In three straight trips to this stand I rattled in no less than eight different bucks. A few of them more than once. Every single time I tickled the antlers young bucks arrived, sometimes very quickly and sometimes more than one.
These were predominately young bucks. However, one of the two shooters I have on my Tactacam Reveal trail cameras has made two appearances. But somewhere between mid-October and early November he met a more aggressive buck and lost eight of his 10 points.
A six-pointer and a basket rack eight-pointer squared off and pushed each other around for over three-minutes. They made quite a racket and attracted another eight-pointer. This entire spectacular event took place less that 15-yards in front of me…all on film.
Most of these bucks, including the older one, were consistently between 10 and 20 yards from my stand for several minutes each time. I got to the point where I was hoping for a doe so I could put some meat in the freezer.
Developing a plan to be in this position, where deer can be at 10-yards, looking right at you, and remaining relaxed and un-spooked is not easy. For me it took a combination of scouting, research and trial-and-error. Let’s take a look at that process.
The area where this amazing series of hunts takes place is a designated “archery-only” location. After getting permission to hunt there, I did the typical walk-about scouting. I was looking for trail corridors and pinch points, as usual.
After identifying a couple of good spots, I let my trail cameras go to work for me. The Tactacam Reveal series are my preferred units, and it did not take them long to start helping with stand location decisions.
Once that was done, I solicited the help of good friend Shawn Moreland to help me put my ladder stands into position. Before every trip into the field at this location I sprayed down with a heavy dose of Scent Thief, as keeping my scent out of the woods was a crucial component of my overall plan.
Scent Thief very simply takes away the deer’s ability to smell. I do not mean they cannot just smell you; they cannot smell anything when in the presence of this remarkable product. My advice is to add this product to your plan or process ASAP.
The next thing I did was to begin serious research on a camo pattern that would blend-in to the surroundings in my wooded creek bottom. Trust me when I tell you that all camo patterns are not created equal. There is no single pattern that is good in spring and fall or in hardwoods and evergreens. To be effective, you must match your camo to the surroundings of your location.
My research led me to a company called Huntworth. As I studied their camo pattern offerings, I was looking for something that would allow me to disappear in the cottonwood, sycamore and maple trees of this bottom. I chose the Tarnen pattern and I am glad I did.
Tarnen is what I call a disruptive pattern. Its shapes and colors are exactly what I needed in this creek bottom. It creates an illusion of visual randomness and the deer seem to look through it, instead of at it.
With all these factors working together, I had many different encounters where deer looked directly at me from 20, 15 and even 10 yards without seeing or smelling me—all just commonly went about their business. This is not normal behavior, and is down directly to a diligence toward scent control and good camouflage, not to mention foreknowledge of exactly where the deer like to walk and feed.
As I conclude this article I will end it with yesterday’s hunt. Even though I am still waiting for my other shooter to arrive during the day, I have been ready to put meat in the freezer for a couple of weeks.
Yesterday morning, at about 0730, a mature doe came slipping in behind me. She was directly downwind. When I heard her coming, I turned on my main camera and also the Tactacam video camera attached to my bow.
When I first saw her, she was about 15 yards over my right shoulder, quartering toward my stand. She passed my stand at about five to six yards. I had to let her get out to about 12 yards directly in front of me to get the shot I wanted on camera. She did not know I was there until my Muzzy broadhead went through both of her lungs, leaving her dead at 40 yards.
My point to all this? Develop a similar plan for the places you hunt. No two spots are exactly the same and those who are willing to do some research and adapt will fill more tags almost every time.
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