Scouting a "header" and dreaming of November

[23feetupandhappy]

I like the sound of your setup!!!
It's awesome when you can find those SPOTS that just scream at ya!!!

Looking forward to some updates this fall  

[Kevin Hansen]

Been thinking off and on about this thread all summer...

[kbetts]

Good stuff.  I'm a certified deer junky myself.  The new age of "scouting" seems to involve a camera and although nice, I'm convinced it has made hunters even more lazy than ever.

I love walking the woods and putting together the big picture.  This thread has me motivated to add some pics and things from my neck of the woods.  Great read.

[jonsimoneau]

kbetts, pics would be great!

[Possum Head]

Love a good scout report. Good stuff! Down here in coastal Ms. we don't have ridges, shelves or headers as the bubble stays between the lines down here. What we do have in common with our neighbors north is our deer like to eat. I don't spend much time looking for deer in mid summer but there's no better time to zero in on food sources. By now crab apples can be located and with a good pair of binoculars acorns can be seen. Last years White oak production 100 miles to the north was so good that pinning down deer was tough. Scouting affords me opportunities to set a slow pace and study areas without disturbing others and I can make a note of ways to approach potential stands under varying wind conditions. I keep clearing to a minimum but there is no better time than now to do so. For someone that loves the outdoors as much as I do, I don't need much reason to get afield. Look, how else can a fella get a good dose of Red bugs unless he gets out and beats the bushes! If there's such thing as the next best thing to huntin it's scoutin. Oh and it's a good chance to load some new way points in the ole Garmin too. Good huntin!

[Ryan Rothhaar]

Thanks for bringing this back up, Jon.  I meant to give an update, but time slips by....

Here are a couple pictures from fixing up the tree marked "B" on my map on page 3.  Did this mid-April.  This is the barest time of the year for cover, and it really shows what you have to work with.  In November, during the rut, the majority of these oaks will still have most of their leaves, so things won't look near as bare....but I still needed lots of cover...

Here is the tree, a small post oak, with climax stand hung up about 12 feet high.....

   


The stand tree with fencing in place.......

       
 
     

The final product, deer's eye view from the field crossing shown on the map, 12-15 yards from the tree.  The good thing is that like Bearclaw Chris said to Jeremiah in the movie "Elk don't know how many legs a horse have."  whitetails don't know that cedar limbs don't grow in an oak tree.  Looks a bit obnoxious right now, but in about 3 days the deer are used to it and by fall, of course, its part of the scenery.

       

Some welded wire fence, some wire, a bunch of cable ties, and some cedar limbs and you're in business.  Around home I mostly use beech limbs for this as the cut beech hold their leaves forever.  At my farm no beech, shingle oaks would serve the same purpose, but are nasty to deal with due to their growth pattern and stiffness.  Cedar is the best option, and pruning off the bottom 4 ft or so of limbs from cedar trees make great rub trees for deer, so everyone is happy                   .

I pulled the climax and put up a home-made Chippewa wedge lok bracket, to keep any locals willing to trespass and snoop around from stealing my stand, and pulled the climbers.  5 minutes the first time I sit it and its ready to go.

R

[kbetts]

I like the wire idea.  I have one stand in particular that has no cover....but the tree is perfect.  Got busted in it last year.  Could have been the wind though.....the deer were "supposed" to be 10 feet to my left, not my right.  Having them decide to pass on the opposite side of the tree than I intended compromised the wind just enough.....I think.

[jonsimoneau]

Ryan, that looks great. I like the mesh idea. I can't quite tell in the picture but is that mesh going all the way around the tree and your inside of it?

[kbetts]

This is the stand.  It's only about 12'.  I was pretty sure the canopy would hide my movements.  Obviously this was a set up for a time when trees still had leaves.  It's pretty useless in the late season.  It's still somewhat of a mystery to me as to "why here".  There are plenty of places to cross the ditch and stage before moving out of the timber but for some reason this is the spot.  Move farther to the left of the pic and you start downhill....wind swirls......up high to the right and closer to the field you get the wind but they don't ever stop in the openings.  Couple that with multiple deer standing around waiting for dark and you've opened yourself up to a random wind swirl besides the multiple sets of eyes and ears.  I personally don't like being exactly where deer want to be.  I want to be on the "to" or "from".  Less chance of them hanging around and picking you up.

[Ryan Rothhaar]

Jon - as I recall in that one I started at the tree the stand is in, worked it over that stob you see sticking out at 7'oclock if you are in the stand leaning against the tree, around the front, attached to the smaller tree at 12'oclock, then across the back about 1/2 way.  Sometimes all the way around, sometimes not depending on the setup and what you have to work with.  You need some structure to attach the fence to as its not stiff enough to hold up on its own when you put the cover on.  I cover the whole fence thick, and above and below it, weaving in branches or cable tieing them to make a solid screen all the way around.  THEN cut shooting holes with pliers and fold down (you can see the folded out/down flaps).  It looks like there are thin spots in the cover but those are flaps I cut - the cedar is THICK on there.  These flaps help hold the branches below them, give you something to add more to as well.  Minimal pruning will then allow you to cut lanes through the cover you added to shoot out of the holes.

kbetts - yeah, those types trees are a pain.  Of course you want to hang in multi-trunks, but this happens alot to me too that the right place isn't the right tree.  If you want to use the fence you will have to build some "artificial limbs" first - I use treated 2X4's and wire or deck screws depending on the tree and if it is valuable or not.  You might even have to wire the butt of the 2X4 to the stand, go behind the stand tree up at an angle, and wire to the main tree, if you see what I mean.  Then setup the fencing using the "artificial limbs" for structure.  It'll take some work, but you can fix that one up, I've done worse ones....just be SURE its the right spot before you do all the work.....don't ask me how I know    

R

[kbetts]

Sorry for the poor quality, but here is a view of the slice of heaven I chase deer.  The property boundaries are the northern field edge, a partial fence along the south separating a waste water spray irrigation site, and two ditches that you can just make out through the timber to the east and west.  The road in the middle bisects the property.  The smallish field to the middle right we refer to as the "5 acre" field.  The smaller clearing just off the field to the southeast was an old hog lot....so that's what we call it.  Currently all the fields are corn.  The farm house to the right of the road is unoccupied and thus those hedgerows stay somewhat undisturbed.  What you can't see is the gradual roll to the terrain that is unique to this farm.  Most everywhere around here is flat.

 

[jonsimoneau]

Ryan, I see. That's a great idea. I can see the slots you have cut out. How high up does it go on your waist when you are standing to shoot? kbetts is the tree you are referring to the one back behind the buck and kind of to the right of his nose?

[Ryan Rothhaar]

Jon its good cover from the knees up.  As long as you don't move your feet around too much you are golden.  I generally setup to shoot at 9-10'oclock left for the planned shot as I'm right handed and I keep myself from waist down against the tree, better to hide and much more stable to shoot.

R

[kbetts]

Yup, that's it.  I ended up hunting the same general spot from a climber right in the middle of the staging area......and yea Ryan, I did put it in a multiple trunked tree.  The westerly winds make this place hard to hunt.  The big boys always loop the wind before heading to the fields.

[jonsimoneau]

Good stuff guys.

[jonsimoneau]

Here is one that works well for adding cover to the tree. Take some 2 inch PVC and cut it at a 45 degree angle. Drill holes through the bottom down at the angle and run tie wire through the holes. Now you just tie wire it to the tree behind your stand. You can move them around the wire wherever you want them. Just put some pine tree branches in the open ends of the pipe. Here is one I put in a tree I have a stand in. Just gotta add the pine tree boughs.

[Kevin Hansen]

Good idea, Jon. How long are the PVC sections?

[jonsimoneau]

Kevin they are between 7 and 9 inches long to the point.  I don't measure it. Just eyeball it. Here is another pic showing where to drill the holes. Works great.

 

[Kevin Hansen]

Thanks for the up-close pic, Jon. Just spray painted for camo?

[jonsimoneau]

Kevin yes. Just rattle can primer paint. I use both black and grey. That works well in the Midwestern woods during "prime time" (November).