Stand Adjustments - 3 Day Rain

[Singing Bridge]

Anyone have any stand adjustments going on? Were you lucky enough to have rain to do it in?

I'm supposed to get 2.5 inches of rain over the next 3 days, including today. Last night I watched two different bucks from a stand I hunted for the first time ever in a buck bedding area. The first buck, a dandy for Michigan public, was being dive-bombed by a couple of hawks for some reason. He jumped up from his bed and began waving his flag while he trotted away. His bed in the brush is not within a couple of hundred yards of a tree that will hold a stand (this is common on heavily pressured public land). Although I had no idea there was a buck bed right there, I do now... and I watched carefully as he approached a couple of trees at the end of his escape route. I am going to set up one of those trees in the rain- and perhaps during a good cold front / moon etc. I will make a play with my bow. Or, during the gun season I may have a trusted hunting companion push the buck my way when weather conditions will likely have him in that bed.

The buck bedding area I was set up on also was productive, as right at sunset a buck came out of the bedding area and stayed just out of my bow range. I watched him for an extended period of time and his staging movement kept him out of bow range of any tree... except for one. It is a scraggly, bent, twisted little thing with thick branches going everywhere six feet off the ground. I am going to prep it in the rain to intercept the movement of this buck, as he has already learned to stay away from stand trees.

Anyone else taking advantage of rain or some other condition to make adjustments? The quest continues...

[Singing Bridge]

I should add that I cannot cut any limbs on the public land in Michigan- but the stand prep will consist of determining entrance and exit routes based on weather, ranging the bucks trail from the tree, determining exactly where the stand will go to give me my best chance, etc.

Why bother making these adjustments? I made a good play and found myself just out of position. I have lost confidence in my stand site and fear a repeat perfomance when I hunt the area again if I am in the same spot. With the adjustment and the rain, my confidence will be high.

[dan]

GOOD TOPIC... Since my stand position tends to get adjusted on each hunt with or without the rain, I will way in from a slightly different perspective. I would certainly hunt closer to the bed on a rain day, and choose those hard to get close to spots. Rain will cover noise, and keep the deer distracted.

[Singing Bridge]

GOOD TOPIC... Since my stand position tends to get adjusted on each hunt with or without the rain, I will way in from a slightly different perspective. I would certainly hunt closer to the bed on a rain day, and choose those hard to get close to spots. Rain will cover noise, and keep the deer distracted.

An excellent point, Dan. I also like hunting this type of rain, an all day soaker.

[Tadmdad]

I agree with your thought process, your observations have shown you this bucks escape route, he will use it again. We will use a 2-man nudge in this situation when gun hunting, as you suggested. Have also had some success rattling and calling, when closer to the rut. But we are hunting much less pressured land.

As Dan suggested, high wind and rain can cover your approach and allow you to get in close, under those conditions move in and kill him.

[Singing Bridge]

I agree with your thought process, your observations have shown you this bucks escape route, he will use it again. We will use a 2-man nudge in this situation when gun hunting, as you suggested. Have also had some success rattling and calling, when closer to the rut. But we are hunting much less pressured land.

As Dan suggested, high wind and rain can cover your approach and allow you to get in close, under those conditions move in and kill him.

Good stuff, the 2-man nudge should work in the gun season.

[Uncle Lou]

I dont know why we cant nudge him in archery season. I may be able to bump him for you this week. What is the worst thing that can happen?

[adrenalin]

Set up 3 rut stands yesterday during the rain. With the huge change in the water level of the marsh I feel I was at a greater disadvantage by NOT scouting in season because of the huge shift in bedding locations. It proved worth while because the areas I set up were completely under water in the past and now have become bedding areas. There is also a dried up canal that the deer are using as a travel route. I'm hoping the bucks cruise it checking the new bedding areas for does. It is cattails and tall reeds on either side so should be great cover for cruising bucks.

[dan]

I dont know why we cant nudge him in archery season. I may be able to bump him for you this week. What is the worst thing that can happen?

I think he has a great buck bedding area pinpointed, and he should at least make an attempt to get a good natural movement kill.... Once you bump it, the deer may fly out of there 90 miles an hour... Hopefully not, but you get my point, its a hard kill with a bow. I would wait till gun season to nudge him...
I have killed a lot of big bucks when I was younger including some of my biggest with gun alone by sneaking into known buck bedding areas and shooting the bucks in the bed, or just as they jump up to run... Its similar to Tad's nudge, but one man style.

[G3s]

I took advantage of the wet weather yesterday and moved 2 sets. I hvae been watching the deer for a few weeks now while on stand, I think these moves will put me in the right spot for 2 of the big ones, I have caught on camera this year

[Z7WIBoy]

I hunted yesterday. After sitting through 2 thunderstorms and completely soaked at about 6:25 another storm rolled through. I had my fill of rain at this put literally. I was setup over a bed I found in the spring. Since I got out of stand early I thought I would check it out. Marsh was dry - not a surprise, and it looks like bed has gone cold also no rubs or sign. Will try another spot tonight.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Singing Bridge]

We finally got some posts about making stand adjustments in the rain!! I was worried there, for a minute.

No lack of aggression amongst the Hunting Beasts, eh?

[Singing Bridge]

I dont know why we cant nudge him in archery season. I may be able to bump him for you this week. What is the worst thing that can happen?

I think he has a great buck bedding area pinpointed, and he should at least make an attempt to get a good natural movement kill.... Once you bump it, the deer may fly out of there 90 miles an hour... Hopefully not, but you get my point, its a hard kill with a bow. I would wait till gun season to nudge him...
I have killed a lot of big bucks when I was younger including some of my biggest with gun alone by sneaking into known buck bedding areas and shooting the bucks in the bed, or just as they jump up to run... Its similar to Tad's nudge, but one man style.

Great information here: Dan and Tadmdad have been successful on Beast bucks when normal buck movement tactics have failed. The Sneaking in of Dan the Gentle Nudge of Tad are proven methods.

I have developed a method myself for use in gun or muzzleloader season when normal movement tactics have failed and I have used it in some of the most pressured areas imaginable:


I absolutely set up on bedding areas during the gun season. I usually wait until daybreak to make my final, quiet approach to my stand. In areas with really heavy hunting pressure the bucks with a couple or more birthdays behind them often hole up in their security zone / bedding area before daylight. Here is part of one of my previous posts:
If you know where the buck you are after may be bedded, try moving in at first light with your treestand and muzzleloader (or hunt the ground) so that you make as little noise as possible. Set up downwind or crosswind from the typically small bedding area, within sight of its edge. Stay on stand and glass and/or watch that edge for the buck getting up and moving over a ways, to relieve himself or browse a bit before he beds back down. Stay alert and let him have it at the first good opportunity. I’ve shot a buck as he stood up in his bed, and I’ve shot a buck that moved 18 feet from his bed before I put him down hard, amongst others. Stay alert while hunting, and watch for birds flying out when he stands up, or a blue jay screaming at his movement, or a red squirrel alarm chattering…. You get the idea. My number one signal is hearing a twig snap in the bedding area if the wind isn’t blowing too hard for me to hear it. It takes excellent woodsman ship to approach a buck that close when you set up. If you don’t know where the bucks are bedding, study aerials and topo’s and scout for the rubs/tracks/droppings in the area while avoiding suspected bedding areas. Then make your play with the knowledge your scouting has given you, I’ve shot a buck when he stood up that I knew was in there somewhere just from the aforementioned scouting.

[kenn1320]

Anyone have any stand adjustments going on? Were you lucky enough to have rain to do it in?

I'm supposed to get 2.5 inches of rain over the next 3 days, including today. Last night I watched two different bucks from a stand I hunted for the first time ever in a buck bedding area. The first buck, a dandy for Michigan public, was being dive-bombed by a couple of hawks for some reason. [glow=red]He jumped up from his bed and began waving his flag while he trotted away.[/glow] His bed in the brush is not within a couple of hundred yards of a tree that will hold a stand (this is common on heavily pressured public land). Although I had no idea there was a buck bed right there, I do now... and I watched carefully as he approached a couple of trees at the end of his escape route. I am going to set up one of those trees in the rain- and perhaps during a good cold front / moon etc. I will make a play with my bow. Or, during the gun season I may have a trusted hunting companion push the buck my way when weather conditions will likely have him in that bed.

The buck bedding area I was set up on also was productive, as right at sunset a buck came out of the bedding area and stayed just out of my bow range. I watched him for an extended period of time and his staging movement kept him out of bow range of any tree... except for one. It is a scraggly, bent, twisted little thing with thick branches going everywhere six feet off the ground. I am going to prep it in the rain to intercept the movement of this buck, as he has already learned to stay away from stand trees.

Anyone else taking advantage of rain or some other condition to make adjustments? The quest continues...

Did he break into the wind? That escape route might only work for that wind direction and if you try to set up there, you will be up wind of him.

[Singing Bridge]

kenn1320 wrote: "Did he break into the wind? That escape route might only work for that wind direction and if you try to set up there, you will be up wind of him."

Ken, in a way that is exactly what I want... let me explain. By the way he did, in fact, break into the wind. He likely hooked around into a different bed in the area, as I don't think he really knew what just happened. This buck has several directions he can go from bedding to approach big woods food sources. I will hunt the two trees I mentioned when the wind is taking my scent just off of his bedding area in the brush. He will still feel like he has an advantage by moving in my direction, but with the milkweed I will watch my scent quarter away from his bed. It will be a lot longer distance than what I want from his bed, but that is why he is there. When a fresh cold front hits (preferrably) or when I have a favorable moon phase, I will move in and hunt. He will have to cover a couple of hundred yards to get to me... a tall order for a buck to go that far in THIS AREA.

That being said, he will stage in the direction he wants to go, whether it is because of food or does. The stand set-up I am describing will be my best play for now.