Do you mark your way into your deer stands?

[hunterbob1]

 

Do you mark your way into your deer stands?

Only if I drank toooo much coffee.lol seriously,slow and dark!

[BHC]

Yes, I use bright eyes, I'm very deep in the woods and need them for the first few weeks till my path is matted down

[BowhunterNJ]

Honestly, it's a great idea to rake away the leaves/debris on your trail...I do that all the time, especially within the last 50-100 yards of my stand. Makes for a stealthy entrance/exit and also easy to pick out on the ground...like following the yellow brick road!

[jerseyhunter]

 Gps if I have to, but know where most of the trees I hunt are. I sometimes put a bright eye up in the tree above where I'll be, one on each side so depending on my path in I can find the right tree and stop climbing at the right height.

[Palawman30]

Just a good gps is all that's needed....

 

 

imo  guys that are landscaping your spots are educating deer.

Deer live there 247 365....we are visitors to their homes...

 

if someone changed something in your home wouldn't you notice it?

 

Thats also a reason I very rarely will ever prune low branches....

[BowhunterNJ]

I definitely agree altering landscape (during the season) can be a significant impact. Likewise pruning low branches (within their immediate sight line).

As the years have passed, I've increased my focus on entrances and exits into stands, so they are made in an effort to avoid deer crossing them with any regularity (obviously you can't control that sometimes). The benefit of getting in and out ultra quiet, especially for those first few hunts outweighs the potential to spook them crossing my trail (approaching downwind and usually through areas that have minimal deer traffic). Often times I hunt very close to bedding areas and if they hear me come in...the hunt is already over before I even got on stand.

[Rutting Buck]

Just a good gps is all that's needed....

 

 

imo  guys that are landscaping your spots are educating deer.

Deer live there 247 365....we are visitors to their homes...

 

if someone changed something in your home wouldn't you notice it?

 

Thats also a reason I very rarely will ever prune low branches....

 

I throw the branches & sticks off of my path.  Sometimes I have to prune back some of the lower branches, but in general I try to leave it undisturbed

[redsquirrel]

I'll use tacks, my gps or just memory depending on the stand and how familiar I am with the spot.

[_X7]

Of course, any one of us could have some fun with things like bright eyes.  Start them in the more packed hunter parking lots at certain SP or WMA lands and run them in a huge circle coming back to the same lot after a long hike

LOL, this reminds of a time the night before permit bow Saturday when two new members of my hunting club spotted me trying to hide me and a 5point I had shot along the edge of the road. They passed me in the dark, but as you'd have it, they backed up and as the story goes. "Hey, you got one huh?". To try and make a long story short I came to find this truck near where these guys saw me quite a few times..I ran into the one guy getting gas one day and he asked me where I was hunting down that hill. He didn't see any stands. I fibbed to him and told him there were bright eyes started in the woods leading right to the trees I use just a bit from where he saw me that night. I mentioned that it was a better morning spot than an evening spot. The next day I went back up the mountain and starting right where I was spotted I proceeded to make a sore thumb trail down the hill. Wearing my heavy rabbit hunting pants I pinned these tacks through some of the nastiest stuff on the mountain that circled right back through it twice at different levels to a dead end.  Saturday morning its dark while sitting in my stand down the road a ways from the truck as usual. I see flashlights and can hear the sounds of cussing from the trail I set these clowns on.  I got a good chuckle out of that and didn't see these guys at that spot again. I did see them at the next club meeting and for some reason were giving me some nasty looks.. I smiled and they just shook their head.

[LittleM]

I don't mark my way to my stands with anything, I just try and picture distinctive landmarks in my mind and use those to guide me.  I don't even like it when my climber leaves scratch marks on the trees I climb.  As far as flashlights, go - I don't use them.  Believe it or not, I have veered way off the correct paths (i.e. - become disoriented (lost) temporarily) when I have become transfixed with that little beam of light, following it to wherever it leads me, instead of looking at the big picture. 

[Bucksnbows]

Some of you cautioned about not clearing too many trees and shrubs from around your stand and I agree, especially if on public land.  I do some clearing of shooting lanes on private property in PA and NJ, but well ahead of the fall season and not huge openings.  I've been woodcock or pheasant hunting on various northern WMAs each fall only to come across many small saplings cut off at the base and their tops often dragged away to hide the evidence.  At that point, I start looking up to find the stand because as a hunter, I always want to know what the other guy might have liked about this location.  I either quickly see a hang-on or more often the light scars from climbers up the straight, limbless tree overlooking this thinned out area.  And sometimes its the pile of corn that also jumps out at me

 

When I was a kid, the known honey-holes were where you found several wood stands in various states of rot in a small area like around a swamp.  And you never saw the old timers cutting much, they relied on making good shots in the brush at close range when buckshot was king.   

Edited February 26, 2014 by Bucksnbows

[deerslayer01]

Nope I know the woods pretty good

[_X7]

 I don't even like it when my climber leaves scratch marks on the trees I climb.  As far as flashlights, go - I don't use them.  Believe it or not, I have veered way off the correct paths (i.e. - become disoriented (lost) temporarily) when I have become transfixed with that little beam of light, following it to wherever it leads me, instead of looking at the big picture. 

I miss my Loggy Bayou for that very reason. Hardly left a mark at all. I too, have been turned around by the flashlight beam. Even on trails I used for a long time. 

 

And sometimes its the pile of corn that also jumps out at me

 

And you never saw the old timers cutting much, they relied on making good shots in the brush at close range when buckshot was king.   

I hate when that happens! Makes me jump and run the other way.

 

Yep, buckshot at close range. Those were the days.of very few choices, although my full choke shotguns reached out some.

[Bowhunter444]

Yes I use bright eyes to mark my trail with them I get in quicker and quieter than without. I use a green LED headlamp that the deer cant see

 

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