There are 2 ways into the stand, the back way ( yellow) and the quick way (Red). Either way you blow deer out of either beds or food plot. With my knee as bad as it is , I chose the easy way in. I knew I would blow deer out of the big food plot, but I hoped it wouldn't matter.
The blue line is the deer trail I was hunting.
Another worry was wind wrap. The steep bluffs here play games with the wind. That is the main reason I have so manny stands out . Some are just 100 yards apart on the same trails. 100 yards up or down the trail can make all the difference on how the wind acts on the bluff sides.
At 8 am I spotted the body of a big deer moving through the trees behind me about 50 yards away. I never saw it's head and it was moving along a secondary trail just above the trail that I was hunting . I made a few soft grunts to no avail.
Fifteen minutes later I looked back in that direction and a nice doe was standing where the deer trail crosses my mowed hiking trail.
The only bad part of this stand location is that access to the stand involves walking on the actual deer trail for about 40 yards . So I sprayed my boots extra heavy with scent remover and used my bow to push aside the taller grasses I might brush up against.
I was about to see whether that was enough to fool this deer. A fawn appeared. *&%^. I hate shooting does with fawns with them. but I decided since it was my birthday, that if a shot was offered I would not let it pass.
The fawn went ahead of mom and came walking down the trail. Mom was 15 yards behind and totally relaxed. When she was broadside at 10 yards I let the arrow slip.
Standing where she was at the shot shows the ladder stand.
DSCN0867 by
jgilmer2010, on Flickr
Topic: A 5 Pines Farm Giant (Read 39644 times)
