a doe or a younger buck’s trail would be. Another
factor that made the third trail the best choice was
the wind in my section of the country usually blew from
the northwest. Since this trail came to the white oak
tree from the northwest, I knew that more than likely
on the days I hunted, the wind would be in my face and
carry my human odor back to the food tree, which would
stop most deer from coming to the tree. Too, the wind
would blow my human odor directly across the well-defined
trail, which would keep any deer from moving down that
trail. Probably, these deer would funnel onto the trail
where I was hunting.
On opening morning of the season, I was in my stand
before daylight. I could hear the hunter on the well-defined
trail go up a tree with his portable climber just before
daylight. As the first rays of light pierced through
the dark canopy of leaves above, I saw a fine 8-point
buck cautiously coming down the dimly marked trail.
I picked up the buck in my scope. When the crosshairs
settled just ahead of the deer’s front shoulder,
I squeezed the trigger. The buck never moved out of
his tracks. With as much hunting pressure as is present
today in most parts of the nation, you not only must
be aware of how to hunt deer but also must become very
conscious of out-competing other hunters for those deer.
The most-critical
key for becoming a better deer hunter and being more
successful when hunting high-pressure bucks is tree
stand placement. You never must assume that the obvious
site will be the most productive place to hunt.
To learn more about Bo Pitman and his expert hunting
tactics, you can purchase John E. Phillips’ book,
“How to Take Monster Bucks – Secrets to
Finding Trophy Deer”. To learn more about this
book, go to http://www.nighthawkpublications.com/hunting/hunting.htm.
You can send a check or a money order to Night Hawk
Publications, 4112 Camp Horner Road, Birmingham, Alabama
35243, or use the PayPal address nighthawkpub@mindspring.com.
TOMORROW: GREEN-FIELD STAND
SITES
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