Setting up

[whitetailassasin]

I've been thinking again, and listening to guys talk about aspects of becoming a better hunter. Many new comers talk about setting up. What tree? How quiet? Is there a system? How slow do you approach? How slow do you set up? What way to face? So many questions related to set up. Even entrance and exit strategies. I know we had a thread on entrance exit, so I would like to ask some of the more seasoned hunters and mobile guys to share some of there ways they set up. It's getting closer to that time, and I think many could benefit from this.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Hawthorne]

One thing I remember Dan talk about was how he walked into his stand site. Watching every spot where your gonna put your next step. I tried it last year and I got very close to bedded deer. There's always a gap in the leafs, a rock , a root , a large dead branch to put your next step. I could walk thru dry woods doing this quietly .Just have to move super slow that last 100-200 yds to your stand. I like to set up facing the trail or have it angled to my right because I'm a right handed shooter. Set up I put my stand and sticks on slow and quiet. I'm not to concerned getting set up quick has long has I'm quiet and not making noise. I think alot of hunters are to fast and in to much of a hurry.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Kokes]

Hawthorne is bang on and WTA spoke on this topic on podcast #10 he did a very good job I'd check out the podcast for sure.
Singing bridge also mentioned in his podcast using cover noise when moving/setting up so using the sound of a passing plane or car when making a move etc. Very good points for sure.

[ Post made via Android ]

[Twenty Up]

Do y'all change shoes/boots when getting close? Is there any preference in footwear when hunting beds?

The reason I ask is because my UA H.A.W's can be difficult to maneuver through the twigs and leaves which leaves me sounds like a freight train through the woods. I feel like I'm busting my opportunities before even reaching my trees...

[Hawthorne]

Do y'all change shoes/boots when getting close? Is there any preference in footwear when hunting beds?

The reason I ask is because my UA H.A.W's can be difficult to maneuver through the twigs and leaves which leaves me sounds like a freight train through the woods. I feel like I'm busting my opportunities before even reaching my trees...

A very good shoe to wear are chuck Taylor converse if it's warm. They have a very thin rubber sole you can feel the ground well. I heard they make camo ones now. I wear them early season

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Wlog]

First I'll address being quiet. Getting to the tree is the first step. Once I'm within 200 yards or so, I approach my tree like I'm stalking it. I'm avoiding snapping twigs, splashing through water, making suction noises in deep mud, etc. I take a few steps, stop, look, listen and scan out in front of me. As I get closer to the tree, I'm checking the wind and confirming that it's doing what I think it's doing incase I need to adjust my route to the tree. I'm also looking at which exact path I'm going to take that will have the least obstructions and still keep me from walking where I expect the deer to walk.
So now let's say I'm 50 yards from my tree. At this point I'm looking at potential trees. As I move forward I'm pausing to look at the available shooting lanes, the tree canopy and of course taking notice of any deer sign or lack of. Even if I've hunted or scouted or prepped the area, a lot of times I haven't stepped foot in that area in six months or more. Things change...trees fall down, limbs snap off, trails go over. The deer could be walking through a little different then they were when you scouted it. You have to identify that before you pick your tree. Five yards could make all the difference. I can't count how many times I've gotten to a spot and thought, "Aww man, that trees not going to work out the way I thought." If you don't figure that out while your still a good distance back you might walk straight to the original tree and now you have to cross a trail you don't want to, to get in the right tree.

So let's say now I've narrowed it down to THE TREE. I'm trying to determine the exact spot on the tree I'm goi g to place the stand. Is there a crooked spot, is there a limb that will hit my arm when I draw. Best case scenario you e figured out potential problems with the tree before you decided on that one but sometimes you get to the tree and it's like "oh crap I didn't realize it was that crooked", or in my case "oh no there's a huge poison ivy vine". Sometimes you get there and it's not as good of a tree as you thought but you have to just make it work.

Ok so which way should the stand face? Ideally I like my setups to be 15-25 yards from the most likely runway I expect the deer to move through. Too close makes it tough to get drawn without being noticed and if they end up really close or right under you it creates a bad angle. Too far is bad for the obvious reasons. I can shoot a 3-d target at 70 yards no problem, but a live mature buck is a different story. I like to face directly towards where the deer should be coming from so I don't have to move around a lot to see the buck before he see's me. If you can picture the letter "Y", with the deer traveling on the bottom of the "Y" and the split being the shooting lanes to my left and right. Again, this would be my ideal scenario. I do sometimes setup perpendicular to expected deer travel with the stand facing towards likely shooting lanes.

Going up the tree is the time when you're most vulnerable. You're making a lot of movement and potentially noise if you make a mistake or drop something. This is the time when you could easily blow the whole hunt before it starts. Everyone who's been using there preferred mobile setup can probably be up a tree in ten minutes but that doesn't mean speed is your friend. The faster you go the more likely you are to make noise or fumble something. Be slow and deliberate when you are close to bedded deer. If you think there is a possibility you could get picked off by your target deer or a satellite deer, conceal your movements as much as possible. Move when the wind blows or an airplane flys over, a car goes down the road or the farmer is making another pass on the tractor. Be sure your bow ropes not wrapped up in briars or anything that's going to cause you to have to go down and make an unnecessary trip.

Lastly, I trim as little as possible. I really try to only cut stuff that prevents me from getting the bow drawn. I setup as high or low as necessary to maximize shot opportunities. Any equipment or gear that makes noise or is t streamlined enough gets eliminated or repaired ASAP.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Hawthorne]

First I'll address being quiet. Getting to the tree is the first step. Once I'm within 200 yards or so, I approach my tree like I'm stalking it. I'm avoiding snapping twigs, splashing through water, making suction noises in deep mud, etc. I take a few steps, stop, look, listen and scan out in front of me. As I get closer to the tree, I'm checking the wind and confirming that it's doing what I think it's doing incase I need to adjust my route to the tree. I'm also looking at which exact path I'm going to take that will have the least obstructions and still keep me from walking where I expect the deer to walk.
So now let's say I'm 50 yards from my tree. At this point I'm looking at potential trees. As I move forward I'm pausing to look at the available shooting lanes, the tree canopy and of course taking notice of any deer sign or lack of. Even if I've hunted or scouted or prepped the area, a lot of times I haven't stepped foot in that area in six months or more. Things change...trees fall down, limbs snap off, trails go over. The deer could be walking through a little different then they were when you scouted it. You have to identify that before you pick your tree. Five yards could make all the difference. I can't count how many times I've gotten to a spot and thought, "Aww man, that trees not going to work out the way I thought." If you don't figure that out while your still a good distance back you might walk straight to the original tree and now you have to cross a trail you don't want to, to get in the right tree.

So let's say now I've narrowed it down to THE TREE. I'm trying to determine the exact spot on the tree I'm goi g to place the stand. Is there a crooked spot, is there a limb that will hit my arm when I draw. Best case scenario you e figured out potential problems with the tree before you decided on that one but sometimes you get to the tree and it's like "oh crap I didn't realize it was that crooked", or in my case "oh no there's a huge poison ivy vine". Sometimes you get there and it's not as good of a tree as you thought but you have to just make it work.

Ok so which way should the stand face? Ideally I like my setups to be 15-25 yards from the most likely runway I expect the deer to move through. Too close makes it tough to get drawn without being noticed and if they end up really close or right under you it creates a bad angle. Too far is bad for the obvious reasons. I can shoot a 3-d target at 70 yards no problem, but a live mature buck is a different story. I like to face directly towards where the deer should be coming from so I don't have to move around a lot to see the buck before he see's me. If you can picture the letter "Y", with the deer traveling on the bottom of the "Y" and the split being the shooting lanes to my left and right. Again, this would be my ideal scenario. I do sometimes setup perpendicular to expected deer travel with the stand facing towards likely shooting lanes.

Going up the tree is the time when you're most vulnerable. You're making a lot of movement and potentially noise if you make a mistake or drop something. This is the time when you could easily blow the whole hunt before it starts. Everyone who's been using there preferred mobile setup can probably be up a tree in ten minutes but that doesn't mean speed is your friend. The faster you go the more likely you are to make noise or fumble something. Be slow and deliberate when you are close to bedded deer. If you think there is a possibility you could get picked off by your target deer or a satellite deer, conceal your movements as much as possible. Move when the wind blows or an airplane flys over, a car goes down the road or the farmer is making another pass on the tractor. Be sure your bow ropes not wrapped up in briars or anything that's going to cause you to have to go down and make an unnecessary trip.

Lastly, I trim as little as possible. I really try to only cut stuff that prevents me from getting the bow drawn. I setup as high or low as necessary to maximize shot opportunities. Any equipment or gear that makes noise or is t streamlined enough gets eliminated or repaired ASAP.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

Great post! Those lone wolfs are you xcellent in crooked trees with the bat wing. I set up in some crooked ones last year and the stand was solid

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Crazinamatese]

A few things I have read on here I have actually learned from observation in the woods myself the hard way. I used to set up in a tree facing away from where I expected deer to come from. When I started to get more into bowhunting, I was doing all kinds of dumb things. Its a part of learning really. I had this thought in my mind that if I was facing the opposite direction, the deer would not see me as it came from behind me, then I would be able to make a shot on it as it was walking past me.

Silly me.

I soon learned that deer are sometimes very very silent moving through the woods and had a few encounters where all of a sudden there was a deer under my tree from outta nowhere looking up at me. And they were gone in a split second after I looked down at them.

You gotta set up in a way where you are facing the direction you are expecting deer to come from. That gives you time to ready for your shot when you see that deer coming in from a reasonable distance away.

Sometimes they will show up out of nowhere from where you least expected them to come from, but if you sit still and use your eyes to scan and listening to what is going on around you, essentially becoming in tune with the environment around you, nothing will be able to sneak by you.

I learned something in the military long ago while doing recon missions during training. Sometimes you gotta take a knee and look, listen, and smell. Its observing with what is going on all around you when things seem quiet. as I mentioned above.

In the stand, its easy for your mind to wander off in dream land and become complacent. Or you might whip out your smart phone and begin dinking around with it. In those moments, you have to stop and look, listen, and maybe even smell. "Keep your mind in the game."

Another thing that I learned, from last season actually, is your entry to your spot. Think about the scent trail you are leaving. Everything you touch or come into contact with like brush, or tree limbs you are actually contaminating with your scent.

I watched a young buck last season come in and cross my entry path. He didn't catch my scent on the ground, but he caught my scent on a sapling I pulled aside from when I was walking in. He sniffed at that sapling for about 5 seconds before he freaked out and high-tailed out of there.

It was a learning moment I will never forget.

Its the small things like that that will make the biggest differences.

Thats all I got for now.

[tgreeno]

Subscribed :)

[DeerDylan]

Great thread and posts. I can't add much more.

This is very situational and wlog mentioned it but I sometimes hunt a bedding area that is very steep and close to the road. What should be a 5 minute walk usually takes me 45 minutes. I like to get just inside the woods and then wait for traffic noise whenever I make a move. Checking the wind with milkweed often. I snuck within 15 yards of some does bedded on Halloween doing this.

[ Post made via Android ]

[stash59]

First I'll address being quiet. Getting to the tree is the first step. Once I'm within 200 yards or so, I approach my tree like I'm stalking it. I'm avoiding snapping twigs, splashing through water, making suction noises in deep mud, etc. I take a few steps, stop, look, listen and scan out in front of me. As I get closer to the tree, I'm checking the wind and confirming that it's doing what I think it's doing incase I need to adjust my route to the tree. I'm also looking at which exact path I'm going to take that will have the least obstructions and still keep me from walking where I expect the deer to walk.
So now let's say I'm 50 yards from my tree. At this point I'm looking at potential trees. As I move forward I'm pausing to look at the available shooting lanes, the tree canopy and of course taking notice of any deer sign or lack of. Even if I've hunted or scouted or prepped the area, a lot of times I haven't stepped foot in that area in six months or more. Things change...trees fall down, limbs snap off, trails go over. The deer could be walking through a little different then they were when you scouted it. You have to identify that before you pick your tree. Five yards could make all the difference. I can't count how many times I've gotten to a spot and thought, "Aww man, that trees not going to work out the way I thought." If you don't figure that out while your still a good distance back you might walk straight to the original tree and now you have to cross a trail you don't want to, to get in the right tree.

So let's say now I've narrowed it down to THE TREE. I'm trying to determine the exact spot on the tree I'm goi g to place the stand. Is there a crooked spot, is there a limb that will hit my arm when I draw. Best case scenario you e figured out potential problems with the tree before you decided on that one but sometimes you get to the tree and it's like "oh crap I didn't realize it was that crooked", or in my case "oh no there's a huge poison ivy vine". Sometimes you get there and it's not as good of a tree as you thought but you have to just make it work.

Ok so which way should the stand face? Ideally I like my setups to be 15-25 yards from the most likely runway I expect the deer to move through. Too close makes it tough to get drawn without being noticed and if they end up really close or right under you it creates a bad angle. Too far is bad for the obvious reasons. I can shoot a 3-d target at 70 yards no problem, but a live mature buck is a different story. I like to face directly towards where the deer should be coming from so I don't have to move around a lot to see the buck before he see's me. If you can picture the letter "Y", with the deer traveling on the bottom of the "Y" and the split being the shooting lanes to my left and right. Again, this would be my ideal scenario. I do sometimes setup perpendicular to expected deer travel with the stand facing towards likely shooting lanes.

Going up the tree is the time when you're most vulnerable. You're making a lot of movement and potentially noise if you make a mistake or drop something. This is the time when you could easily blow the whole hunt before it starts. Everyone who's been using there preferred mobile setup can probably be up a tree in ten minutes but that doesn't mean speed is your friend. The faster you go the more likely you are to make noise or fumble something. Be slow and deliberate when you are close to bedded deer. If you think there is a possibility you could get picked off by your target deer or a satellite deer, conceal your movements as much as possible. Move when the wind blows or an airplane flys over, a car goes down the road or the farmer is making another pass on the tractor. Be sure your bow ropes not wrapped up in briars or anything that's going to cause you to have to go down and make an unnecessary trip.

Lastly, I trim as little as possible. I really try to only cut stuff that prevents me from getting the bow drawn. I setup as high or low as necessary to maximize shot opportunities. Any equipment or gear that makes noise or is t streamlined enough gets eliminated or repaired ASAP.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

Great post!! Thanx

[mainebowhunter]

Its interesting...because the longer I hunt, I am surprised the MORE I can get away with. I think of the WTA podcast when he shot the one buck, went to recover it and there was another buck STILL BEDDED. So after all the ruckus of the shot the buck was STILL BEDDED. I have found that if a deer is bedded many times, it takes a whole lot more to get them moving than if they were on their feet. Hunting from the ground also kind of showed me how much I can get away with.

2013. I came to a NW setup. Hung my climber. It was 4:00 when I hung the climber. I was hunting an apple tree that was in bedding area. Pumped up the tree. Got setup. Not long after, a better than average 2.5yr old came and bedded in front of me at 30yds. I really did not want to shoot him...he never really gave me a good shot. BUT the crazy part? He was on his feet feeding on another apple tree 60yds away WHILE I was pumping up the tree.

2012. Pumped up a tree with my climber. Buck showed up at 3:15. I was just getting ready. Went back and found his bed, 50yds from my stand. I am quiet...but not that quiet. Just surprised how much you can get away with.

All that to say...if you make a clink or a clunk...it may not be as detrimental as you think.

[Bubbles]

Hit the woods today to work some kinks out of my setup. Started out at 40 minutes from the bottom of the tree/gear still strapped to my stand to up the tree, bow in hand ready to shoot. End of the day I had it down to 30 with less noise than I had at 40 min. I figure if I really take my time a bit more I can get it pretty silent. What are other people's setup times like? That was 3 sticks up.

[ Post made via Android ]

[justdirtyfun]

Bubbles
As long as you are climbing safe first and quiet second the clock doesn't matter.
Ain't that part of why the woods make us feel better... No timetable other than sunrise, Sunset or somewhere in between.

[ Post made via Android ]

[Bubbles]

True. I am strapped in, for sure. I just like to have an idea of how long my setup will take for the purpose of budgeting time.

[ Post made via Android ]