Public Portable Success / Failure

[Singing Bridge]

Public Land Beast and I were thinking about the various cause / effect factors that impacted our successes and failures on public land when we are using portable setups. I'm interested in learning from others what worked and what failed... and the reason you believe it was so. By portable hunting I am referring to taking your stand and or sticks, etc. into the field and back out each day while hunting public land.

What are you using for your portable public land stand set-ups? Was it successful and why? If it failed what was the reason, in your opinion? Many times failures can help us learn more than successes. Thoughts?

[JJWI]

When I started to hunt public areas, I was using a climber. (old Lone Wolf V bar). It got me in to some great locations, but it limited to mature straight trees. Deer in these areas will come out of the swamps in to the timber and first thing they do is look up and spot you. Or they would stage just inside the tags. I shot quite a few deer with that set up, but it really limited to what you sat in. A couple of years ago, I switched over to an Assault and climibing sticks. You can get that set up in any tree! Which will get you in to trouble. With it able to get in to anything, I have a tendency to be to close to the beds and end up spooking the buck while I am setting up. I got a lot better at it, I just have to learn to move on from an area if the target deer isn't in that section. But since I started using the sticks and hang ons, my ratio of getting in to deer verses not seeing anything has gone up. I think I only went 3 or 4 sits without seeing anything last year and that is a 4 hunts a week average. But my best sits were always the hang and hunt sits. Definately helps when you can move around and the deer can't get you patterned!

[Singing Bridge]

FAILURE-

The day had started off very well and I was stoked... midmorning I cut one of my target buck's tracks crossing a tiny creek just a couple of hundred yards away from and pointing right at one of the buck's primary and favorite beds. He was a real horse and I couldn't help but pump my fist and think to myself... "I've got you now!"

After lunch I stalked in with my LW Alpha and sticks on my back. This wasn't going to be easy, as the tree I planned to use was just over 50 yards from the bed. The cover was incredibly thick, so noise was going to be my primary enemy here. I made it to the tree and things had been quiet and uneventful- I mentally told myself I had pulled it off. Still, you can never help but wonder "Is he really in there?" I unpacked my sticks / stand / gear as quietly as I could. Over the next twenty minutes I put the stand up as quietly as I could. As I stood on the ground for the final time, all I had left to do was one more silent ascent into the stand to begin hunting. I turned to face my sticks and unknowingly stepped onto a cedar root jutting just above the ground... and it had rained earlier that day. That boot rocketed, and I mean it was like an Apollo Space launch, off to the side. My balance was thrown completely off, and as I tried to recover all I managed to do was a five-step, sideways shuffle into the blown down and dead top of a cedar tree...

CRASH!! SMASH!! THUD!!

I remember staring upward at the sky when I heard a lone and mighty "SNOOOOORT!!" followed by a HUGE deer crashing through deep swamp and vacating the area... all my work had been for nothing.

Why did I fail? In hindsight, a couple of different reasons:

I had begun to relax, as all of the work and hard part had appeared to be over. My stand and sticks were up and I remember feeling relieved that I had pulled it off without scaring the buck. I wasn't mentally alert and as focused as I had been just a minute earlier... I should have planned that fateful step before I took it, recognizing and remembering from past experience that the top of a wet root can be like ice. A simple momentary lapse had cost me big...

[PLB]

Failure!!
I had used a LW hand climber and sit and climb for years. 4 years ago was my first time using the Alpha and Sticks mobile set up. I walked down a logging road that leads to a campsite near a lake. I found a great looking spot and proceeded to set up in a pine tree. I started setting the sticks one by one and couldn't get them tight I didn't realize you had to push down and seat them So here I am climbing up these sticks that are loose and slipping and making noise I start hanging the stand and couldn't get the stand tight Didn't know about cam locking or lifting up on platform and pulling strap tight again So the stand was basically resting on top of a large limb. That was all that was basically holding me up I hunted that evening and the next morning out of it and never used it again. I hunted from my climber after that. I sold that set up after the season. Now with the help of dan's videos and this site and all the tips and tricks I've learned from forum members, I'm ready to hunt mobile again for 2012. I have been practicing with my setup and it is much easier for me then the greenhorn I was back in 2008 Also the LW instructional videos and some on You Tube have been helpful. I almost forgot:: If you would have seen me carrying that setup in you would have laughed your but off I didn't know how the sticks packed together the right way and they were clanking and hanging off the stand the whole way in I felt idiot My advice would be PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!!!!!!!!!!

[Singing Bridge]

I'm practicing getting my stand and sticks up without noise- it makes a difference when the season opens and it is also an equipment check for me- it let's me get the bugs out before season. PLB is on the money with practicing the routine before season.

[ Post made via Android ]

[Singing Bridge]

When I started to hunt public areas, I was using a climber. (old Lone Wolf V bar). It got me in to some great locations, but it limited to mature straight trees. Deer in these areas will come out of the swamps in to the timber and first thing they do is look up and spot you. Or they would stage just inside the tags. I shot quite a few deer with that set up, but it really limited to what you sat in. A couple of years ago, I switched over to an Assault and climibing sticks. You can get that set up in any tree! Which will get you in to trouble. With it able to get in to anything, I have a tendency to be to close to the beds and end up spooking the buck while I am setting up. I got a lot better at it, I just have to learn to move on from an area if the target deer isn't in that section. But since I started using the sticks and hang ons, my ratio of getting in to deer verses not seeing anything has gone up. I think I only went 3 or 4 sits without seeing anything last year and that is a 4 hunts a week average. But my best sits were always the hang and hunt sits. Definately helps when you can move around and the deer can't get you patterned!

Great post JJ- when I first began mobile and portable hunting near buck beds I always ended up being too aggressive as well. A little too close, so to speak. Like you, I got better at seeing what I could get away with- when to push it and when to back off a bit.

[Singing Bridge]

Success... Barely!

I had successfully put up my LW stand and sticks and was in place just off of a buck bed that had produced for me in the past. This particular bed normally held a two year old, but sometimes a three year old on the heavy pressure Michigan public land. I was messing with my harness connection and dropped it against the stand, making a clank that was unmistakable. I knew the buck was bedded only 75 yards from me and would be watching my way intently, listening. I wouldn't normally do this, but I grabbed my grunt call and issued two soft grunts- each one in an opposite direction to add some confusion to it. I put the call away and was mentally kicking myself for the screw up. It was a calm evening, and less than two minutes after grunting I heard a small twig snap in the bedding area. Whoa! Game on, folks... this cover is very thick, and I would not be able to see the buck until he was on top of me, if at all. Several minutes passed before I heard the soft snap of a twig off to my side... "what the" I remember thinking. Putting the two locations together, I realized I likely had a buck that had left the bedding area and was circling downwind of my position to verify what he had heard. I never heard another sound, but several minutes later I saw a nose, half a rack and an eyeball peak out at me straight downwind from 45 yards!! I found an opening in the fir tree that showed me the bucks front shoulder, before sending a 160 grain Nosler Partition through the small hole... tag filled with a heavy pressure 8 pointer.

Would I do the same thing again? Probably not! But honestly it would depend on the circumstances. We have so much hunting pressure around here that bucks get honked at continuously by grunt calls... it is often a bad idea. But if the circumstances were right, and my instinct said give it a go... I think the limited grunts (two) with each in a different direction, also very soft and realistic, very short... did the trick. But again, the circumstances would have to be just so...

[GRUD]

The portable and sticks takes a bit of work to set up, it gets easier as you use them and practice. I have killed lots of deer on public and private with portables, climbers, ground blinds, and just standing in a creek or tall weeds. Getting into position undetected is one thing but erecting a stand is another! Indiana legalized crossbow this year so in some of those tight spots that I want to get really close, I plan to just stalk in to 40-50 yards and quietly sit down by a tree. It's a neat new option I think. I much rather like hunting with a vertical bow but for close quarters, not having to draw, it is a huge advantage.

Back to the portable setup, main thing I have learned is to go out extra early and not be in any kind of hurry. If your getting out late, a climber is much quicker to set up.

[Singing Bridge]

Back to the portable setup, main thing I have learned is to go out extra early and not be in any kind of hurry. If your getting out late, a climber is much quicker to set up.

That's a great point- getting out early lets you take your time and be extra quiet with getting your stand in place. Any time you have to hurry the odds of you making noise and getting picked off go way up.

[Troutking]

On my sticks I recently purchased the stealth strips from Uncle Lou and installed them. Tonight was the first time I used the sticks since I covered them with stealth strips, big difference. Definately a positive for the mobile hunter

[Brad]

On my sticks I recently purchased the stealth strips from Uncle Lou and installed them. Tonight was the first time I used the sticks since I covered them with stealth strips, big difference. Definately a positive for the mobile hunter

X2, that makes a huge difference. I did my sticks but neglected to do my cam buckles on my stand, camera arm, and sticks. After two hunts I realized I needed to do it because it was the weak link, all the noise was coming from them buckles. It took me 3 hours to do but I measured and cut out all the pieces and did 4 sticks, a camera arm strap, Assassin Strap and of course my Alpha strap. If you bumped them before it made a clank, now its a dull thud like wood on wood.

I also agree on getting there early, I have been going in at 3 and I want to start going in at 10 or 11 so i have all the time in the world to get there. It wasnt as important on the private land because I knew where I wanted to go ahead of time, but on public a lot of it is going to be scouting and setting up on what I find the moment I find it. I have been so much stealthier simply because I am not in a hurry, if I crunch a stick I just stop for 3 or 4 minutes before moving on. If it takes an hour to go 50 feet, oh well.

[stikman]

I messed up scouting this year, severely underestimated where other hunters would be willing to go in my local marsh. Also, failed to realize they'd be out in full force during the middle of the week right off the start. I've been off all week bowhunting my scouted areas I've been watching since Spring. I've transitioned into going into new areas all together, the more remote the better!
Here's an example:
Yesterday afternoon's hunt I headed in portable with the Lone Wolf on my back ready to hunt. I simply walked the transition from cattails to timber keeping the wind in my favor as much as possible. Based on my aerial photo scouting I had a good feeling I'd stumble on at least one buck bedding area along this particular transition of points and bowls. After sneaking through the muck and stick infested edge(remaining as silent as humanly possible) for quite a while, I found several trails and one perfectly positioned (but empty) buck bed. This bed was positioned about 40 yards down wind of a major doe trail intersection. It was 4pm so I decided to find a tree and settle in for the evening. It took 40 minutes but I managed to find a tree and get myself settled in nice and quiet. A couple hours later, with 20 minutes of light remaining I heard the deer coming and spotted one, then a couple more pretty fast. The first, what I thought was a yearling, cut my shooting lane at 29 yards then stopped, headed back through the lane a second time. She then turned around and went through it again only this time angling towards me. As she got closer I realized this was a 1.5 year old doe, not a yearling(which I would have taken for the freezer had I realized it earlier). She proceeded to walk directly to my tree and browsed under me until well after closing time. I was "trapped" until O-DARK-THIRTY. She was so close I could hear her chewing. She finally got around far enough and cut my track. She didn't spook bad, but hopped back 10 feet or so and slowly picked her way back where she came from originally. It was a great feeling, despite no arrows flying, sneaking in and setting up and then having deer at point blank.

[Stanley]

Great thread.

[NatureBoy]

In most of the areas I hunt, LW sticks are more of liability than an asset. They catch and get hung up on the thick, gnarly brush I have to get through. I learned that to be successful hunting mobile setups on public or private, I had to ditch the sticks. Sometimes that means hunting from the ground in a ghillie or behind a tree or blowdown.

Example: One year, I just couldn't get on the deer. Acorns weren't dropping, hunting pressure was screwy and I wasn't seeing the deer in the normal spots. I went in early one AM with my flashlight and found fresh sign and set up behind a tree. A doe came by a little after sunup at 15 yards and I was able to drill her clean.

Sometimes I pack in my climb paws along with my LW Assault. They do take a little longer to set up than the sticks, but are truly silent from start to finish and I can literally get into ANY tree I want to. The extra effort is worth it to me. At times my LW Hand Climber is the way to go, especially when time is limited. That thing is fast and I can be fully set up and settled in in 5 minutes. But I have to know that the area I'm going in to supports it's use fully.

Great thread SB.

[stikman]

Today I yielded the public land to someone following me. I'm home early from my Friday evening hunt if that's any indication that it was a failure. I was surprised to find nobody in the parking lot when I arrived, and so I was a bit excited as I applied face paint and suited up. Strapped on the LW and headed to the transition line I wanted to follow and hunt along this evening. After nearly an hour of sneaking through the muck, c-tails and maples I heard a ton of noise coming from my 6 o'clock. The tell tale breaking of sticks and nearly rhythmic cadence screamed human. Two slurps in the mud and I was certain. I stepped behind a cluster of trees and spotted the fellow 150 or so yards away...hurrying into "the spot" I imagine but following my path none the less. I didn't waste any time as I knew the area I was going to wasn't far enough away now, I decided to back out. I continued on my path quietly for a bit then altered my course. Looping wide and back up into the highland I found my way back to the lot. I considered my night foiled from another guy, but thought, as I slid my bow back into it's case, he's just trying to do the same thing I am.