Most Productive Stand Location

[JLeMieux]

I started a thread like this on another forum I frequent and was disappointed in how little thought/analysis went into some of the answers. Then it occurred to me, maybe I was asking the wrong group. Naturally I should have started here.

I'm sure there are very similar threads, if not identical, already on here. Feel free to link those!

Describe your favorite or most productive stand/blind location, and tell what makes it so.

One of my favorite spots here is in a fairly rugged area. It's located on the S slope of a pretty tall E/W ridge. The N slope is almost vertical near the top. The S slope is fairly gradual for a couple hundred yards before dropping off into a nasty bottom.

At one point, two steep draws come up out of the bottom. They are approximately 60 yards apart and the slope flattens out some between them and ends in a point with a vertical drop. The deer use these two draws to climb out of the bottom and also criss-cross the flat. For some reason I see a lot of bucks in this spot but few does. I've yet to seal the deal, because I'm usually set up on the wrong draw when they come up, but it's only a matter of time.

Hopefully this wasn't too confusing.

[Whip]

The most productive stand over time on my hunting property is located at a southeast inside corner of the woods.  Over the years it has earned the name "Big Buck Stand".

The way that the predominant wind works in that spot and the way the deer typically come from would seem to make a south wind perfect.  The problem is that a south wind of any velocity causes a swirling effect right at that corner, so what seems like a perfect wind is actually absolutely wrong.  We have to hunt that stand very carefully with either an east wind (fairly uncommon in our area) or only on very calm days when we can play the thermals.

I think that the fact that the corner produces swirling winds so often is exactly what makes it a favorite entry point for the smart deer.

[MnFn]

My best one was a slight ridge between two cat tail sloughs. The ridge ran mostly east to west. On the west end was the deer bedding area. On the east end was an alfalfa field. My stand was about about fifty yards off the field and 17 yards off the north side of the trail to take advantage of the south wind.  A friend took a huge whitetail there. I got to use it once before the farmer turned it into pasture.  It was the most natural funnel I have ever hunted.

[threeunder]

I'm going to assume we are talking whitetails....

Bottlenecks between feeding and bedding areas.   Specifically within those areas would be where a number of trails intersect.

If I come to a spot and think Grand Central Station or the "Crossroads", I know I am pretty close to where I need to be.

These areas are good early on for the does and good for bucks during all but the lockdown phase of the rut.

[JLeMieux]

Thanks for the responses guys! I also have another favorite stand in a swamp on my lease. A pipeline crosses the swamp and would always see deer crossing in the middle, in what seemed to be the same spot. So one day after a morning hunt, I grabbed the hipboots and took off across the swamp. Once I got to what I thought was the general area, I realized a ridge crossed there. When I say ridge, I mean the water was only a foot deep there instead 2 ft like everywhere else. The combination of the slight elevation change and the fact that it is located almost dead center between 2 box stands that are about 350-375 yds in either direction. After experimenting with different trees in the area, I think I have it pinpointed this year.

[threeunder]

As for specific stands, my 2 favorite were just such areas.

The first was along a barbed wire fence on the lip of a slope.  Deer had no problem jumping it from the high side going to their bedding area, but it was difficult for them to jump it from the low side.  I put a popup across a rocky creek bed that theyvalso had to skirt on their way to the only flat area they could cross the fence.

The second was at the point where 3 ridges and 2 beautiful hollows met.  Seemed like every deer on that 235 acres made their way through that area that was luckily between their bedding and feeding areas.  It was one wild stand during the rut!

[goingoldskool]

My favorite stand is 200 yrds east of a north/south creek, up a little dead ended draw. The deer come from the east and work their way west towards the creek.... can't say why....  the start of my draw is the dam side of a pretty good size pond.  They like it, so do I!

[randy grider]

mine is a saddle on a finger ridge in Land Between the Lakes in KY. Only killed one deer there, but have seen lots of bucks there,coyte, and even a bobcat. I call it "buck saddle ridge". The one I have taken the most deer from is a ladder stand on my farm, we call it "the killing stand"/

[Hopewell Tom]

Early season is about 100 yards from my back door(house is located on an inside corner of a field) on a north/south running ridge. As with most good stands, must be hunted with care and quiets down real fast if I push it too much.
Later, during the chasing part of the rut, I have a stand on a side hill about 100 yards from a swamp. ALWAYS a hot spot around Nov. 20. But these are Whitetails, so definitely NO guarantees!

[Kamm1004]

where i'm at, bottlenecks. Also any trail, be it a ravine or old ditch like my favorite stand that runs between groups of trees or cover and across open fields. Deer like to use them during the daytime to have some cover while crossing open areas between areas of cover. basically the travel routes between bedding and feeding.

[adeeden]

My favorite is a double funnel behind my house. The buck in my avatar came from there along with quite a few others!

[Lost Arra]

>>As with most good stands, must be hunted with care and quiets down real fast if I push it too much.<<

Amen Brother!

[44charlie]

I hunt suburban deer and have never killed a deer in the same place but we do have a spot that we killed 3 and have had several missed shots. Best way to describe it is it is a transition area between cover types. It is also rather thick all season long.
 I have found that suburban deer use every square inch of their limit habitat. They constantly surprize me by where and when they travel. I've watched them stand and watch people walk by or barking dogs and vehicles.

[VictoryHunter]

Back home in Tennessee I have a stand that is set up in an inside corner of a field. It is a heavily used travel corridor between two bedding areas and food. The main trail that funnels deer by the stand runs along an old fence. It also sits on the side of a hill where the ridge ends. There is a persimmon tree and several white and red oaks within 15 yards of it. It is always covered in deer morning and evening up until about december. Last year I had the opportunity to miss a huge old 6 point twice in one sitting! A week later my papa killed the biggest buck we have ever taken off that property. Last but not least it is good in almost any wind depending on the time of day.

[tarponnut]

I had a low stand(9') in a maple tree in Western NY years ago. It had two apple trees on either side and bedding cover behind it, open hardwoods in front. I killed four deer in four years there and passed on many more(ok, a couple were clean misses).If the wind was right, I saw deer on every sit at that spot and killed my biggest buck there.
I had a young six point directly below me once(6' away!). I could count his eyelashes he was so close. He even had a row of faint spots down either side of his spine. I'll never forget that.

[tarponnut]

My best stand now is for hogs. It has a feeder there but also several huge live oaks that draw deer, turkeys, and hogs when they are dropping acorns.Thick, thick cover behind it and the stand is in a natural funnel between two woodlots.
The only bad thing is the wind sometimes swirls in there.
   
 

I have a small lease in south TX. In 10 years, myself and my hunting buddy have shot 4 P&Y deer on this property. They have all been shot from the same stand! Our lease is mostly south TX brush. One of the property lines is a fairly good sized year-around (except in really bad droughts) creek. We call this area "the bottom" and it is the only place on our property that there are any trees big enough to put a tree stand in. There are lots of elms, hackberrys, and other trees. The deer seem to like the bottom and be more consistent there than up in the brush.

Bisch

[kennym]

"(ok, a couple were clean misses)"

James, we call them warning shots up here!    :D  

My alltime fave is a stand in the SE corner of a CRP field with a big shallow flat 100 yds wide and a sandy ditch with oaks running west (travel corridor)for a half mile and a timber/swamp to the south ,east, and north (bedding cover). Kind of a T.

With a NW wind, once you get in, the wind is bulletproof!! Very few deer have ever winded us from it

We took 2 bucks in 2011 15 hours apart from it.  

[Todd Cook]

I don't have a specific spot that I hunt, more of a type of hunt. I hunt food trees: white oaks, persimmons, crabapples. If I can find a white oak with a lot of fresh sign under it, I set up real close to it or maybe in it. Usually get a lot of shots like that. A really worn out creek or ditch crossing can be real good to.

I used to hunt a place in N central MO that was the best funnel I've ever seen. It was a half mile strip of thick timber, about 60 yards wide that connected 2 big chunks of nasty thick woods. It was bordered by hayfields on both sides. The trail the deer used looked like cattle were using it. We hunted that farm for about 6 years. Hunting that place in November would make a man lose sleep thinking about it  

[Knawbone]

I used to hunt a spot vary similar to the bottle neck you speak of Todd. Would see or kill a deer there almost every time I hunted it. Sure wish I could hunt there now.As far as a best stand now? I hunt A few key areas, but don't hunt year to year from the same tree. Or I will alternate and let a good stand site cool off. I suspect deer can communicate threw their glands and leave warnings for other deer to pick up on. There is no proof of this that I know of, but it has been theorized by some wildlife biologists. As a result, I like to stay exceedingly stealthy in my choice of stand sites and the amount of human scent I leave behind. On my land I like to hunt where two ridges merge. The south east side of this merge is not only more gradual in elevation, it's densely covered with hemlock and pine with more open woods on either side. I wouldn't call it a pinch point, but natural travel coridor, and a good one at that. Iv' harvested 10 bucks in the last 8 yrs, 9 of those bucks from my own 75 acres.