Picking the right tree

[mheichelbech]

I don't see this talked about much but I think it's a critical piece in closing the deal on a buck....how do you go about picking the best tree...what are the key factors you look for and help you to judge where is best to place your stand. Ideally this would be a tree that the hunter can use more than once in a season....

For me:

1) am I planning to hunt the spot more than once? If not I am not as concerned with distance from the trail or my entry/exit as long as they wont cross my entry trail before getting to my tree.
If I am hunting it more than once (most of my spots), the tree should be such that I can get in and out with the minimum amount of scent going to where the deer will be traveling at ANY time. Also, I don't want the stand too close to the trails...I feel like a lot of scent is out down in the set up process with gear in the ground, sweating, etc. I like to be at 20 yards and on an upslope from the trail if possible.

I like to find trees with lots of natural cover and especially having other trees right next to me to hide behind if possible.
I like to face the deer if at all possible.
I always as much as possible try to brush in my stand, even if I am taking it with me...sticking some limbs in the gaps or attaching them to a screw in bow holder, the kind with the long arms...I try to buy them post season on sale and leave them in the tree if I am in a place that I can. I also will maneuver tree limbs using pieces of rope to better conceal me.
If it is a setup I'm doing in the spring time I cut every shooting lane imaginable. I carry my climbing sticks when scouting to get up the tree and visualize every shooting lane I might need and cut, cut, cut.
If it is a setup in or near season I try to pick a tree that requires less cutting or I cut as few as lanes as I absolutely have to have and I always take the branches out or I tie them up in the tree for concealment when I hang my stand.

Sometimes the tree I pick..the deer just seem to be able to pick me off...not sure why but if this is the case I move to a different tree next time even if it is 3-4 weeks later which is how long I try to go between spots unless it's hot action and the deer don't seem to be detecting my presence. Some trees they never see me and some trees they seem to look right at me...not sure why this occurs unless it's a quick setup in a telephone pole type tree.
Most of my setups are on small properties of 50 acres or less so the ability to get in quickly, quietly and leaving as little scent are critical, honestly I don't have the time or energy (or maybe I'm just lazy) to find places that are an hours drive away and a mile walk in....I am willing to suffer the consequences of that but I think the above tactics help me to have success.
most of my stands are on from food to bed or bed to food type route but as close to bedding as I think I can get. That's the most important thing I've learned here is you have to know where the beds (active) are and get as close as you can.
Any other ideas, tips, etc. for picking the right killing tree?

One other thing, I don't particularly like spots where deer will be standing around for any length of time unless it's the rut. This enhances the chance of getting picked off or scented. However, when Hunting a buck that's not usually where I'd be anyway.

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[tmarbut]

You make some really good points in here that will influence how I do my post season scouting. Most of my spots are also small parcels, many bordering neighborhoods. I feel the single best tree is vital, especially in smaller parcels.

Question: what are you using to 'brush-in' your stand set-ups?

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[PK_]

This is a good question, picking the right tree for bow hunting is the difference between a buck down and another story and lesson learned.

When I am moving in to pick a tree I am envisioning every possible route a deer could take through that spot and I am in the tree with the most shooting and best position for wind. You have to be able to see the shooting lanes and angles from where the deer will be to where your stand will be all from the ground without tromping all around. Make sure you are at the right height to maximize shooting lanes, don't just go as high as you can, because you can. Keep your eyes open while hanging the stand. Sometimes things look very different than you anticipated, once I have a couple sticks up, before I hang my stand I scan the area for a better tree nearby, move if you need to right then.

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viewtopic.php?f=3&t=32824&hilit=Shooting&view=unread#unread

[mheichelbech]

You make some really good points in here that will influence how I do my post season scouting. Most of my spots are also small parcels, many bordering neighborhoods. I feel the single best tree is vital, especially in smaller parcels.

Question: what are you using to 'brush-in' your stand set-ups?

[ Post made via iPhone ]

I have one property that backs up to a neighborhood, trespassers are a pressure problem by the way.

For brushing in I do 2 things....if possible I cut branches from the tree I'm in (get set up early!) or I might cut some in the walk in if possible without messing up my hunt. I also have found artificial branches online. I got lucky and found some at pier one of all places but they don't seem to have them anymore. Some guys use artificial Xmas tree branches but I only use these if Hunting in an evergreen type tree.
I still haven't found the ideal option for attaching anything to my stand...there are some out there but they are expensive and still not as flexible for placement as I'd like. To attach branches I use various things, clamps, those bendable rubber twist ties work well for securing a branch to an extendable bow holder which is one of my favorite options as you can place where you need it to hide your head and provide background cover.
I realize all this stuff may not be "beast mode" style hunting but I don't hunt that way all the time. For me it's about 50:50.
By the way I always carry a pair of pruning snips with me. Not only to cut branches but a lot of times while in the stand I will see deer take an unanticipated route or maybe I missed a small branch somewhere that provides a good shooting lane.
It seems to me that the ability to pick the right tree comes largely from experience. I've been as much as 50-100 yards off from where I needed to be. You have to be flexible and realize when adjustments are needed.
I've also found through the use of trail cams, the plot watcher type cam especially, that 100 yards or less even, can be the differences between seeing no deer and seeing your buck or seeing a lot of deer. Especially when hunting areas where deer tend to roam around and are not funneled to specific trails.
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[wickedbruiser]

Right tree for me in small pocket woods is a tree that I can get HIGH (25ft) or with extremely good back cover. I have seen deer looking up into trees for danger as they navigate through.

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[whitetailassasin]

As long as the wind is right, thermals in my favor, and the buck I'm hunting can't get to a position where I'm located is compromised, the tree doesn't matter to me what it looks like, I've sat bean poles, four trees, lots of cover, high, low, you name it. As long as I'm positioned where the buck I'm hunting doesn't get my scent before he comes by for a shot, I'm hunting the tree with the best shot opportunity. I use the cover around or what I have best and make it work. Sit still and remain ready. That could be higher than 20, lower than 20ft. I stopped worrying about locating the perfect tree but instead locating the perfect kill location. This is my opinion.

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[BassBoysLLP]

As long as the wind is right, thermals in my favor, and the buck I'm hunting can't get to a position where I'm located is compromised, the tree doesn't matter to me what it looks like, I've sat bean poles, four trees, lots of cover, high, low, you name it. As long as I'm positioned where the buck I'm hunting doesn't get my scent before he comes by for a shot, I'm hunting the tree with the best shot opportunity. I use the cover around or what I have best and make it work. Sit still and remain ready. That could be higher than 20, lower than 20ft. I stopped worrying about locating the perfect tree but instead locating the perfect kill location. This is my opinion.

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This.

Sometimes there is too much to cover this way though. In this case, I pick "the" tree...the one that covers it all. This is where I'm relying on extreme scent control. Laugh at it if you want, but you only need seconds.

[mheichelbech]

As long as the wind is right, thermals in my favor, and the buck I'm hunting can't get to a position where I'm located is compromised, the tree doesn't matter to me what it looks like, I've sat bean poles, four trees, lots of cover, high, low, you name it. As long as I'm positioned where the buck I'm hunting doesn't get my scent before he comes by for a shot, I'm hunting the tree with the best shot opportunity. I use the cover around or what I have best and make it work. Sit still and remain ready. That could be higher than 20, lower than 20ft. I stopped worrying about locating the perfect tree but instead locating the perfect kill location. This is my opinion.

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That is what the post is about.

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[whitetailassasin]

As long as the wind is right, thermals in my favor, and the buck I'm hunting can't get to a position where I'm located is compromised, the tree doesn't matter to me what it looks like, I've sat bean poles, four trees, lots of cover, high, low, you name it. As long as I'm positioned where the buck I'm hunting doesn't get my scent before he comes by for a shot, I'm hunting the tree with the best shot opportunity. I use the cover around or what I have best and make it work. Sit still and remain ready. That could be higher than 20, lower than 20ft. I stopped worrying about locating the perfect tree but instead locating the perfect kill location. This is my opinion.

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That is what the post is about.

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I'm sorry I'm confused at your response? Please elaborate for me?

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[dan]

While scouting I usually pick several trees at each ambush... Often, I end up in a different tree every time I hunt a spot cause I set up on what the deer are doing exactly when I hunt. Or based on time of year, and how much green cover is between me and the bedded deer.

Wind also dictates which side of the trail, and which tree I will be in... In some terrains, and some set ups it can be difficult to find more than one tree. If thats the case then a guy has to wait for the right wind / right day...

Cover will also dictate where exactly I sit, or how high, and again, that changes as it gets later in the season. I like to be about 18 feet high, but the deers vision from the bed, and the cover in the tree (like a crotch or back cover) is also a deciding factor.

I rarely brush in my stands, and rarely get picked off. I want my stand clear of obstructions and I want to be able to shoot deer that wander behind me, or offer an un expected shot with nothing in my way. Deer do notice me occasionally in bean pole trees, but as long as I don't move when they look at me, they usually go back to what they were doing. On the few occasions I have had deer see me and bust, if its a shooter I draw when they run. They generally take two bounds, stop and look back. That has cost more than one deer its life.

honestly I don't have the time or energy (or maybe I'm just lazy) to find places that are an hours drive away and a mile walk in....I am willing to suffer the consequences of that but I think the above tactics help me to have success.

I think this might be a big reason why your getting picked off, an not seeing mature bucks... Your putting so much pressure on that one small property that the deer know they are being hunted and the ones that are coming out in daylight are coming out on edge looking for you... The element of surprise is gone.

I like to be about 18 yards from the shot, but may be further if I am hunting higher... I fin d if deer get within 10 yards they are just to in tune with everything around them and you can't get away with drawing, moving, or much of anything.

I always try to set up facing the incoming deer. I take the 1st good shot offered. I like to access without crossing the trail. If I have to, I like to do a loop in the direction away from where the deer are coming from so they don't smell me till after a shot has been offered. If I am expecting bucks from both directions (rut usually) I cross the trail in a shooting lane... Bucks will respond differently to running into your scent trail, some ignore, some stop and smell and move on, some turn around and walk back to where they came from, and some become very alert. But most will stop and smell your scent trail or walk past it giving you a shot if its in your lane.

[mheichelbech]

As long as the wind is right, thermals in my favor, and the buck I'm hunting can't get to a position where I'm located is compromised, the tree doesn't matter to me what it looks like, I've sat bean poles, four trees, lots of cover, high, low, you name it. As long as I'm positioned where the buck I'm hunting doesn't get my scent before he comes by for a shot, I'm hunting the tree with the best shot opportunity. I use the cover around or what I have best and make it work. Sit still and remain ready. That could be higher than 20, lower than 20ft. I stopped worrying about locating the perfect tree but instead locating the perfect kill location. This is my opinion.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

That is what the post is about.

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I'm sorry I'm confused at your response? Please elaborate for me?

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For everyone to see what each of us does and compare that to our current tactics and make the appropriate adjustments.

For example, Dan's post about me overhunting one of my spots is unfortunately true. At the same time he helps to confirm some of the things I am doing....approach to the stand, etc.

One critical thing that has cost me is when there are multiple avenues a buck can take is how do you pick the right killing tree? As an example, I was hunting during the rut this year, I sat over a trail I expected the buck to take (parallel to doe trails). Well he took that trail but broke off about 50 yards before getting to me and followed a creek. I am sure he didn't see me or smell me, and he had tracks on the trails I was set up over. I did not notice that he also had tracks following the creek...not even sure I could have noticed given this was a first time sit for the season at this spot however, it made me wonder if a better hunter like a lot of you guys are, would have set up in a different tree and been able to get that shot.....I was 50 yards off....
THIS IS THE KIND OF BRAINPICKING I'D LIKE TO DO....how does a hunter pick the tree that will give him a shot the first time? Brushing in, what kind of tree, how much cover, etc. is unimportant if you don't pick the tree that provides the shot. Certainly a hunter can adjust but we all know the first sit is the best chance. When you look at an area that you believe a mature buck will walk through, when he has more than one trail to take and you can't cover all of them, how do you pick the right trail? My belief is that some of you guys (like Dan, etc.) consistently pick the right trail or trails to shoot to whereas I do not consistently do so. Obviously tracks, rubs, etc. are a good giveaway but this type sign is not always easily discernable. Is it just experience and gut feel or are there specific things you look for?

[dan]

Reading your last response I have a comment... You may have noticed I said I am often in a different tree than anticipated... I think one of the key things to my set ups is that I really push the envelope as close as I can. The further back you are, the more can go wrong, or the bigger chance the target changes direction.

Most of the time if the target shows, its exactly where I expect him.

[whitetailassasin]

As I read your response, it seems to me you need to know the deers tendencies first and how they use the area. How I pick my trees, has to do with me KNOWING a buck is passing by a kill location. I'm not guessing. And you mentioned something about in the rut a bucks movements. That can be very tough to predict. They go where the scent takes them, and so many factors can change their routes if they come across any of them before you. To me previous years hunting and also scouting and sitting observation stands give you the intel needed to make the decision of what tree to sit. As well as early spring scouting. Understanding how the deer move through the area and why is more important question you need to ask yourself than what tree to pick. Once you know the answer to that, finding the tree will be like a light going off. I don't know if I believe in better hunters, as much as I do more prepared hunters. My example is some people are ocd(my opinion these types make great hunters) some are lazy, some do a little but not enough. It's the ones willing to go the extra mile, the extra step, leaving no stone unturned that are the ones that will reap the rewards. Like Bucky said in his podcast you can read it all day long here, but until it translates by what you see and experience in the woods, it's all just information. How you use it determines the payoff.

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[Buckfever]

I am very good at getting within 20-30 yards of where I need to be, but I usually can make 1 or 2 adjustments to further stack the odds. I would say just make sure that you consider the setup from the vantage of the deer so that you don't get picked off before the shot opportunity. Especially on the public. If you're back lit they'll pick you off 50-60 yards away easy. And with that in mind don't go doing a lot of trimming. Make sure you can make a shot but that's it, don't go mucking it up before you know that's the tree. Once you know then post season go in there clean up the lanes and the entrance route.

The exception though is if you got beat. If your target buck picks you off. Stop hunting, mark where he was, get down and get over there. Identify what mistake you made. Walk his trail and scan. Where do you need to be? This is how I started beating bucks on public. Biggest lesson learned. Doesn't matter if the tree has cover if they can't see you till it's too late. You start picking trees and setting the stand height based on the foreground and background cover, you start killing deer.

[DeerDylan]

As I read your response, it seems to me you need to know the deers tendencies first and how they use the area. How I pick my trees, has to do with me KNOWING a buck is passing by a kill location. I'm not guessing. And you mentioned something about in the rut a bucks movements. That can be very tough to predict. They go where the scent takes them, and so many factors can change their routes if they come across any of them before you. To me previous years hunting and also scouting and sitting observation stands give you the intel needed to make the decision of what tree to sit. As well as early spring scouting. Understanding how the deer move through the area and why is more important question you need to ask yourself than what tree to pick. Once you know the answer to that, finding the tree will be like a light going off. I don't know if I believe in better hunters, as much as I do more prepared hunters. My example is some people are ocd(my opinion these types make great hunters) some are lazy, some do a little but not enough. It's the ones willing to go the extra mile, the extra step, leaving no stone unturned that are the ones that will reap the rewards. Like Bucky said in his podcast you can read it all day long here, but until it translates by what you see and experience in the woods, it's all just information. How you use it determines the payoff.

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Great post.

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