1) Stand placement - Stay “close” to the bedding area so you catch them in the sunlight just as the come back from food... too close to the food and it will still be dark, BUT don’t setup in the bedding area or you will blow it.
A) If the sun or sky is behind you from where the deer is you just screwed yourself, any move you make is extremely noticeable.
The best way to fix this is to walk the deer trails and see what tree you cant see until you take a turn (tree behind trees as you approach)... those are the best ambush trees.
I.e. walk you deer trails and look for your stand, if you can see it before you are in bow range it’s wrong. If you can make sure there are limbs directly behind you so you can blend in.
BTW - 30 feet up is stupid... 12-14 feet on up is plenty unless you are in a bottom.
B) Buck trails are not deer runs... meaning Does take Deer runs... Buck trails are not normally apparent, but typically 20–50 feet Parrellel to the doe trail, typically in the transition boundary
between whatever the does are eating, and the other woods / field..
C) How you get into your stand is EXTREMELY important...
Cut across the least number of runs as possible
Take a machete and cut anything that can touch you on the way in ...(brush/ limbs/ ....)
NEVER EVER EVER EVER SPIT ... you can pee on a deers head in the stand, spit and you are DONE.
D) Hangers - put hangers on your tree for things you don’t want to fall off when you move / stand up.
E). Harness - Climbing safety harness with leg loops, and have a descender rope along side yourself that you can also up to haul up your bow & bag.
F). Stand scouting - Often you only get a shot at the big dog... so I will put a stand 40+ yards out where i can watch the main runs and them move my stand to where I want to kill stuff.
G). Putting up / taking down your stand... throw a rope over a limb and use it to pull while you push it up in place, also use it to hold the stand up while you secure the stand.
H). Trail tacks - to get in your stand at dark... make sure spray them with sent away
2). Equipment -
A) Start out with a spitfire or other expandable broadhead, they shoot like field points and it will lower the chances of a miss until you are really good at shooting the bow
B). Grunt call - Get a good rubberized one, and where it on your neck... once you release an arrow hit the grunt... a deer with think they got poked by a buck and stop to see where he is.
I have seen many a deer stop when I grunt them 2-3 times and they stop again, then lay down and pass out... that is a really good thing.
C). Small binoc’s - You need to be able to see between trees to watch a deer you just put a stick through, better yet you need to know if there is a buck trailing that doe.
D) Thumb behind your ear —. When you draw your bow with a release your hand is just behind you ear, take your thumb and put it behind your neck and use that to hold the bow back instead of your arm which will get tired. When the shot comes just pull back a bit with your arm and shoot - you can keep your bow drawn for a couple of minutes in this fashion so you get to draw as soon as you see the deer instead of waiting and getting busted.
E). Leafy camo is your friend, at least on your jacket...
3). Behavior (yours) when you get busted.. and you will.
Eat stuff if you get busted... If you are walking a lane and a deer comes out and stares at you, bend down and walk to a tree limb, grab it with your hand and visibility wiggle it like you are chewing the branch with you mouth so the deer can see it. In general deer thing... well he’s eating that, so apparently he doesn’t want to eat me... also Deer do this when they socialize .... if you do it with Grass, or a Tree and watch the deer, their tail will go down, and thier ears drop... often they will start walking directly to you so you have to be careful.
4). Weather
A) Cold cloud covered nights make the deer stay out longer, in fact they have to eat to stay warm so they move again after thier morning nap.=. Make sure you can stay out coat wise.
B). Snow = finding buck trails... that aren’t apparent, so make sure you walk the place
I could go on for hours... I did the same thing but didn’t have anyone to teach me so these are hard learned...
