User Panel
Posted: 11/25/2007 3:37:46 AM EDT
Ok, I have always tracked and hunted deer with my grandfather. I once went hunting in a stand and I looked around and there were alot of deer but the guys I was hunting with were loud and talking about feeding them there the summer. Why is this considered hunting please tell me. I lived on a ranch for a bit until I joined the military so I just learned to track my prey. I keep seeing these folks sitting in stands a few hundred yards off the road waiting for deer. What is so hard going to where the deer drink from or noticing a game trail? The only thing I can see hunting from a stand is if you cannot cross into other areas like private land or parks that do not permit hunting. Is that the case?
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I hunt from stands because they get my scent off the ground and I see more deer.
If you don't like it, don't do it. BTW, how many deer have you taken with your tracking skills? |
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In this part of NC, you must hunt from a stand 8 feet off ground if using rifle for deer.
However, you can hunt from ground with pistol or shotgun. |
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Most people don't have the skills to "still hunt". They make too much noise walking around and their observation skills aren't good enough to see a deer before it's too late. IMHO
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If tree-stand hunting bothers you, I bet canned hunts make you crazy. I don't see the point in canned hunts either.
Back when I did a lot of deer hunting, I split my time between the two methods. As said above, it gets your scent off the ground to hunt from a stand. You also don't have to be as stealthy. Plus they are just fun. We had one stand that was 40' from the ground...nobody ever killed a deer from it, but everyone wanted to hunt out of it. That said, I also enjoyed walking-hunting. I killed very few deer this way, but my stories were a lot better. In a way, its kind of like having a modular ar-15. Choosing what you want to do today is part of the fun. |
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In places where the population is dense, you may only have up to ten acres to hunt on. That is very limited for tracking or still hunting. Hell I shot a doe last night on a 4 acre parcel of land. How am I going to track it around four acres??
Stand hunting is effective for me on smaller acreage. When I hunt a certain 100 acre parcel near me, then we typically still hunt and look for scrapes and rubs. |
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I'm a bowhunter so hunting from a stand is almost necessary. I too pride myself in "spot and stalk" but theres times when the "ambush" tactic is far better.
It gets your scent off of the ground. It gives the hunter a better view of the immediate area. Being elevated also affords the hunter the opportunity to move around a little without being noticed as easy. If somebody else in the area shoots a gun, you should be above the line of bullet travel. You say you were in the military? I was trained to gain the elevated advantage over your adversary. Its definitely a tactic in your favor. There are many advantages hunting from an elevated stand. |
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Try walking thru palmattoes in Fla. Hell I been in bush a deer could not get thru. Plus it keep your human scent off the ground so they dont smell U. Just likea owl hunts he sits on a branch in the trees. And if you walk thru the hunting area alot U will leave so much human scent around the older deer will never come back. There is reason why the biggest deer are hard to kill.
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Pussy, I stalk the deer and jump on it and bite it's jugular vein, wearing only a loincloth . |
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if you hunt in New England without snow on the ground - it's a noisy & exhausting experience.
But if runnin' them down is your game - have at it! I use both techniques. Though if actually shooting a deer is on the agenda, I'll sit. |
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Everyone thanks for the reply. I will think about my position again. I see some good points. I guess part of it was how the guys I went hunting with might just have turned me off of another aspect of deer hunting. Thanks again for the replys and I will try it again next season. I uselly get one deer a season when doing it my why but I go out after a rain most of the time and I have learned where to find then on my grandfather's and great uncle's land. I have not been hunting in four years due to deployments and being newly married thanks.
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I just set the woods on fire and bump fire at them as they run out.
Seriously how many deer have you taken by tracking them to their location and shooting them? |
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All joking aside I track & walk only to learn an area and/or verify deer sign.
Hunting where the deer may be and hunting where the deer are is two very different experiences. Learn the terrain then pick a good spot to get off the ground. Don't forget about wind direction. |
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I could see spot and stalk in Texas or South Dakota open plains. The deeer would here U a mile away in the Florida bush. The last deer ikillled I was thinking it was hog in the bush but it was deer, he was making so much noise in the thicket, shot him at 35 yards way with a bow on a trail.
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Plus 1# |
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Also many of us don't have the land to do spot and stalk. And you sure don't want to try it on public land. Most of our tracking takes place before the hunt and then we set up stands for the season. I do like spot and stalk, having done it out west on some hunts, but the area I hunt in Michigan isn't big enough to do this style of hunting. |
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amatuer.. i use a piece of lightning killed hickory as a club. |
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Whimps. I run them down and beat them to death with a rock hard erection. |
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In VA its illegal to use feeders so I can't blindly setup a stand. I usually scout an area and pick out a crossroad for where the deer typically come through. I bow hunt so this gives me a lot more options for shooting lanes than if I just hunted from the ground. Hunting from a stand requires some skill if you do it right.
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post pic's !!! just kidding. I do hunt on the ground. however, the beyond the target limits your shooting. from the elevated stand safety factor's in. |
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Around here we call tracking deer "Pushing Deer". All you are doing is pushing the deer farther into the woods or even onto someone elses property. Deer are smart, bucks that have lived for more than 3 years are even smarter. They WILL stay ahead of you, they will see or smell you before you see them.
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Isn't this to minimize potential damage from misses? |
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I have sucessfully employed still hunting and spot and stalk. I have never ever been sucessful in tracking unless there was fresh snowfall on the ground. I use every technique available just like a use more than one type of weapon for deer hunting I also use more than one technique. A still hunt/spot and stalk hunt fo rme may involve walking as much 17 miles in one day. Somedays my fat ass just doesnt have that much energy. Anyways I do not have a problem with feeding deer to keep them on your property either,
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Damn it! I will IM you my address for you to send my new keyboard to |
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I personally prefer the apple and hammer technique |
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To the OP, it really depends on your terrain and land area, in many areas, stands are the best bet to get a deer, and that is knid of the goal here...stand hunting requires knowing where to put it, that is the hard part here, so instead of stalking them like Rambo, you have to plot out an stand like an ambush specialist, with fields of fire, and known travel routes...
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Now you know why I offered to let you deer hunt at my place? TRG |
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Most people don't have the amount of property or the right kind of property to still hunt. Also, if you hunt on a heavily pressured piece of property, you may get shot by a fellow hunter if you are walking around. You will NOT catch me still hunting on public land during deer season.
Don't get me wrong. I LOVE to still hunt, and I've killed 4 deer this year "from my hind legs". However, stand hunting definitely has a place. Most people do not hunt over bait in a stand, but will hunt travel corridors or around a producing oak tree (not bait). Stand hunting is an art in itself. |
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For me,
Stalk hunting is fun, standing hunting is all about meat production. It’s a way to put some meat in the freeze quickly then go have some fun. When it comes down to enjoyment it I prefer small game or coyote hunting to deer hunting. |
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ya'll win.. i aint that awesome.. |
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Yeah, that "beer-can-crushing" sound when you stab them between the vertebrae is extremely satisfying on a somewhat primal level. But, do it from a stand because then you can get all your weight behind the thrust! And always remember to bury some tobacco in the ground when enter the woods. |
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I sit in a stand in the morning and evening when deer tend to move more and I walk around a little during the afternoon when deer aren't moving as much, unless there's other hunters around and then I'll sit all day and let others move them for me. Also, I don't like to push deer onto people I don't know.
When stalking in the morning with crisp leaves, you can't cover much ground without making some noise. |
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I hunt from a treestand 99% of the time. The rest of the time, I sit still on the ground. I've seen too many hunters bumbling around in the woods bumping deer to other hunters. I'd say that we've all killed deer that someone else bumped to us, whether we were aware of it or not. Just the other evening I was walking through the woods to my stand, and I heard a gunshot dead downwind of me about 200 yards away on an adjoining property. I'd venture to guess that a deer had probably been downwind of me, and slinked off quietly only to be shot by the other hunter.
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I have ten acres to hunt on. The deer around here live on 1000's of acres. Not a lot of options.
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The red portion is the reason I stand hunt. I have seen way to many hunter fatalities from jerk offs "sound shooting". I live in the Catskill Park and it draws many "City folk" who are just about the most unsafe MF'ers around. I refuse to hunt on the state land untill after Thanksgiving when they all clear out. Also I hunt in stands that have been in the woods for 30 plus years on the most productive spots. There are days that I still hunt but usually its the crappy weather days when you have a chance of catching them beded down in the hemlocks. |
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That's awesome, the next time some anti hunter confronts me, I'm telling them that's how I do it. LOL |
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i do both but am more succesful on the ground.
every deer ive shot has been on the dirt. I sit in stands but once i get down and start stalking/stop etc i get one or least see more. Now ive ben in stands before and have had deer right under me,around me etc, but no tag for them(does) Ive just alsways had better luck tracking and wacthing heavily used trails that i find in doing such. avg time in a stand is the 1st 2-3 hours of teh AM then its walkin time for me... 1st weekend out for me put meat in teh freezer becuase i got down and started walking. YMMV. but if you do get on tehground use everything to you advantage as your in their house. wind,movemnet,noise and scent. movement and wind are your weak spots...watch the wind, and take your time. |
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I hunt from stands during archery, and the asscrack of dawn during shotgun and muzzleloading. My archery is a mix of ground stalking in the right conditions, rain or high winds in early season. I do this when I can blend in before the leaves fall. After the leaves are gone you stick out like a white guy at a rap concert. For the bow you need to get atleast 40yds for a safe clean shot, so the tree is a must. In shotgun and muzzleloader, I sit opening day and maybe another morning or evening depending on pressure from other hunters. I find it easier to just stalk, or watch where other people are and go to where the deer will run away from them. I saw 2 come between a group of guys in the next field over this morning. I got my meat deer this morning from about 40yds walking down a hill to the creek. Dropped him in his tracks with the 1300 with a 1ouncer. Now is time to find the 10 I saw in early archery, but I will wait till the truck load hunters go back to work.
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Why do I hunt from a stand?
1. I see more deer. 2. I can better determine which one I want to kill. 3. I make a good shot at an unalerted deer. I have never shot at a moving animal, and I have never had to use more than a single shot to kill an animal. 4. I don't spook deer out of my area. When still hunting (moving around) it is estimated that for every deer you see you have alerted and spooked many more. Makes sense to me, though I don't always use a stand. I often sit in front of a tree. |
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Its legal to use corn and rice in Louisiana. I see more deer sitting in a stand using this. And I stay warmer because my shoothouse is inclosed.
Im not trying to prove Im as tough as Bear Grylls. I know Im not. I may be smarter tho. I'll sit down, stay warm, drink a cup of coffee, and watch the deer come out. |
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Reasonable question. Here's my answer FWIW....
1) My ranch is under a rigorous management program, so I use stands to get a thorough look at the deer to accurately determine their age. If you harvest bucks too young, you keep them from reaching their potential, and reduce breeding by animals with genetically superior characteristics. 2) it is simply more efficient when you need to cull several does or spikes in a single hunt. Sometimes it is simply about harvesting numbers of deer to get our sex ratios in balance, and the population density to a level the land can easily support. 3) I can enter and leave my stand (often, I'll have to sneak in and out very carefully) without alerting mature bucks to the fact I was there. Even if I am not going to kill one, I want to observe it, undisturbed to learn more about its behavior. I certainly don't intend to kill an animal every single time I climb in the stand. 4) Many places are simply not big enough to stalk / still hunt. On my place, we would drive deer to the neighbors and they aren't as good at management as we are. We don't believe in high fences, either, so why would I want to push a 3 year old buck to an idiot that can't age it? So, you see, hunting from a stand really has little to do with the hunter's ethics. There certainly are idiot hunters that give all the rest of us a bad name, but tell me one area of society where this isn't the case and I want to live in THAT PLACE. |
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Sometimes the land just won't let you track and stalk. The place I hunt is mostly covered with leaves on the ground and the land layout pretty much makes stalking impossible.
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This is the first year I've used a tree stand.
This is also the first year a shot a deer after many trying. Summit 180 - I will never hunt another way. |
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Stand hunting is a tradition in most of Texas. That is just the way we do it. We like our stands so much that we give them names. It makes hunting more fun to use a creatively build stand. Some are very elaborate with sliding windows, a heater, carpet, a shelf for your binoculars and thermos, and a nice comfy office chair. You are more comfortable so heavy bulky clothing is not necessary. There is nothing more relaxing than sitting in a deer stand reading a magazine and enjoying a pop-tart and some coffee.
But the number one reason that I like to hunt from stands is because THE CORN FEEDERS ARE NEAR THE STANDS NOT OUT IN THE WOODS SOMEWHERE!!!!! |
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There is nothing more fun than naming the stands through the years on a Texas ranch. Here's a few of the names we've given them (and why):
1 ) Claudette : a hurricane of this name came through and kocked her over. She survived and the name stuck. 2) Cadillac: The comfy one. Fiberglass, with windows, and stairs leading up to it. Priceless, when you just want to be lazy, and warm, or take your 75 year-old dad with you. 3) Luby's: Hahahaha. the food plot here is so lush and dependable...well, you get the picture 4) the Beltway: lots of deer traffic as one would imagine 5) Vagabond: This is one of the tripods that I move around and sneak into places of which the deer aren't aware. I take some great bucks this way, with my .44 mag, with open sights, and YES you do have to cover your scent and sneak in and out of there. 6) Laundromat: There is an old washing machine that was washed up along the river there (probably 50 years ago) and the blind was set up nearby, because the spot looked good, coincidentally.... 7) Rudy's Corner: A friend suggested this spot when we were driving around in the river bottom. It is an intersection of three cuts in the trees. Very good buck spot....we just make a little Clover, and Rye food plot with small tools there. A small tripod very well camo'ed I love Texas stand hunting..... There are lots of different ways you can do it, and they don't all involve setting up a corn feeder 75 yards away. Let's hear some of your named stands guys.... |
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Were you hunting in stand #6?
Which one is #6? The one between #5 and #7. Hell I don't know what number it was but it is the one south of camp that is made of old plywood from billboard signs that fell over when we werer putting it up and it almost killed Bob and we never shot anything out of it but that great big hog on that day it was foggy and then we turned it around and moved the feeder over into that mesquite thicket and now you have to shoot over the fence next to the two-track. Oh that one. Thats #4. |
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+1 Thats how we all do it in Texas. |
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