(A) 14 Step Season Prep: Step 10- Hanging Stands

I finally have all of our tree stands up and trimmed in for this fall. There are a few more stands that I will have to hang in late summer, for various reasons, but everything else is up and ready. You may be asking yourself why I have my stands up already. Let me explain why I do this and talk about stand placement.

Hanging Stands- I usually hang or move approximately 25 stands every year. Over the last five years I found it frustrating to try and hang all of these stands in late summer. August can be very hot and humid in Kansas. The woods are full of vegetation, ticks, bugs, snakes, and poison oak (a growing nemesis for me). It took a lot of time to hang and trim in the stands, so by the time I finished them, I wouldn't have much time to hunt the early season. Three years ago I started hanging my bedding area stands in the spring to avoid tipping off the deer in the fall. This worked really well for me and I loved having the stands already hung and brushed in, come deer season.

Over the last two years I have carried this idea over into all of my stands. Every spring I hang my stands and brush them in. You don't have to worry about scent, bumping deer, running chain saws, or fighting thick vegetation. The stands that I don't hang are in areas that I think they can be stolen. However, I still hang and brush in the stand. I just pull the stand down when I am finished. I also pull down stands that don't have removable straps. I don't want the straps to weather or stretch out as the tree grows. All the other hang on stands and ladder stands are left in place using tie wire.

I use a simple process that I should have thought about a long time ago. Once I have a stand hung in place, I take tie wire and triple it (you can also use a heavy gauge single strand). I use the tie wire to secure the stand in place on the tree. Then I remove all of the straps that secure the stand. I leave the cable and lock on the tree stand for an added safety measure. As I remove the straps, pull up rope, etc.- I place all of these items in a gallon size zip lock storage bag and label it with the stand number. If the stand has ladder climbing sticks, I will remove the sticks and hide them under a nearby log. I place the straps for the ladder sticks in the same zip lock bag. As I leave the tree stand location I will mark my access trail with reflective trail markers. Once deer season arrives and I hunt the stand for the first time, I will head out to the stand a half hour early with the zip lock bag and secure all the straps for the remaining season. The stand is already hung and trimmed in. Sounds easy, huh? Well, it is with a little planning and organization in the spring.

Be careful hanging ladder stands. When I am hanging a ladder stand I secure one end of my hoist rope to the seat of the ladder. I will then lean it up against the tree (this can be very difficult for one person). Make sure to step on he lowest rung of the ladder to set it in the ground. I will have my assistant hold the other end of the rope tight to keep the ladder secure against the tree as I climb. As they hold it against the tree I will secure it with the provided ratchet strap.

Here is a basic list of the tools that I use when hanging tree stands:
Pole saw, chain saw, hand saw, pull up rope, safety harness, fanny pack, back pack, zip lock bags, permanent marker, reflective trail markers, orange flagging, screw in steps, wind checker, compass, toilet paper, etc.

Stand types- I use four basic styles of tree stands. They are ladders, hang-ons, climbers, and the Lone Wolf Alpha (separate category for this one). For permanent use I utilize ladder stands and large hang-on stands. I especially like the ladder stands for areas that my Dad hunts. They are comfortable, easy to get in and out of, and safer. Occasionally I will also use a climbing tree stand to access a new hunting area.

The fourth style of stand that I love to use is the Lone Wolf Alpha hang-on. This stand is super light and easy to hang. It is extremely portable and adjustable too. I like to use these stands in areas that I only plan to hunt once or twice a year. They are also good for areas where a permanent stand may be stolen. If you can't afford a lot of stands then buy just one of these stands. Here is what you can do. Pick as many stand locations as you like. Hang this stand and trim in your shooting lanes. I like to use screw in steps on these stand set ups because you can leave them in the tree. I will then pull down the stand. Now you have multiple set ups to hunt based on deer travel, wind direction, etc. Just throw this stand up in the tree that you want to hunt. The tree is already prepared for you. I absolutely love this set up!

You can also easily use the Lone Wolf to hang above an existing stand to film a buddy's deer hunt. You should have at least one of these stands in your arsenal. They give you the ability to really move around, keep the deer guessing, and cover your hunting area. I also use this stand with the Lone Wolf ladder sticks in the place of a climbing tree stand. They all weigh about the same but with the ladder sticks I don't have to find a tree without low hanging limbs. Keep in mind that deer movement changes through out the phases of the rut. This stand can help you do the same.

You should already know this but I want to remind you to purchase a quality tree stand cable lock for your stands. I prefer the bicycle lock over the traditional padlock style. They can easily cut the padlock with bolt cutters but the bicycle style is much more difficult to get through. I engrave a number on all of my keys and the locks to keep them straight.

Stand locations- First, lets discuss how high you should hang your stand. You can only hunt at your best if you are comfortable with your set up and feel safe. This means staying within your comfort level. Maybe that is 10 feet or it could be 30 feet. You will have to decide for yourself. However, you must utilize a quality fall restraint device to keep you safe. You owe this to yourself and your family! No excuses!

If you shoot a recurve bow, I would suggest that you stay under 18'. However, if you shoot a compound bow you can go higher. My ladder stands range from 17-21'. My hang on stands are usually between 20-25'. I like to be high in the trees for a couple of reasons. I want the deer to have to look up high to see my silhouette. I want to stay out of their natural field of view. I also like to be high to stay in the upper wind thermals. They higher you are the harder it is for them to smell you. However, the higher you are, the steeper your shot angle, especially on close shots. Go up as high as your comfortable in the tree. I know many successful hunters that harvest deer in stands that are under 15'. In fact, one of the biggest deer I have ever seen, walked under my stand at 12' and never knew I was there. If I have my choice though, I will be sitting in the tree around 22'.

Stand placement- I like to hang stands around feeding areas, transition areas, and on the edge of bedding areas to cover all phases of the rut. I also like to have two different set ups based on wind direction. My pro dominant wind direction is out of the south. However, the November cold fronts come out of the north, so my stands are set up accordingly.

When I hang a stand I usually have someone with me. Before I trim in the shooting lanes I climb up in the tree and ask my assistant to walk the deer trails for me. This helps me to decide if the the stand is in the right location and where I should start trimming in my best shooting lanes. I want to be able to shoot the deer trails in all directions. Sometimes bucks will walk 10 yards downwind of heavily used deer trails, so make sure it is clear to shoot a little past the trail.

Don't forget to take a hard look at how you can slip in and out of your stand without bumping deer. Use vegetation, topography, creek bottoms, wind direction, etc. to help hide your approach. You can hunt a stand numerous times if the deer don't know when you are using it.

I hope this information helps you. I am still learning, so if you have something that works well for you that I didn't mention, please let us know. Go hang some stands. It's not too late.

(A) 14 Step Season Prep: Step 9- Building Bedding Areas

When I first started bow hunting seriously I focused a lot on food sources. Although food is vital to deer, I didn't place enough emphasis on bedding areas. Now my early season deer hunting concentrates on food sources but quickly turns to bedding areas or transition areas as the rut nears. Some of the farms that I have previously hunted were only good during the rut because they had outstanding bedding areas. However, some farms had poor hunting during the rut because they lacked good bedding areas. The trail camera picture above shows two bucks checking the downwind side of a good bedding area during the rut. They do this day and night if they aren't already breading a doe. Hunt doe bedding areas during the rut. Not just the traditional buck bedding areas. Sometimes does are going to head for some thick cover to hide from harassing bucks this time of year.

By now you should have completed most of your spring work to prepare for next deer season. Hopefully during your post season scouting, you successfully located good bedding areas. On one of the farms that I hunt, the bedding areas are somewhat minimized once the vegetation is thin in November. We have identified most of the current bedding areas but they don't seem sufficient for the current deer population. So this spring I worked with the landowner to build and expand an existing bedding area.

One thing we did back in March was identify the current bedding areas that the deer were using. We wanted to expand on this. There is a large ravine that runs north and south and is located in the center of the hunting property in the middle of the woods. This ravine is protected to the north by a highway and has a pond for a water source in the north end of it. The south end of the ravine dead ends at the beginning of huge agricultural fields. For the last two years, we have agreed with the land owner to stay out of this ravine. We wanted the deer to have a safe haven where there would never be any human contact or hunting pressure.

This March, the land owner and I decided to expand this bedding area. We fired up our chainsaws and cut down numerous trees on the north east edge of this ravine by the pond. We dropped almost every tree in an area approximately equal to half an acre. This really opened up the forest floor for more sunlight. We tried to cut the trees above waist high or higher. Our goal was to only make our saw cut deep enough for the tree to fall to a horizontal position. If the tree is still somewhat attached, it will continue to grow and sprout. Once we dropped all of the trees we had a very thick place for the deer to bed comfortably. There were some good deer trails already leading to this area.

A couple of weeks later I returned to this man made bedding area. I raked out a few bed locations removing the leaves, twigs, branches, etc. so the deer could be more comfortable. This is an area that we will continue to stay out of until next spring when we shed hunt. However, we will hunt the far perimeter edges as the deer leave this bedding area (200+ yards away). For this reason we built a big bedding area to hold a lot of deer at the same time. Numerous small ones are also a good option.

I can't stress to you how important it is to know where your deer are bedding. Once you know where they are sleeping and eating, all you have to do is hang a stand in between the two spots to improve your hunting success. Many hunters build new bedding areas or improve on existing ones. They can be large like the one I just described or very small. If you are going to build a bedding area, first think about how the deer will approach it, the direction they will face while in laying in it, how close can you get to hunting it, etc. The small bedding areas don't take much more time to build than it takes someone to hang a new stand location. Think about it. It is not to late to build or improve a bedding area and it could really improve your success for the next deer season.