What do your setups look like?

[Edcyclopedia]

Alot of times I will put my stand on the opposite side of the tree the deer are coming from if I feel I am too exposed. (I face the trunk) I spend alot of time standing in this case but I stand most of the time anyway. The trunk really helps conceal. Being right handed I try and pick a tree to the right of the trail I expect them to come out on. Sometimes they come out on a trail where I need to turn around but If you do it slowly, you can get away with it. Then I let them pass my tree before shooting if possible.

X2

[Buckfever]

The issue is whether the buck will see you before he's in the lane. Some of the best setups the actual tree has poor cover but the foreground and background provide complete concealment except in the shooting lane. Those setups are deadly. The best way is to figure the general area where you can kill him. Close enough to kill him yet get to without detection and then when it's not critical get on his trails and from the vantage of the deer figure the set that will let you pull it off. You just got to look at it from the deer's point of view.

Coming from the sorta private to the public and having my handed to me in terms of getting busted, after a while I would just go right to where he picked me off and see exactly what I did wrong and scan just like he did and very quickly see where i could have set just 10 yards over and the foreground would have me completely hidden.

And I suspect that's what Dan means when he says making it work.

[magicman54494]

I have never shot a good buck sitting in a tree without cover. I won't even try any more. Heck, I don't even think I could shoot a doe that way. Height isn't important but a good backdrop or having something in front is.

[PLB]

Having a mobile setup now that's one thing I really concentrated on this season. I hunted out of sets this year I never could before with a climber. I realize its not always possible but even in a junk tree I try to anticipate the shot and exactly where the buck will be before he spots me. I'm always on edge beast style. If you can spot him and get in position before he knows you're there, it's game on!

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[magicman54494]

I spend a huge amount of time picking out the tree. I really walk around and look things over from every angle. I take into account the wind and where I think the deer will come from. Dan's post about "the red zone" is why I do this. It's easy to find a good spot but to close the deal things must be set up perfectly. I like to look for alternate trees for different winds. Very rarely will there be a good tree right where you want one to be.

[dan]

I have never shot a good buck sitting in a tree without cover. I won't even try any more. Heck, I don't even think I could shoot a doe that way. Height isn't important but a good backdrop or having something in front is.

I have had some success on bare lone trees out in the cattails, or in woods without much cover as long as the deer aint coming straight at me staring at me the whole way. But, I have also been busted in that case too.... Point being, you have no choice but to deal with what your given. You can hunt ground, put a step ladder against a bush, or hang a stand, but you only have the options that are given... It sure don't hurt to give it a try if its your only option. Your not going to kill the deer by not hunting him. I have gotten away with bare trees mainly cause I catch the buck by surprise the 1st time I hunt there. If the spot has had previous human encroachment they come in a little more alert, and a little less at ease. 1st strike is important when you don't have ideal set ups.

[JoeRE]

Like others have said I think the most important thing is to be flexible. I have hunted 6' off the ground and I think the highest I set a platform was around 35' from the base of the tree. I learned quickly I couldn't shoot a bow out of that stand on a windy day

Sometimes the best place to be is on the ground. Even with some limitations it be better than a poor selection of trees for stands.

[jonsimoneau]

During the offseason it is often a good idea to get in the tree you will be hunting and add cover to it. I take some tie wire or something and tie it around the tree. Add some pine tree branches and you've got cover. The very best tree I have ever picked out happens to be in a spot where deer move through nearly year round. It also happens to be a pine tree. When I'm in this tree a few times each season I always have close range encounters and have never been busted. I really think a lot of deer see you in the tree either climbing up or just sitting there and you never even know they saw you. Think how easy it is for us to spot a guy in a telephone pole of a tree. Deer can do it too.

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[Schultzy]

No matter what, you have to pick the spot before you pick the tree. Sometimes it's ideal, and sometimes not. Everything's a trade off. I do prefer the cover if I can get it. Lots of my stands there is only 1 or 2 spots I can shoot. If the deer doesn't go there, I lose and that's the risk I take. I never pick a spot just because it's wide open and I can shoot everywhere. I pick where I think the deer will be, and go from there.

Me as well. I do loose out In some pretty great spots though because my yardage and movement Is limited with me shooting a recurve.

[magicman54494]

I have never shot a good buck sitting in a tree without cover. I won't even try any more. Heck, I don't even think I could shoot a doe that way. Height isn't important but a good backdrop or having something in front is.

I have had some success on bare lone trees out in the cattails, or in woods without much cover as long as the deer aint coming straight at me staring at me the whole way. But, I have also been busted in that case too.... Point being, you have no choice but to deal with what your given. You can hunt ground, put a step ladder against a bush, or hang a stand, but you only have the options that are given... It sure don't hurt to give it a try if its your only option. Your not going to kill the deer by not hunting him. I have gotten away with bare trees mainly cause I catch the buck by surprise the 1st time I hunt there. If the spot has had previous human encroachment they come in a little more alert, and a little less at ease. 1st strike is important when you don't have ideal set ups.

I agree with giving it a try and I usually try to hunt from the ground in these cases because the ground brush gives me a shield. I try to get 90 degrees fron the trail and hide behind something that blocks me while he is coming. I have to be ready on these set ups because I can't see them coming in most cases until they are there. Many times there are no trees and I think these older bucks use these places because they don't get pressure there because of the lack of trees.

[Darin]

Good post PredatorTC. Not to get off topic here but I enjoyed watching this thread. I think in season this year we should all post pictures of our setups and explain.

[adrenalin]

I hunt alot of bare tiny trees. Probably more than any other type, you always try to take advantage of the best trees but you can only work with what you have. I shot a buck out of a small dead tamarack tree a few years ago only about 5 ft off the ground. It was a lone tree in some marsh grass with a blow down behind it, so any higher I would of been sky lined. It was a dead, scary, tree and the next weekend I went back out there and it had fallen down.

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[Czabs]

Early season is fairly easy to get away with not getting busted because there is cover everywhere, and I usually see the bigger bucks where there is the most cover. When the leaves start falling, If I'm going in on a run and gun sit...I find the spot where I think the buck is coming from and will be when I shoot him. Then I try to find any trees with cover (LOVE CEDARS) and try to make them work. If thats not the case, I will setup similiar to what Spy said only with 1 or 2 shooting lanes and I usually always sit on the backside of a tree or off to the side where I can hide before I shoot him. With bare trees sitting with your stand perpendicular to where you suspect the deer to come from is a big no no for me. I get busted every time....

I try to prepare for a two man sit also with a cameraman as Todd mentioned earlier...SO much tougher to get 2 blobs of crap in little spindly tree than one. If its not possible for me to get two I will have to resort to filming myself, as I do quite often even on two man trees.

I started my scouting this last weekend, but with this snow were getting I'll have to wait...dont want anyone following my tracks and a lot tougher walking. Every setup this year I'm having a plan of attack, entrance, exit, wind direction, marked on GPS, and logged. I will also be taking notes (how many sticks, only setup when in high wind or a light rain, etc) and pictures of every setup so I remember what it looks like and marking on my pictures where I want to setup the hunter, the cameraman, and the camera arm base/camera. This will help on those mornings when you bring a cameraman in the woods and he hasn't been to the setup before. If you show him pictures beforehand he will have somewhat of a clue on where to put the camera and where he will be sitting, making the morning setup in the dark much more hassle free.

I will post some pictures of some of my setups in the next couple of months...I only have 3 setups with pictures right that I got from this last Sunday, but I will have A TON more by winter/spring end.

[PK_]

I hunt a lot of terrible trees and can't remember the last time I was busted by sight. Actually I can, a button buck was directly below my stand licking his back looking directly at me for almost a minute before he realize I didn't belong there.

Some guys I feel are too married to trees with cover, I hunt the tree that gives me the best possible shot. Of course I will take cover if it's available though.

If I could have a photo of me in all of the worst trees I have hunted most guys would be laughing and probably think I don't have much luck. Truth is those kind of trees have brought me a lot of great hunts.

[BigHunt]

Opening day , set up on a suspected buck using a bed i found during the winter scouting season....4-5 feet off ground , just high enough to shoot over cattails







the bed



this night i didnt see the buck but had a small doe come by. she looked right at me for about 5 seconds but with good camo and little cover she didnt think much of it and slowly moved on staging on dogwood.