L. Clement

I have a question. When I go back to my deer stand in the early morning the deer are close by and I seem to scare them off before I get there. The snow is very crusty and makes a horrendous noise while walking, it been that way for over 2 weeks! Whish it would melt but I don’t think it’s going to anytime soon.

My question is will the deer start to eventually move to a new location since I seem to run them off? I haven’t shot at them with a gun and the only one I shot at with a bow was a successful harvest. There are 2 nice bucks that I have been trying to catch off guard but since that darn snow/ice is crazy load its hard to even get close.
What do you all do in this situation?

Oh there is really is only 1 way to get to the stand since there is a large river that runs behind it so I am limited to one direction to travel.

Thanks

Deer_Thrasher87

Your best bet is to try and leave earlier and hopefully u dont startle them to much. Or ifu have a decoy maybe set it up as u are walkin in and if they see that they may start to think that its just another deer. Thats about all i can think of. good luck

Hunter_59

Is the river too deep to use chest waders to get into the area? If the wind is right, you could use waders to get in close and maybe get a shot then if no shot presents itself, you have a way out without spooking them. You don't need to hunt from a stand just hunt from the water. Be careful, it's not worth drowning over!

Westslope

How about going and shoveling a path for the last 100yrds?

Schultzy

Are you hunting in a bedding area? Maybe thats why your spooking deer all the time while going in. Otherwise I wouldn't worry to much about the noise, If they don't see you actually making the noise while walking i think you will be fine, there noisy to when walking through it.

L. Clement

No decoy but that maybe something to try. I will see if I can barrow one.

Yeah the river is very large and partly frozen over. I have canoed it in the summer and even in the hottest month parts of it were over my head so I doubt wading is possible. However I may be able to walk up stream and get to my stand from the bank. Never thought of that the only problem is that is going to be a long walk (about ¾-1 mile) but if I have to I may be able to get there from the railroad bridge haven’t heard a train come through in the morning yet only in the evening around 5pm.

The bedding area is north of the stand however I think some deer are bedding closer to my stand then most others.

Walking out is also a problem since I get trapped in the woods after dark when the deer are heading back into the corn field. It’s a great place to hunt just tricky as to how to get in and leave. I watched 20 come out all at once and then the big buck made an appearance but to dark to shoot.

I could try and shovel but that would be a long way as they are busting me about ÂĽ mile out from the woods.


We are getting more snow tonight so unfortunately it’s just going to cover what old snow we have left and it will probably still be loud stalking.

I will try and find a back way in thanks for the input. You gave me some ideas to work with.

Hunter_59

Sometimes thinking "out of the box" or using unorthodox techniques will put meat on the table. Think of ways to access the areas of activity that other hunters can't or won't use.

Schultzy

Try an all day sit if you can, it will be cold but it will be quite!

L. Clement

I thought about it but seem to get restless after about 6 hours but may just have to get in there way early say 1-2 hours before daylight.

farm hunter

Heck yes it can scare them - but everything that moves is loud when its like this,

I usually try to sound like turkeys - carry a call and make lots and lots of yelps & cluckson my way to the stand

FH