MassBowhunter

This may sound a bit silly to some of you that hunt large parcels of land, butplease hear me out.

I use ladder stands and don't usually move them around much from season to season. I hunt a small parcel of posted land and basically just have them setup so I can pick and choose depending on the wind direction. The small aspect is working against me and has become a major contributing factor in recent years as they keep developing the land surrounding the property.

Theissue I'm running into is that every time I move a stand and cut an access trail to it the deer take it over as their own. In as little as a fewweeks in some cases. So come opening day I have to walk down what's now a major deer trail to get to my stand.

I do my best to use scent control but as soon as I set foot on the trails the mature deer hit the bricksand I end up spending the rest of the season watching yearlings walk by. So basically my stands are almost turning into one shot deals now if I want to take a mature deer.

Has anyone else run into this? Any suggestions?

--> Let me clarify a few questions some of you may have.

- I don't use climbers for personal reasons.
- The property is behind my folk's house and once the leaves drop you can glass portions of a lot of the trails. This is one reason I know the mature deer are hitting these trails.
- They're not skipping out as part ofa regular patternbecause instead of trail A they'll just move to trail B once I've hit trail A. Which is why my stands are one shot deals.
- I do get the occasional rut buck seeking out some hot does once the dominant buck(s) have eventually gone nocturnal because of my presence.
- Health conditions now keep me from a sunrise-sunset stand hunt.
-Cutting my way in on opening day to avoid them taking over the trail before the season isn't an option.
-Last but not least,I've been hunting these deer for so long now that I think they scout and pattern me instead of the other way around.

And as a disclaimer, I'm not complaining. Just looking for advice. I know there are people out there who don't even have an opportunity to sit and see deer, yearlings or otherwise. I know there are people out there who don't have their own private parcel of land to hunt on. And I know there are people out there who would probably love to have this problem.

Criggster

You say that you are cutting trails, but don't say what type(s) of vegetation you are cutting through. I assume you need these trails because it is so thick you would not be able to go through the brush without them? If this is the case then why not cut a trail by your stand say 20 yards that runs by the stand, but doesn't go directly to the stand? This way you could make your own trial. Surely you could make do without a trail from the one you cut 20 yards to your stand. You may make a little noise, but if you need to be really quite why not crawl the last few yards to your stand? If it is not REALLY thick why not just trim a few branches as opposed to cutting a full blown trail?

I have to cross a few trials to get to my stand, so I go in a little earlier than usual to this stand, and have never had a deer spook where I have walked. I have had deer cross my path in as few as 10 minutes upon entering my stand. Maybe you need to address the issue of the deer spooking, and find out how you can better be scent free?

Arrowmaster

I dont believe Ive had any deer spook where I have walked in. Maybe you should keep your boots seperate and only put them on when your ready to go afield. I loved the comment you made about the deer have patterned you. Thats funny. Makes ya feel that way sometimes.

BS

It may be funny, but true! If you hunt the same place often, the deer will learn where you sit!

Deer are lazy and will follow a nice cut path, just because it is easy!

Use a log [gate] to redirect them down a new path! Even I f you have to cut one.

Tut23

i would make 2 seperate paths one for me and one for the deer so if they get spooked on the one you use they use the other one. and make they other path so you have a shot at it from your treestand and also keep your boots seperate until your heading into the woods then put them on.

Okie807

I've had similar problems in the past. Until about five years ago I wore the same leather boots for deer hunting that I wore for rabbit/quail hunting. Since then I've switched to insulated rubber boots and it's made all the difference in the world. Not only has it increased my time in the stand, because my feet are much warmer (plenty of room for extra socks), it's also reduced getting busted due to a deer cutting my trail to pretty much zero. In order to get to a blind this season, my dad and I had to walk along a portion of a deer trail which we knew would be used by the deer after we got settled in. Three does and some yearlings came along about 30 minutes later and fed right across where we had just walked, and they never knew the difference. We are very careful about scent control otherwise, which I'm sure helped. Another thing is that I have several stands which I don't hunt at certain times of the day because I know that it is practically impossible to get to them without getting busted. Sometimes you have to work around the deer a little bit in order to use that "perfect" stand. One last thing is that you could turn the problem to your own advantage by using a scent drag. You know the deer use the trails, so why not try to lure one in that way? It's been an extremely effective method for me. Hope some of that helps, and good luck!

MassBowhunter

Thanks for all the responses and advice. I do keep my boots separate. The only ground they touch is the ground I hunt. I actually keep all my outergear(last 2 layers) in a sealed bag and get dressed just before I walk out. Freeze my butt off some mornings changing but I don't wear any of my gear during the drive there because I don't want to smell like my truck.

The area's I cut trailsthrough are briar patches, thick patches of saplings, brush, etc. At first their laziness worked to my advantage because I could cut trails and direct the deer exactly where I wanted them to go. Since their laziness has carried over to my entry/exittrails they screwed me up though. Just who do they think they are using the trails I cut in the middle of their living room anyway?

The only way to explain the area Ifocus onwould be a field that was left alone for the last75 years (which is what it is). Instead of crops it's brush/briars/saplings ranging from waist to shoulder high, and the only real treeline ison the outskirts. So basically anything I cut is the path of least resistance and exactly where they are going to go. The setup is between bedding and feeding so it's just a thru-way for them. They bed and feed too close to houses to setup any closer.

Maybe after this season I willdo some adjusting on the stands and leave 15 - 20yards of semi thick brush to walk through tokeep the trails from running right up to my stand.

I've always questioned the scent drag seystem because I didn't want the deer to walk directlyto meand run the risk of getting busted in the process.Am I off base thinking that? At this point I guess it couldn't hurt since that's the way they're travelling anyway.

Trying to outwit them, and just sharing the woods with themhas always been the best part of hunting for me so this is just another challenge I'll have to figure out.

I really do appreciate the input folks.

Tut23

well good luck hope you get something to work

C. Davis

MassBowhunter,
5years ago, I got the bright idea that instead of hopelessly waiting for a big buck to come out of a very thick thicket right in the middle of our 500 acrea I was going to go in and get him.

There is a thin winding 4-wheeler trail that goes right through the middle of the thicket. One day after the season, I found a deer trail that crossed the 4-wheeler trail. I crawled on my hands and knees until I found a bedding area that would be impossable to sneak up on. I thought, you know, If I could just cut a trail just big enough to walk through from the pipeline (which is a good 250-300 yards) I bet I could slip in quietly to a tripod stand. If I could get in there quietly without a 4-wheeler, I bet I could catch a buck during the rut checking out some of the does bedded in that thicket.

Well in the spring after the season, I started cutting my trail. I used a compass to try to stay on course towards the pipeline. It was very tough work. After several days of work on my days off, it finally got too hot and the mosquitoes sent me home before I cut all the way through. I probably cut about 150 yards a trail just wide enough to walk through, and I did get my tripod stand set up.

I did not hunt the tripod the next year, but in my preseason scouting, I noticed the deer were using my 150 yard trail. I was in the same predicament you are in. So that spring, I cut two shooting lanes to see two spots on the trail. I could see two spots on the trail good plus I could see down the 4-wheeler trail to were the deer trail lead to the bedding area.

Well, 3 years ago, on the third day of the season I shot this buck out of that tripod on a nasty rainy day. It took two years of work, and one year to shoot him.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c93/CDavis460/The10.jpg

Sorry such a long story, but I could relate to yours.

C. Davis

Okie807

I've had good success with scent drags, and have not had problems getting busted. I just take the drag off once close to the stand and hang it up where it will hopefully put the deer in easy shooting range. That way the drag also serves as a scent "bomb" once i'm up in the stand. Of course last time i did that a durned horse came up and tried to eat it, so results may vary!