 HOW
TO PICK A STAND SITE
Escape Trails
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.
If you hunt high-pressure areas, one of the most-consistent
stand sites you can hunt is escape trails. By assuming
other hunters will spook the buck you want to take before
you see him, you often can pre-predict where you should
hunt as  hunting
pressure builds. Whitetail escape trails usually will
lead out of or into thick cover. These spots will be
near or close to open woodlots, green fields or agricultural
crops. To locate a productive escape trail to hunt over,
determine where a buck should be during daylight hours
as any other hunter will; then assume that that deer
will be spooked. If you are a deer, where will you run
to get away from the hunter in the shortest time and
be able to move into thick cover where the hunter can’t
see you? Or, how can you put some type of natural barrier
between you and the hunter, like a mountain, a thicket,
a creek or a swamp?
 The
secret to finding the best stand site on an escape trail
is to look for the trail coming away from whatever barrier
the buck probably has used to put between him and the
hunter. For instance, on a main road with a large, open,
wooded area with a thicket on the back side of the open
woods, instead of taking a stand on the front side of
the thicket where the buck will be entering the thick
cover, go to the back side of the ticket. Look then
for the escape trail coming out of the thick cover where
the buck will appear. When picking a stand site on an
 escape
trail, always pinpoint the spot where the deer leaves
the barrier he uses to put protection between him and
the hunter. If you are hunting a hardwood bottom with
flooded timber in it, cross the water, and get on the
opposite bank from where hunting-pressure will come
before daylight. As the hunters begin to move into the
woods, the deer often will be spooked, run through the
hardwood bottom, enter the flooded timber and move out
on the other side where you have your stand. Often,
when a deer appears on the backside of a barrier, it
will be walking slowly, will be less nervous and less
likely to spot you and usually will present a better
shot than if you attempt to stand on the front side
of the escape barrier.
TOMORROW: WATER STANDS
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